Ji Chang Wook Lost 22 Pounds For His Role in Five Fingers

It’s been revealed that actor Ji Chang Wook lost 10kg (22 pounds) for his character in SBS’s weekend drama “Five Fingers.”

His character, In Ha, is competing with his older brother in both piano skills and one girl’s heart and miserably wants to take both from his hyung. In order to better In Ha’s increasingly edgy character, he started losing weight before the filming began.

Ji Chang Wook revealed that his weight was 72kg (158 pounds) during his filming for “Warrior Baek Dong Soo.” He lost 9kg (~20 pounds) after being cast for “Five Fingers.” His weight currently wavers between 63-64kg (139-141 pounds).

On November 21, a representative from his company stated, “Ji Chang Wook purposely cut down on his food intake and lost weight to portray In Ha’s sharp personality. Due to his weight loss, he was able to better portray In Ha. Please look forward to the rest of the drama series.”

“Five Fingers” currently has 2 more episodes left before the drama ends. Park Shi Hoo and Moon Geun Young’s drama “Cheongdamdong Alice” will replace “Five Fingers” starting December 1.

Soompiers, do you think losing/gaining weight is necessary for actors to better portray their characters? Not that losing weight is easy, but is that method a “cop out” and would it be necessary if they researched their characters well and acted well too?