Jeon Do-yeon wants to share loveliness of her character in 'Crash Course in Love'

• Published date: 08 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Known for her versatile acting career, Jeon Do-yeon has taken on roles in heavy, dark genre series, like a devastated widow in the emotional drama film "Secret Sunshine" which won her best actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

For the first time in 18 years, the actress picked up a lighthearted, romantic comedy series, playing a lovely, over-enthusiastic single mom in tvN's recent series "Crash Course in Romance."

The series centers on a small food shop owner, Nam Haeng-sun (Jeon). After giving up her career as a national handball player to raise her daughter, she has been making ends meet by selling side dishes to support her high school daughter and autistic son.

One day, her daughter asks Nam to get her into a private math prep class run by a celebrity math instructor, Choi Chi-yeol (Jung Kyung-ho). Nam steps into the cutthroat world of private education for high schoolers, while getting romantically involved with the teacher. The series wrapped up on Sunday with its highest viewership rating of 17 percent.

Jeon said she was hesitant to take the role at first as she found the character to be too high-spirited.

"I wasn't sure if I could keep up with Haeng-sun's energy. I felt that there's a difference in what I want to do and what I can do, so I turned it down at first," the actress said during an interview with The Korea Times, held at a cafe in Mapo District, Monday.

"And then I met with the writer (Yang Hee-seung). She told me that although this is a fantasy story, she wanted the character...