Actor Ji Chang Wook Seriously Contemplated Changing His Name to Dong Hae After Starring in “Smile, Dong Hae”

In a recent interview with Sports Hankook, actor Ji Chang Wook discussed his recently finished MBC drama “Empress Ki,” as well as his previous works such as “Warrior Baek Dong Soo” and “Smile, Dong Hae.”

During the part of the interview when the actor discussed his 2010 KBS 1TV drama “Smile, Dong Hae,” he confessed that although he did receive attention during the drama, the spotlight did not continue after the completion of the drama. It was through “Empress Ki” that he was rediscovered and was able to leave a lasting impression on viewers. However, the time following the end of “Smile, Dong Hae” was an obstacle that he had to overcome first.

The actor shared a story about a period of time when people would call him by his drama character name, “Dong Hae,” instead of his real name, Ji Chang Wook.

He explained, “For a while, I was called ‘Dong Hae’ by drama viewers and I was in a state of panic. It was to the point that I seriously contemplated if I should change my name to ‘Ji Dong Hae.’ Now it’s different. I don’t feel the need to artificially change anything for the memory of viewers. For now, I may be called Ta Hwan, but that will naturally change again. I think my duty is to happily taken on my next project.”

Ji Chang Wook has received a lot of love for his previous characters of Dong Hae and Ta Hwan, but now we can look forward to his future works.