Nam Yoon Su Talks About His Roles In "The King's Affection" And "Extracurricular," His Life Motto, And More

Oct 28, 2021

“The King’s Affection” star Nam Yoon Su looks stunning in a new pictorial for GQ magazine!

The actor shines through in photos from greyscale to color, as if to represent his versatility as a performer. Even in the interview that followed, Nam Yoon Su freely talked about several spectrums – his growth from childhood to adulthood, from rookie actor to a more seasoned actor, all while prying through levels of self-reflection.

Nam Yoon Su first scraped the surface by mentioning that fall is his favorite season and that he likes to take long walks once or twice a month when he has free time. When he has the free time to venture into his daydreams, he is usually thinking about his role Lee Hyun in “The King’s Affection,” which he describes as a character with a big heart who is unable to tolerate injustice. He compares the character to a sturdy tree, which he says he can relate to because his personality in real life is quiet and diligent in doing what he does in his own space. He added that he’s a calm person in nature, despite being the youngest of three brothers. He explained, “When I was young, I fought quite often with my older brothers. But as I grew up, I realized that I’m naturally a calm person. It’s not just me. All three of us aren’t very talkative. We each enjoy being in our own rooms.”

Digging deeper, Nam Yoon Su went over memorable times he was brought to tears. His first memory of crying went like this: “It was when I was a very small child. At most two or three years old. One day, I crawled into a cake box and couldn’t get back out, which made me cry. I even remember the exact spot it happened. It was at my grandmother’s place, by the wall I always slept. I later found photos from that day in a photo album.”

Another instance was when he got into a taxi, and the driver asked, “It’s tough out there, huh?” Nam Yoon Su recalled the time by saying, “It was two years ago, when I was shooting ‘Extracurricular.’ My character was very violent and vulgar, which is very different from who I am in real life. I was going through a difficult time emotionally. When the taxi driver threw me the question on my way home from the shoot, I suddenly got emotional. I didn’t cry too hard, it was just a few tears.”

Despite talking about the times he was brought to tears, Nam Yoon Su claimed he isn’t as in tune with his emotions. Rather, he said, “I hide my emotions. I’m good at pretending like I’m alright, rather than at expressing my struggles.” He explained that because of this, acting acts as a huge source of liberation that keeps him going.

Another thing that keeps Nam Yoon Su going is his life motto, which is, “Do your best, rather than be the best.” He added, “If I want to achieve something, it happens. It’s fascinating. When I first dreamed of becoming a model, I was still short. But years of dreaming later, I had grown quite a lot. Once I decide to lose weight, the weight really sheds off. Whenever I want to achieve something, something changes within me. And that something changes me overall.”