Woo Mi-hwa - Wikiwand

Woo Mi-hwa (Korean: 우미화, February 2, 1974) is a South Korean actress. She began her career in theater before transitioning to supporting roles in television and film. She debuted as a theater actress in 1998, playing Petra in the Korean adaptation of the play An Enemy of the People.^[1]^[2]^[3]

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Woo Mi-hwa
우미화
Woo Mihwa 2021
Born	(1974-02-24) 24 February 1974 (age 51) Gangwon Province, South Korea
Alma mater	Department German Literature of Sookmyung Women's University Department Theater and Film of Dongguk University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998 to present
Agent	D-plan Entertainment
Spouse	Yoon Jeong-hwan (m. 2006)

Korean name
Hangul	우미화
RR	U Mihwa
MR	U Mihwa

Woo has performed in over 60 theater productions. Some of her notable stage roles include acclaimed revivals of Three Sisters and Dear Elena. She has received several theater acting awards, including the 2011 Seoul Theater Festival Female Acting Award ^[4] and Best Actress at the 2011 Korea Acting Awards for Blowing Songs Flowers in the Rain,^[5] Best Actress of the 2013 Korean Drama Awards for Three Sisters,^[6] and the 2017 SACA Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Elena in Dear Elena.^[7]

She has appeared in supporting roles in various films and television dramas. Her first notable supporting role on television was in the drama series Life (2018).^[8]^[9] In the same year, she also appeared in Sky Castle (2018), Doctor Prisoner (2018), and Black Dog: Being A Teacher (2018). Before acting in the crime drama Voice Season 4 (2020), She signed with her current agency D-plan Entertainment.^[10]

Her most recognized role in television is Lee Myung-shin, Hye-jin's stepmother in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021).^[11] She has also played significant supporting roles in Bloody Heart and Link: Eat, Love, Kill. She also known for her role as Dok Go-soon, chief of firefighter squad in drama The First Responders.^[12]

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Early life and education

Woo was born on February 2, 1974, into a mining family in Hambaek, a village near Yeongwol, Gangwon Province. She spent her early years in her hometown until her father relocated to Seoul in search of employment due to the decline of the mining industry. Following her father's move, Woo's older sister also moved to Seoul, and eventually, Woo transferred to Boseong Girls High School in Namsan, Seoul. During this period, she stayed with her sister while waiting for her mother to complete their affairs in Hambaek before joining them in the city.^[1]^[13]

After completing high school, Woo enrolled in the Department of German Literature at Sookmyung Women's University, which had a tradition of staging annual German translation plays. During a summer break, she participated in a play reading and production class and was unexpectedly chosen as an actress. Despite her initial shyness and the challenges of adapting to city life, she developed a strong interest in acting and decided to pursue it further. After obtaining her bachelor's degree in German Literature, Woo transferred to Dongguk University's Department of Theater and Film to further her studies in acting.^[1]^[13]

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Career

Summarize

Perspective

1998–2000: Theater Debut

After successfully passing an audition with the Seoul Theater Company,^{[note 1]} and becoming a trainee member, Woo made her acting debut in 1998 at the age of 24, playing Petra in the Korean adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People.^[1]^[2]^[3] This production, directed by Kim Seok-man, featured actors and featured acclaimed actors Lee Ho-jae as Dr. Thomas Stokeman and Yoon Joo-sang as Mayor Peter Stokeman. This marked their first collaboration in 20 years since Shakespeare's As You Like It. For Woo, being part of such a significant production was a noteworthy experience.^[1]

Woo also participated in another project with the Seoul Theater Company, the MBC Family Musical Lulu and the Twelve Fairies – A Beautiful Winter Story (1999), in which she played dual roles as a rabbit and the Fairy of August.^[15]

2001–2014: Yeonwoo Theater Company and Iru Theater Company

From 2001 to 2004, Woo was a member of the Yeonwoo Theater Company^{[note 2]} participating in over ten stage productions, including Lee (2001), Korean Wooturi (2002), and That Guy Looks Like a Radish (2003).^[4]

In 2004, Son Ki-ho, a former member of the Yeonwoo Theater Company, established Theater Company Iru. Woo and fellow actress Yeom Hye-ran joined him as founding members. Through her collaboration with Son, Woo gained recognition as an actress in Daehangno. One notable project was the play Blowing Songs Flowers in the Rain, which premiered in 2010 and received critical acclaim, including several awards. It won the 2010 Jeon Mun-yeon Drama Competition and the 2010 Myeongdong Arts Theater Creative Factory awards. At the 2011 Seoul Theater Festival, it won four awards, including the Grand Prize and the Female Acting Award, which Woo received for her performance.^[4]^[5]^[17]

