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The Korea Times

By KTimes
Director Park Hoon-jung was so surprised by Jo Yoon-su’s proficiency during a combat scene on her first shoot for the Disney+ drama The Tyrant that he jokingly asked if she had been in a lot of fights.
Actor Cha Seung-won added: “She’s the best with her fists among the actors I’ve seen.”
Jo remembers: “After filming the first scene, everyone around me was murmuring and I thought I had done a terrible job. But then director Park said, ‘I should investigate your past,’ and we all laughed.”


In The Tyrant, Jo portrays Chae Ja-kyung, a ruthless killer. Her captivating combat style differs from that of male action stars with their traditional reliance on brute force, offering a unique and intriguing approach.
She slides across tables and uses her surroundings to dispatch enemies with agility and precision.

Since The Tyrant’s release, Jo’s social media accounts have been flooded with English-language comments, praising her action scenes as “jaw-droppingly good”.
Critics have compared her to other female action stars like Lee Si-young in the drama Lookout and Kim Ok-vin in the film The Villainess.
Jo’s mastery came from countless hours spent disassembling and reassembling a toy gun beside her bed and practising her shooting stance in front of a mirror.
Her cold expression when pointing a gun at her target has drawn comparisons with Kim Ye-ji, the women’s 10-metre air pistol shooting silver medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Jo’s latest role is in stark contrast to her one as a cheerful and innocent police academy hopeful in the 2022 drama The Interest of Love.

It was Jo’s lack of a typical villainous appearance and her passion for her latest role that won over director Park.
“After I passed the audition, I asked director Park why I was cast, and he said it was because I didn’t give off an intimidating vibe,” Jo says.
From the day she first auditioned in October 2022, she began learning kickboxing and even enrolled in a driving school to obtain a truck licence, as required by a scene in the script.

She also cut her long hair, which she had grown since high school as part of her training in Korean traditional dance.
“During the audition, director Park asked if I had any previous acting footage, so I quickly wrote and produced a short film just to have something to show him,” Jo says.
After three auditions, she thought she had not made the cut. When the acceptance call finally came, she broke down in tears.
“I had sent my profile photos to various places while preparing for my debut, but I didn’t receive a single response for a year. I was so desperate that when the opportunity came, I grabbed it,” Jo says.
“I started acting because I wanted to live through experiences I had not had as someone else, and as an actor, I want to continue exploring diverse roles.”
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by staff at The Korea Times.
Read the full story at the Korea Times.


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Jo Yoon-su’s combat skills surprised her director and saw her compared with Olympic shooter Kim Ye-ji. The unexpected action star speaks out


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Disney+ The Tyrant star Jo Yoon-su’s lack of ‘intimidating vibe’ made her a perfect killer

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Jo Yoon-su’s combat skills surprised her director and saw her compared with Olympic shooter Kim Ye-ji. The unexpected action star speaks out

Jo Yoon-su’s combat skills surprised her director and saw her compared with Olympic shooter Kim Ye-ji. The unexpected action star speaks out