Yuh-Jung Youn filmed season one of Pachinko before winning the Minari Oscar win that made her a star. In Pachinko, Youn stars as the older version of our main protagonist Sunja [her younger counterpart played by Minha Kim].
Looking back on a life filled with difficult choices, forks in the road, and sacrifices—Sunja is reflective, revisiting her past while forging ahead with hope and an open heart. Youn is remarkable, infusing her performance with empathy and grace, every painful expression coming across her kind eyes. In Youn’s Sunja we see our mothers and grandmothers— the women whose hard work and resilience have paved the way for our everyday comforts.
Ms. Youn’s humility makes it difficult to capture how she managed to pull off such a masterful performance, but her warmth and good humor come across in our Zoom chat just as it did on the Oscars stage. She is an open book, ready to share life lessons taken from Pachinko, a five-decade career, and her own personal struggles.
She is a treasure. Worthy of her Oscar (and Emmy?) gold.
Awards Daily: How would you describe Sunja and where she is in her life when we meet her?
Yuh-Jung Youn: I read both the script and novel. I get confused about which one I read first, but when I read the script, I thought “Oh, my age is suitable for this role because it says Sunja is 74, so it’s perfect.” My age at the time, I think, was 74.
I was inspired by her strength, honesty, and determination to survive because…. I wondered about myself. She could have chosen—you know, “choice” is a very important word and interesting word— but Sunja could have chosen another role.
I’m sure that she didn’t know her lover was a married man. He offered a better, more comfortable life for her, and for her family. But she refused that. That is a very, very brave and honest decision back in 1920. So, I admired her and respected her because I thought about myself: What choice I would have made. I could have gone to that comfortable life with him, as a mistress.
I’ve been in this industry for such a long time. Nowadays, roles are all the same to me you know, grandmother, or the mother, or mother-in-law or something like that. But [with Pachinko] after I read the script, I felt an immediate connection to Sunja and I had to play this role. That’s a very rare feeling nowadays. That’s why I participated in this project.
Awards Daily: Pachinko features many emotional moments for your character. How do you prepare? How do you allow yourself to go to these really deep, raw places?
Yuh-Jung Youn: It’s an actor’s skill. I wish I knew the method, but, no. I’ve been an actor for a long period of time. It’s very difficult to describe how I approached this role. But I think, I tried to embody her with less emotion. She had a very difficult time with the war, and immigrating to a foreign country, and she was pregnant, and then she was struggling with that.
I played the role after she’s been through all that, a lifetime. I could make a decision, either less emotion or very dramatic emotion, but I chose less emotion. I watched all the old people. (You know, we still had the interview with the ending scene.) I looked at the real Chinese people who passed through that time and their faces were very… well, less emotional. That is human, I think. So, I tried not to express my feelings very dramatically after all that time. And then she could just watch her son and grandson, just gaze at them and not [get emotional].
Awards Daily: Is that difficult for you? Do you find yourself being very dramatic in your personal life, or is it easy for you to hold back when you need to?
Yuh-Jung Youn: It’s a very difficult job. Sometimes it’s very spontaneous in that situation. And sometimes you’re nourishing that character in your body and your feelings, so you mix up the feelings from scene to scene.
Awards Daily: Pachinko is so much about memory and different generations interacting. What are your thoughts on that? Have you learned any lessons about the way that you view your own memory, your past? Has the show brought anything forward?
Yuh-Jung Youn: Oh, yes, I learned a lot of things. The actor who played Mozasu (Soji Arai), my son, is Zainichi. [Zainichi refers to ethnic Koreans living in Japan who can trace their roots to Korea under Japanese rule; before World War II and the division of the Koreas]. I didn’t know what that was, so I thought maybe like Korean-Japanese or something like that. I would ask him, ‘Is it looked down upon to say Zainichi.’ He said, ‘No, we are so proud of being Zainichi. In the past, these Zainichi people were not considered Korean, they had no country. They were not accepted by South Korean government or the Japanese government. South Korea didn’t have just enough resources to take care of the Japanese Koreans. So, they don’t have a passport. Korea had the war right after the end of the Japanese occupation. We had the Korean war, so we didn’t have the power to take care of Koreans overseas. So that was very sad. And I learned from him about their situation and he said they are so proud. They won’t change their last name.
I didn’t know about this history until I did Pachinko. We heard about the historical background, but not the details. I really personally appreciate the actors’ jobs. We can expose this part of our history. I’m very grateful.
Awards Daily: You’ve been an actress for five decades, but you find such joy in your work and you have such a wonderful sense of humor just from what we’ve gotten to see in your speeches and things. How do you maintain that joy and what lessons have you learned that you can maybe pass on to our readers? [Laughs].
Yuh-Jung Youn: You know, Charlie Chaplin said, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in the long shot.” I agree with him. I’ve been through a lot of difficult times. When you live a long time, you’ve been through this and that, you know, up and downs. So I try to have some joy while I’m working. I concentrate on the job, but other than that, I try to laugh, and try to enjoy that moment.
I’ve lived a long time. So, I got a lifetime of lessons. After 65, I promised myself, “Okay, I’ve done my mission.” My mission was raising two boys by myself. Okay. They went to college and they were doing fine with their jobs. Okay. My mission is done. So, what I’m going to do is I’m going to work for the people I like—the directors and the writers I like. I don’t care about the role. I want to just enjoy the rest of my time. So that’s what I’m doing now. I don’t have to work hard like I used to. I worked so hard to raise two boys as a single mother. So, I’m relaxing now. I can choose now. I’m very happy in this moment.
Awards Daily: Well, speaking of joy, is there a moment from shooting Pachinko that was particularly joyful for you? Something that really stands out for you from the first season?
Yuh-Jung Youn: It wasn’t joyful at all. You are waiting in a trailer, six or seven hours. Torture. [Laughs]. But the moment when I had a real connection between my grandson, Solomon (Jin Ha), and me, was joyous. Only after we could feel what those feelings were. We didn’t talk about it, but somehow I could feel it. Oh, Solomon and me, that moment, I enjoyed that.
Awards Daily: And as I let you go, is there anything about your experience on Pachinko I haven’t asked you about that you wanted to mention?
Yuh-Jung Youn: I’m so grateful to have an opportunity to express a Korean old lady who has been through a lot of difficulties. That is very precious to me.
I never pursued awards, it’s nice to be recognized and know people appreciate your work. That’s a very nice feeling, but I never was pursuing awards. I’m an actor. A humble actor. Humble to work hard. And this was another opportunity to work as an actor to portray a Korean woman in detail. I was very grateful to have an opportunity like this and to give us a chance to expose our historical background.
Season one of Pachinko is streaming now on Apple TV+. Read more interviews with the cast and crew of Pachinko here.