Apink's Jung Eun Ji Shares Her Determination To Pursue Both Acting And Music

Apink’s Jung Eun Ji recently sat down for an interview with Sports DongA to talk about her new horror film, “0.0MHz.”

“0.0MHz” is based on a webtoon of the same name and tells the story of a school club that investigates supernatural mysteries. Jung Eun Ji stars in the film as So Hee, a girl who was born into a family of shamans and has the ability to see ghosts.

In past interviews, Jung Eun Ji has spoken candidly about the prejudices against idol actors and reflected on her acting career after the success of “Reply 1997.” In the new interview, she talked realistically about how being an idol helped her acting career and shared her determination to keep pursuing both music and acting.

“If I wasn’t part of Apink and simply appeared in ‘Reply 1997’ as Jung Eun Ji, would I have received the same amount of love?” she said. “Personally, I don’t think so. If you want to be acknowledged as an actor, you have to build up your skills. As an idol, I sometimes feel intimidated when it comes to accepting big roles. I frequently appeared as the lead after ‘That Winter, the Wind Blows’ and every time I went on set, I felt like I should apologize to the other rookie actors. When I was in the musical ‘Legally Blonde,’ I saw the ensemble cast members working so hard. My heart felt heavy because I had gotten the lead role despite never being in a musical before. At the time, those actors helped give me confidence by telling me, ‘You were picked for this role because they needed you.’ Because of this, I always think that I need to grow as an actor. I’ve decided that I can’t retreat in fear. If I keep pushing forward, I believe that one day I will be acknowledged as an actor.”

Jung Eun Ji was also asked about her future as part of Apink. Idol groups will frequently disband or go on hiatus when they have been together for almost 10 years, with many members choosing to pursue solo careers either as singers or actors.

Jung Eun Ji said, “As part of a group that has promoted for a long time, I think it’s a shame that many groups can’t do that. It does make me sad. Even if you start promoting in your late teens or early twenties, if you include the training period, you’ve basically spent half your life as a singer. But you don’t know how long your career as an idol will last, so you start to worry about finding another path. Personally, we would love to keep going on music shows and performing onstage, but we know that that’s not easy.”

She continued, “But I don’t think I will ever leave Apink. I want to do both music and acting. Bada is still remembered as part of S.E.S., and I want to be remembered as Apink’s Jung Eun Ji as well. That being said, I also want to make a name for myself as an actor. Not only in TV dramas, but also in plays and musicals. I want to try many different things. When I had my fortune read for the new year, they said that I would have lots of work until my 80s. That I’m the type to find work, whatever it is. I think that’s a good thing.”

“0.0MHz” premiered in South Korea on May 29.

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