Korean Celebrities Who Lose Weight for a Kdrama Role: Song Kang, Kim Sejeong, More
One of the characteristics of actors, especially in K-drama, is being able to adapt to their given roles. Whether it's changing your hairstyle like Kim Hee Sun in "Tomorrow" or gaining weight like "Squid Game" villain Heo Sung Tae and Lee Sung Kyung in "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo," some stars opt to shed off some pounds to portray a certain role.
From Song Kang to Kim Sejeong, these Korean celebrities purposely lost weight for a K-drama role.
Song Kang (Nevertheless)
The 28-year-old actor has been receiving praises for his stellar acting, starting with his first lead role in "Love Alarm."
Viewers lauded Song Kang for his perfect portrayal of campus crush Hwang Sun Oh. Due to the hype of Netflix's rom-com series, the K-drama returned for another season with Song Kang, Kim So Hyun, and Jung Ga Ram reprising their roles.
Interestingly, he once again made millions of hearts flutter with the JTBC series "Nevertheless."
K-drama fans were drawn to the chemistry of Song Kang and Han So Hee as they play art students Park Jae Eon and Yu Na Bi.
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Ahead of the "Nevertheless" premiere, Song Kang revealed that he shed some weight to look like the webtoon character.
Since the JTBC series was based on the webtoon of the same name written by Jung Seo, the actor revealed in the press conference that he lost 5kg to fit the character's description.
As obtained by an outlet, Song Kang explained, "When I read the webtoon, I thought (my character) Jae Eon looked like a nice guy, but he had an icy cold (aspect about him). And I wanted to make sure I conveyed this on the show by looking (angular). So, I went on a diet."
With this, "Nevertheless," director Kim Ga Ram was impressed with the actor's dedication and commitment to play the character saying, "both the actors thought a lot about how they can be in sync with their characters, which originated in a webtoon."
Kim Sejeong (A Business Proposal)
Kim Sejeong Fan Meeting
The singer-actress recently made waves after landing the role of Shin Ha Ri in "A Business Proposal" opposite Ahn Hyo Seop.
Like Song Kang's "Nevertheless," the SBS series is also based on the web novel "The Office Blind Date" created by Hae Hwa.
Although diet is not new to Kim Sejeong, the actress reportedly lost 5kg to match the appearance of her webtoon character. As reported, she started working out 23 days before filming for "A Business Proposal."
Kim Rae Won (Gangnam 1970)
Before becoming Park Shin Hye's mentor in "Doctors," Kim Rae Won played the role of a mafia boss in the 2015 film "Gangnam 1970." He starred alongside Lee Min Ho, Kim Seol Hyun, Jung Jin Young, and more.
In the action-packed movie, Kim Rae Won took his character to the next level and wanted to look like a legit gangster boss. To portray this, the actor lost 15kg for his character Baek Yong Ki.
Following his movie, he shed off another 4kg to play a sick patient in K-drama "Punch."
