Despite his talent and visuals, Na In Woo was a true late bloomer who took ages to gain popularity
It is no exaggeration to say that Na In Woo is a late bloomer of the Korean acting industry, as it took him a whopping 7 years, from 2014 to 2021, to finally become relevant to the Korean public. The actor rose to stardom in 2021, and ever since, has been slowly but surely cementing his footing in the industry. Below are the full details of Na In Woo’s career that has been filled with hardship.
Na In Woo entered the acting industry with a super minor role in the 2014 weekend drama “Glorious Day”. Then, he assumed another minor role in the 2015 movie “Twenty”, and took up numerous other supporting roles in the later years. However, despite his effort, Na In Woo wasn’t able to make a deep impression, and the 1994-born actor was largely unknown by the public up until 2021.
In particular, the actor started to draw attention after playing the 2nd male lead of the hit comedy series “Mr. Queen”, which aired from late 2020 to early 2021. Na In Woo was then chosen to replace male actor Ji Soo as the male lead of “River Where The Moon Rises”, following the latter’s school bullying scandal. This K-drama was a tough project to take on, seeing that the replacement had been last minute, leading to immense pressure on the cast.
Initially, audiences were worried about Na In Woo’s ability, especially when he and the leading actress Kim So Hyun barely met, and now they had to play lovers. However, the actor had worked tirelessly throughout the entire filming process, filming over 20 scenes a day to make up for Ji Soo’s sudden departure. The results turned out fruitful: Na In Woo was praised for his dedication and ability to pull off wonderful chemistry with actress Kim So Hyun.
In fact, many viewers even started to say that Na In Woo should have been chosen in the first place, claiming that his visuals and acting skills were both better than Ji Soo. The drama itself was a huge success, and through his portrayal, Na In Woo was crowned Best New Actor at the 2021 KBS Drama Awards, as well as received a nomination for the same title at the prestigious Baeksang Art Awards.
After a small role in At A Distance Spring Is Green in mid-2021, Na In Woo returned to the small screen in 2022 with 2 new dramas. The first is the role of an innocent nerd in JTBC’s Cleaning Up, in collaboration with Yum Jung Ah. The other project is the male lead in the KBS2 drama “Jinxed At First“, starring SNSD Seohyun.
Although the commercial performance of these two dramas is not very good, in terms of acting skills, Na In Woo is making his fans as well as the general public very satisfied. Both his roles in Cleaning Up and Jinxed At First have comedic personalities but they are not the same.
In House Cleaning, his sense of humor shows through his words. Meanwhile, in Jinxed At First, he has funny and cute expressions. Thanks to these two roles, Na In Woo received many compliments.
Compared to other rising male stars of the Korean film industry like Cha Eun Woo, Song Kang, Kim Young Dae… it’s clear that Na In Woo doesn’t have the same outstanding appearance as them, and he also has more difficulties. However, Na In Woo’s acting skills is said to be superior to the names mentioned above. And that will be a solid foundation for this male star born in 1994 so he can go even further in the future.
