FT Island’s Lee Hongki, ‘Singers Who Act’, Is There A Problem?

“Why do people think badly of singers going into acting?”

This question came from a 20-year-old young man.

FT Island’s vocal Lee Hongki is acting once again, after a period of 5 years.
He introduces himself as Jeremy, a British-Korean from a royal family, in the upcoming SBS drama “You’re Beautiful“.

In fact, Lee Hongki does not start out his acting path from an idol group. He is a singer who is making a comeback in his drama activies since 5 years ago.

He debuted in KBS 2TV children drama “Magic Kid Masuri” in 2002 and also acted in EBS “There’s Light Left At The Tip Of My Fingernails” in 2004, “Kkangsooni” in 2005 and thereafter from 2007 onwards, he participated in FT Island’s activities.

“SS501’s Kim Hyunjoong, DBSK’s Uknow Yunho, Big Bang’s TOP and other idol group singers are acting and singing at the same time, isn’t it?

But many people think little of it and are giving comments like, ‘So the idols are acting now’, ‘Why are they diverting their paths?’.
I don’t understand why it is positive that actors turn into singers and negative when it’s the other way round.”

Lee Hongki thinks that the mindset should be changed.

“Though fans already know that I started out as a child actor, others who did not know about it, hold a biased view against me. I want to change their mindset with my acting.”

Lee Hongki also sees fellow singer, Lim Changjung, as his role model.

“For the same situation, people do not hold biased views against Lim Changjung-sunbae. He receives recognition as a singer and also receives applause with his strong acting skills. I want to be like him, an all-rounder.”

The drama “You’re Beautiful“, which talks about the lives of an idol band and the love between the members, has a lot of similarities with the band, FT Island, which Lee Hongki is actually in.

“Our director also told me, ‘Lee Hongki, just be yourself’. So the character Jeremy portrays 70% of myself.
Also, in reality, I’m a vocalist. But in the drama, I’m a drummer. That’s the only difference. I learned the basics of playing the drum from our member, Minhwan.”

Lee Hongki also revealed that there are many similarities and he feels less burdened, “People around me are worried because I’m returning to acting once again. As I have only showed my acting skills as a child actor so far, I want to make a change this time round, so I’m feeling the burden as well. Nevertheless, I won’t try to change my image all at once but by doing it step-by-step. It’s never too late. That’s what I think.”

There are also many people who gave Lee Hongki their opinions. Besides his fans, his mother also gave views on Lee Hongki.

“When I was still a child actor, my mother even took on the role of being my manager. Everything was managed well by her.

After recordings, she would look at the monitor and say things like, “You have to change this. It will turn out to be like that, so listen to me”.