From 2008 to 2010, Woo appeared in the plays The People Who Lived in Gampo, Deok-yi, and Yeol-soo. In 2009, she reprised her roles in these plays while also participating in a preview performance of the Korean adaptation of the play We Love Too Much To Meet Everyday, based on the French play by Guy Alloucherie.^[18] In 2010, she took part in the 6th Women's Director's Fair productions, specifically Fighting Women and Who Else Said We Would Be Like Us?.^[19]

In 2013, Woo portrayed Olga in the Korean adaptation of Anton Chekhov play Three Sisters. directed by Moon Sam-hwa and staged at the Seoul Arts Center's Free Small Theater.^[6] Her performance earned her the Best Actress award at the 2013 Korean Drama Awards.^[6]

2015-present: Television debut

Woo transitioned to television without a specific reason, following the path of many theater actors who take on roles in film and drama. Her first role was as a female tailor in the drama series Heard It Through the Grapevine (2015). The following year, she returned to theater in Kim Kwang-lim's 1996 stage play Come see me (2016). This National Theater production is loosely based on the true story of Korea's first confirmed serial murders that occurred between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, where Woo portrayed the character Park Gi-ja.^[20]

"If you continue to do good projects with good actors, wouldn't it be possible to contribute a little to making the world a better place than it is now? Beyond just looking at the painful history, I hope we can think and feel what to do in the future together. I want to find it with the audience." (Actor Woo Mi-hwa)

—Woo on Warriors of Sunshine (2018)^[21]

In 2017, Woo played the title role of Elena in Dear Elena, Oh In-ha's Korean adaptation of Lyudmila Razumovskaya's play Dorogaya Yelena Sergeyevna, for which she won the 2017 SACA Best Actress Award.^[22]

That same year, Woo participated in a memorial performance for the late Kim Dong-hyun in the play Are You Okay?, which was performed at Doosan Art Center Space 111. She acted alongside Seong Yeo-jin and Jeon Park-chan. Kim Dong-hyun was the founder of the theater troupe Elephant Manbo. Despite his absence, his colleagues celebrated the 10th anniversary of the troupe. Although Woo is a member of the Iru Theater Company, she has also remained active with Elephant Manbo.^[23]

In 2018, Woo was cast in the theater play Warrior of Sunshine. During the same year, she took on several minor television roles, the most notable being Do-hoon's mother in the JTBC drama Sky Castle, where she portrayed a mother who flirts with Han Seo-jin (Yeom Jeong-ah) for her son education.^[24] Woo also secured her first supporting role in a television series as gynecologist Kim Jung-hee in the drama Life. She expressed gratitude for this role, noting it was the first time she could discuss the character's thoughts and values.^[25]

In 2019, Woo and Seo Yi-sook were double cast as Nora Helmer in the Korean adaptation of A Doll's House Part 2 by American playwright Lucas Hnath. This play serves as a sequel to Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, originally released in 1879. In the original play, Nora Helmer, a mother of three and wife of Torvald, leaves her family to seek independence. A Doll's House Part 2, set in 1894, follows Nora, now a successful writer, as she returns after 15 years to file for divorce.^[26]

Woo made her feature film debut in 2020 as the titular character in Han Jae-yi's melodrama Ivy, which follows the lives of Eun-soo and Ye-won, a lesbian couple who must care for Eun-soo's niece, Su-min, after her mother dies in an accident.^[27] That year, she also appeared as Dr. Livingstone, a psychiatrist, in the Seoul Arts Center adaptation of John Pielmeier's play Agnes of God.^[28]^{[unreliable source?]}

In March 2021, Woo was offered the role of Anita in the MPN Company play Vincent River, adaption of Philip Ridley's play, directed by Shin Yoo-cheong. Anita is a mother who has lost her gay son, Vincent, in a homophobic assault. The play focuses on the conversations between Anita and Davy, addressing issues of homophobia and discrimination.^[29] The play was the second collaboration between MPN Company and Ateod, which aimed to revitalize the Daehangno performance market and create a stable production environment. It premiered in Korea in April 2021.^[30] Woo reprised her role in 2022.

In 2021, Woo starred alongside Song Kang-ho in Han Jae-rim's film Emergency Declaration.^[31]^[32]

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Personal life

Woo Mi-hwa is nicknamed "Woo-bosal" - a portmanteau of her surname and a short term for a righteous Bodhisattva - by her theater colleagues, reflecting her calm demeanor and willingness to support junior actors.^[1]

She met her husband, Yoon Jeong-hwan, a fellow actor, theater director, and producer, while they were both students in Dongguk University's Department of Theater and Film. After dating for more than 10 years, they married in 2006.^[1]