This week’s spotlight is on Yoo Inna, whose new rom-com Reach of Sincerity just premiered on tvN. The role is not only her follow-up to the 2016 hit The Lonely Shining Goblin, but famously reunites her with her Goblin co-star Lee Dong-wook.
Born in 1982 in Seongnam, South Korea, Yoo Inna’s story as an actress and entertainer is quite an inspiring one. She started her career as an idol trainee, and though she trained for over a decade in several different agencies, Yoo Inna struggled to debut. It wasn’t until she decided to try acting in 2009 that she finally found her niche. When asked about her career and changing courses after so many years, Yoo Inna had a wonderful quote: “Even a compass, which is supposed to tell you which direction to go, wobbles before it finds its true course. I hope young people aren’t too scared of facing the wobbles along the way, because they’re a natural part of the journey.” After her debut, Yoo Inna also became successful as a DJ, and the host of TV shows like Get it Beauty.
Here are some dramaland moments from Yoo Inna, followed by her full filmography.
Queen In-hyun’s Man (2012)
Sageuk fusion dramas are, to me, either a complete success or complete failure, and Queen In-hyun’s Man was the former. It took the best elements of both stories/eras and made a sandwich that Subway could only dream of. Queen In-hyun’s Man had the great concept of a mysterious talisman that brought Joseon-era scholar Kim Boong-do (played by Ji Hyun-woo) into present-day Seoul. There he met the struggling actress played by Yoo Inna, and it was all drama and intrigue (and romance!) from there on out. This drama was written by Song Jae-jung, famous for her wonderful, complex, and layered plots — but equally famous for ending them in ways that leave the audience a little let down (see: W–Two Worlds and Memories of the Alhambra). If you can unplug the technical side of your brain and instead fall in love with the concept, the time-slip romance, the wonderful chemistry of the leads, and the rich world of this story, Queen In-hyun’s Man is a delight through and through. And there will never be another hero quite like Kim Boong-do.
My Secret Hotel (2014)
Rather than cover The Lonely Shining Goblin here, I thought I would feature the lesser-known My Secret Hotel, which was Yoo Inna’s next role after her turn in the super successful You From Another Star. In My Secret Hotel, Yoo Inna played a wedding planner at a luxury hotel who had to deal with all kinds of chaos on the hotel grounds — dead bodies, ex-husbands, you name it. Sure, the drama lost its steam and was a little confused about what kind of story it wanted to tell, or even what genre it wanted to be. But all in all, I enjoyed this story of a divorced couple forced to interact again, and confront the things that went wrong in their relationship. Nam Goong-min is the second lead here, but I have to say I loved Jin Yi-han so much more as the ex-husband who’s planning marriage number two.
Reach of Sincerity (2019)
I didn’t see Goblin (I know…), but I was just as excited as the rest of dramaland for the reuniting of Reaper and Sunny! I enjoy both actors separately, and the setup in Reach of Sincerity sounded like a lot of fun: Yoo Inna plays our scandal-ridden Hallyu actress who is forced to give some method acting a go as she gets “real world” experience in a law firm, working for none other than Lee Dong-wook. Well, after watching the premiere episodes, I can safely say that Yoo Inna is golden as the ditzy star famous for her terrible acting. She can’t do so much as forward an incoming phone call, but she sure knows how to charm people with her charisma. The clash of both personalities and worlds is shaping up nicely, and the law firm is full of strong, quirky characters that kind of give off a Let’s Eat feel for me. Here’s hoping the drama plays on the actors’ strengths, and keeps up with the hilarious parodies and meta as the plot starts to unfold.
Yoo Inna’s full filmography: