“Descendants of the Sun” actor Song Joong-ki’s career is moving at a breakneck speed, with the 30-year-old Hallyu start winning acting awards left and right, and making commercial endorsements in China and South Korea.
But so far, there are no reports of the actor getting swell headed or fame getting into his head. The only thing he has publicly spoken against being famous is his family losing their privacy.
Why he remains humble to this day is because Soong Joong-ki started small in the industry, as an extra in “Get Carl! Oh Soo Jung,” an SBS drama which aired in 2007. His role in the show was a reporter with one spoken line. Song Joong-ki had many more extra roles until he got his break when he bagged the role of Gu Yong Ha in “Sungkyunkwan Scandal” in 2010, recalled a reporter in “Section TV.”
Besides Song Joong-ki, “MBC’s “Section TV” also reviewed the career of another Hallyu star, Ryu Jun Yeol. A member of the shows panel noted that even if Song Joong-ki was an extra then, he was motivated and determined, citing his performance as the youngest of the 36 “flower boys” in the film “A Frozen Flower.”
Ryu Jun Yeol worked first as extra in short and independent movies before he appeared, still as a bit player, in KBS’s “Producer” with just two lines. From there, he was in “Reply 1988” and the movie “Socialphobia” shown in 2015.
It seems June 5 is Throwback Tuesday for Song Joong-ki whose school reunion photo surfaced online. IBTimes reported that Korean comedian Ryu Geun Ji shared on Saturday in his social media account his reunion with former schoolmates at Daejeon Sungmo Elementary School which included Song Joong-ki, actress Lee Eun Hye and one non-celebrity Moon Ah Young.