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Joo Won: Just what the doctor ordered

SINGAPORE – Like most leading men in Korean dramas, Joo Won is quite perfect-looking, so it’s nice to know that he has irrational fears just like the rest of us, as we found out during his visit to Singapore yesterday (Oct 10) to promote the drama, The Gang Doctor.

Joo Won in Singapore yesterday (Oct 10) to promote the drama, The Gang Doctor. Photo: Zhang Weifang

Joo Won in Singapore yesterday (Oct 10) to promote the drama, The Gang Doctor. Photo: Zhang Weifang

SINGAPORE – Like most leading men in Korean dramas, Joo Won is quite perfect-looking, so it’s nice to know that he has irrational fears just like the rest of us, as we found out during his visit to Singapore yesterday (Oct 10) to promote the drama, The Gang Doctor.

In the show, he plays a cocky surgeon who makes illegal house calls to gangsters in order to fund his younger sister’s medical treatments. This leads to him unwittingly getting embroiled in a dark scheme involving a wealthy heiress (played by Kim Tae-hee) who has been kept in an artificially induced coma – and there are a lot of thrills and spills along the way.

In real life, though, Joo Won is “absolutely not” a risk-taker, he said. “I have a lot of fears in life and I’m afraid of a lot of things, so I don’t see myself doing anything crazy or dangerous. I’m not going to bungee jump, for example.”

What’s one thing he’s most afraid of? “The thing I’m afraid of most in the world is bugs, especially the ones that fly,” he shuddered. “There are some winged insects who don’t seem to be able to control their flight path – and they always seem to come straight for me, no matter how much I try to avoid them!”

The Gang Doctor is the second medical role for the 28-year-old, who first made a splash as the baddie in the 2010 hit drama King Of Baking Kim Tak Gu. His performance as an autistic pediatric surgeon in 2013’s Good Doctor won him rave reviews, but, he said, “I had so much difficulty with the jargon that I swore never to do another medical drama after that.” The fact that the two doctor characters were so different changed his mind, he added.

By now, he should surely have picked up some medical skills. Would he be able to save us if we fainted, for example?

“I think I could help, though it might be primitive,” he mused. “I would lay you down in a comfortable place, then check your pulse, your pupils and your breathing. Beyond that, I think the most helpful thing I could do would be to call an ambulance!”

Playing doctors hasn’t made him more of a hypochondriac in any way, though. “Everybody knows that doctors tell you that stress is bad, that you should stick to a healthy diet and that you should get eight hours of sleep a day. It’s just a matter of how closely you follow that advice,” he said. “I don’t. I’m not the healthiest person in the world. There is just too much delicious food in the world that is not healthy.” He added: “I do suffer from colds twice a year, and there’s no cure for that... Thankfully, longevity seems to run in my family.”

We’re pretty sure looks run in his family, too – but Joo Won said he has never considered himself handsome, even if his legions of fans do.

“Never in my life have I thought that I was good looking, but with hair and makeup and a bit of styling, I might look better than I originally did,” he deadpanned. “Of course, there are things that work to my advantage for the kinds of characters that I play. For example, I like my eyes – I have eyes that help me in my acting and put me in a position to express myself better. On the flight over here, I was looking at myself in the restroom mirror and I realised that I look very different from how I looked five years ago, when I first debuted in King Of Baking – not better or worse – but I’m glad that my life experience shows on my face, whether it’s wrinkles or acne marks. I’m very glad to have those as an actor because I know I’m growing, and that’s something I’m grateful for.”

Catch the encore telecast of The Gang Doctor starting Nov 7, Saturdays at 4.30pm on ONE (StarHub TV Ch 513 and Singtel TV Ch 820).

 

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