MACAO, Dec 11 ― Music and film may transcend all boundaries but for South Korean singer and actress Im Yoon-ah, or more affectionately known as Yoona, the mastery of other languages remains the stumbling block to her career moving on to the next level.
Already hugely popular worldwide thanks to the Hallyu or Korean wave of films, dramas and music sweeping across the globe, the talented 28-year-old is ready for more international roles in films.
“I will accept the challenge, and I won’t say no to future possibilities to spread my wings to Hollywood or anywhere else... but the first thing I have to do if I am to act outside of South Korea, the most important thing... is to overcome the language barrier.
“I will have to spend a lot of time learning and getting a grasp of the language even before I get on set.”
While fans have heard her utter occasional lines in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, English and even Bahasa Malaysia and Indonesia, she admits she is hardly fluent in any.
“Those are merely lines that appear in dramas and such, and I admit that.
“So if I am to take my acting career to the next level, my challenge is to learn new languages. That is important to me.”
First spotted in 2002 during an SM Entertainment audition, she underwent five years of rigorous training before making her debut as part of girl group Girl’s Generation (also known as Sonyeo Sidae or SNSD); she kicked off her acting career the very next year.
Eleven years on, she can be proud of her success not only as part of one of the nation’s most popular girl groups worldwide but also a subgroup of Girl’s Generation introduced earlier this year ― Oh!GG ― and she is also one of the best-selling artistes in South Korea courtesy of a succesaful solo singing career.
Her acting prowess, however, is nothing to scoff at, having proven her acting mettle in numerous South Korean drams such as You Are My Destiny (2008), Love Rain (2012), Prime Minister & I (2013), The K2 (2016) and The King in Love (2017) before her first feature film effort last year in action flick, Confidential Assignment.
While relatively new to the world of films, the talent ambassador of the third International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) professes her love for movies and hopes the appointment will not only help raise the profile of the festival but also open new doors for her acting career.
“Throughout my career, I have met all kinds of people from different walks of life and it affords me experiences that make me more mature and helps me grow as a person, and that is one of the biggest lessons I have learnt as an artiste.
“Applying that to my acting, I get to prove to my fans and audiences in general that I am not a one-note act.”
Having already picked up awards for her acting, including the the AFA Next Generation Award at the Asian Film Awards, Yoona’s next role to follow her critically-praised performance in Confidential Assignment will be disaster action film Exit, set to premiere in 2019.
“I was very happy when I was offered a part in Confidential Assignment... I was initially afraid, but the reception has been encouraging.
“While the most interesting part of taking on any role is the preparation process where I can learn about the character, Exit has a lot of action scenes and it is physically challenging so I have to keep really fit to keep up with the demanding nature of the role.”
