How Apple’s ‘Pachinko’ Marks A Breakout Role For Actress Kim Min-ha

Kim Min-ha was so moved by the three scenes provided in Pachinko’s audition script that she knew she had to give the opportunity a go. With just a few acting credits in independent films and web dramas under her belt and still unattached to any management agency then, Kim went through many rounds of self-tapes, chemistry readings and interviews. Four months later, she clinched the role of (young adult) Sunja, opposite actor Lee Min-ho in the highly anticipated Apple TV+ show.

On how her life has changed since Pachinko, Kim is calmly taking the attention and buzz in her stride. “The week of the premiere and all the press was quite busy. Everything was kind of bizarre. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know what I’m talking. But I also learned so many things,” she shares. “After I came back to Korea, everything is still the same. Except my family is really excited about the show.”

Kim has come a long way. She describes herself as a “very timid and very shy girl” growing up, sweating and shivering each time she was asked to do a presentation during her schooling years. However, things were different when she was performing. “When I was singing, when I was on the stage, I was so excited, like my heart couldn’t stop,” Kim shares. “So when I was in elementary school, I really wanted to be a voice actor.” This led to Kim pursuing a theater and film degree at Hanyang University, after successfully persuading her parents for over a year (they wanted her to become a university professor).

Carving out her own ‘Sunja’

In Pachinko, Kim’s responsibility as the young adult Sunja perhaps poses the most intimidating challenge — bringing to life some of the character’s most formative years and life-altering events. Besides tracing Sunja’s journey from her Korean fishing village of Yeongdo in the 1930s to Osaka, Japan, Kim also has to seamlessly connect the childhood (played by Jeon Yu-na) and older years (played by Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung) of Sunja’s life.

While preparing to play Sunja, Kim asked her 94-year old grandmother about her life experiences, especially during Japan’s annexation of Korea. “Hearing all these genuine experiences from a real person who lived in that era was so helpful,” Kim says. “I studied about the history of that time and I read a bunch of novels which first appeared in that era.”

Since the “three Sunjas” belonged to different time periods, Kim did not have a chance to meet actresses Youn and Jeon before or during the production of Pachinko. However, there was a mutual understanding between the three actresses about Sunja’s inner life and spirit. “There was no doubt or worry [whether] there was any difference between her Sunja and mine or these kind of things,” Kim says. “We just trust each other and I trust myself. It was a really, really powerful and weird energy. There’s a connection between the three of us.”

Pachinko progresses achronologically and makes leaps back and forth in time, sharpening some of the show’s themes of migration, displacement and cultural identity. This story structure places an even greater spotlight on the performances of the “three Sunjas,” as they often appear in the same episode. “After I saw the episodes, I just [felt] relieved, like wow, this works,” Kim says. “The three of us have a lot of similarities, we can see each other in each other’s faces.”

Kim finds a new level for her acting

Accomplished directors Justin Chon and Kogonada helmed different episodes in the series. “The style of Kogonada and Justin is very different but the same directions they gave me were to just be in that moment, breathe, be present,” Kim says. She fondly looks back on her days on Pachinko’s set, “It was so amazing working with them. They’re all so good and they were my great friends.”

On set, what surprised Kim was the energy that came out of scenes shared with Jeong In-ji, who plays her mother Yang-jin in Pachinko. “I prepared scenes in my home, I set the scene and I kind of anticipate what’s going to happen,” Kim shares. “But with Yang-jin, I don’t know why but some kind of synergy and energy came out from nowhere. Like if I prepared 50% and then I meet her, it just comes out to 100%, 120%. I don’t know where that comes from. It was very mysterious.”

Watching the explosive rise and rise of Korea-related content and culture, Kim feels proud and also recognizes expanding opportunities for many others in Asia too. “It’s time for us to just go take the world…Everyone can spread out to the world. It’s an international, global world.”