T.O.P. Wants To Be Taken Seriously

Choi Seung Hyun, known to kpop fans as BigBang's T.O.P., did not grow up with dreams of becoming an actor.

"I have always really liked movies but I never dreamt of becoming an actor," he said.

That all changed when he played an assassin in the drama "Iris" and a soldier in the film, "71: Into The Fire."

"A real thirst for acting grew in me," he said after that film. "I want to improve the skills I lack."

Even though he considered himself lacking in skills, his performance in the film won him Best New Actor awards at the Baeksang Awards, the Max Movie Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

The awards did help him realize that he should seriously consider a career as an actor.

"I felt the need to be more responsible," he said in a recent interview. "If I was going to act, I thought to myself, I want to do it right."

Every day another kpop idol makes the transition to acting and it often means appearing in a melodrama or fluffy romantic comedy. T.O.P. is not saying there is anything wrong with that but it's not for him. He wants to be taken seriously.

"It's profitable for an idol to take a role and some also do it for the fame, but I don't want to do it for either of those reasons," he said.

He certainly doesn't need the money and as a member of the internationally acclaimed band BigBang, he doesn't need any more fame.

If he wanted to act in a comedy or melodrama, he might get more offers than he could take in a lifetime but he's very particular about the roles that interest him.

"I don't want to do what everyone else is doing, especially if the plot has no substance," he said.

When he was first offered a role in his new film "Commitment," he worried that it might be a teen drama. When he discovered there was more to the plot, he became intrigued.

"It was important for me to do a serious film," he said.

In the film T.O.P. plays Myung Hoon, a reluctant assassin. Myung, 19, always dreamt of becoming a concert pianist, but he's forced to become an assassin after his father, a North Korean spy, fails at his mission. Myung Hoon and his sick younger sister, Hye In, played by Kim You Jung, are sent to a labor camp. To save his sister's life, Myung Hoon agrees to become a spy in South Korea.
While undercover in South Korea, he befriends a bullied girl, played by Han Ye Ri. Their deepening relationship is threatened when the North decides to eliminate Myung Hoon.

T.O.P.'s character must also make some serious decisions.