Kang Tae Oh, whose life changed after “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”: 9 years of unnoticeable career, finally seeing prospects for the future
The huge popularity of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is boosting the popularity of all its cast, from Kang Tae Oh, Park Eun Bin, to Kang Ki Young.
Born in 1994, Kang Tae Oh has been in the acting industry for years, but had had a hard time making his name known in Korea. Things, however, have changed after his appearance in the K-drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, which has been seeing explosive popularity.
According to Good Data, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” has become the most searched K-drama in Korea at the moment. In the past week alone, 45.3% of K-drama watchers were searching for this series, while “Alchemy of Souls”, the second most-searched entry, only saw one-fifth of this traffic. In addition, viewership ratings for “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” has skyrocketed from 0.9% to almost 10% within 6 episodes, and Kang Tae Oh, who plays the male lead of the series, even surpassed leading actress Park Eun Bin and case members Kang Ki Young và Jeon Bae Soo to be the most buzz-worthy actor.
In “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, Kang Tae Oh assumes the role of the superior of female lead Woo Young Woo, played by actress Park Eun Bin. The two’s outstanding chemistry, alongside the actor’s perfect visuals and physique, have completely swooned the audience, making Kang Tae Oh the hottest star of the moment. It seems that the actor’s career will be looking up from now, and further opportunities will await him in the future.
Breaking through after ages of playing minor roles
In September 2013, Kang Tae Oh debuted in Korea’s first ever actor-idol group 5urprise, which was under Fantagio Entertainment. The group consisted of 5 members: Yoo Il, Seo Kang Joon, Gong Myung, Kang Tae Oh, and Lee Tae Hwan, who were selected Fantagio’s “Actor′s League,” a program for discovering aspiring actors, and were trained for two years before making their entertainment debut.
Unlike other Korean groups, who started out as Kpop idols before breaching into the acting industry, 5urprise did the opposite. Their first project was the 12-episode series “After School: Lucky or Not”, with each episode lasting 15 minutes. Here, the five members play 5 students from the same school club, who met an ostracized girl and tried to coax her out of her shell.
Then, 5urprise began their Kpop career with the single “Hey U Come On”, and various other fanmeetings to get their names known.
Among the 5 members, Kang Tae Oh and Seo Kang Joon star in the most projects, with the former playing minor roles in various projects like “Miss Korea”, “The Tale Of Nokdu”, “Doom At Your Service”, “Run On”, and more.
A rare time he got to play a major role was in the Vietnamese-Korean series “Forever Young”, which consisted of two seasons, aired in 2014 and 2016. However, the drama wasn’t at all popular in Korea, leading to Kang Tae Oh remaining mostly a no-name actor.
It was not until “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” that things finally looked up for the actor. Talking about his reason to pick up the script, Kang Tae Oh said: “I felt warm and comfortable when reading the synopsis for the series, and was so in love with it, that I just wanted to join the project immediately.”
For the actor, transforming into the caring male lead Lee Jun Ho is no easy job. “I have to show concern and be the emotional pillar for Woo Young Woo through very minute expressions, and it was quite challenging”, he said.
About acting in general, Kang Tae Oh shared: “I still have a lot to learn from people around me. No matter what kind of role I’m playing, there remains this sense of weight and responsibility. I always try to communicate with everyone on the set, and seek for solutions through conversations with directors and co-stars, making for many meaningful experiences.”
