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Oct
02
2008

Choi Jin-Shil Found Dead

Posted by X at 12:25am.

Posted in Film News , Asia.

Sad, sad day for Korean entertainment.

The very talented Choi Jin-Shil (40) was found dead today in her house in Seoul, police treating this as suicide. Choi was recently involved in a pretty touchy situation—mostly handled by the Korean press in bulldozer fashion as they always do—after the death of fellow entertainer Ahn Jae-Hwan, who took his life a few weeks ago in similar fashion. Don’t really feel like getting into details, but let’s just say Choi and Ahn’s wife, TV mainstay Jung Seon-Hee, were close friends, and apparently lending money to a friend makes you a loan shark. Just a look at the various news that are popping up all over the various portals, and we get frankly what are some way too cruel details on the seconds and hours leading to the tragedy. Choi had a hard but successful comeback into the business after her divorce with baseball player Jo Sung-Min, and is survived by her two young daughters.

It’s no secret that, despite her dubious choice of projects, I always liked Choi as an actress. She starred in some of the most enjoyable films and dramas of the 90s, like the ridiculously fun family drama 장미와 콩나물 (Roses & Beansprouts), or what’s still the best portrayal of the IMF crisis starting from the grass roots, 그대 그리고 나 (You and I). Choi, who started with a small role in the 1988 sageuk 한중록 (The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong), mixed very breezy work on TV—the first ever Korean trendy drama, 질투 (Jealousy) in 1992, with an eclectic choice of films, such as Lee Myung-Se’s 나의 사랑 나의 신부 (My Love, My Bride) or Jung Ji-Young’s fantastic 남부군 (Partisans of South Korea). She rarely strayed off the mainstream, but was always a really solid performer, even when the material wasn’t much to write home about, like her last drama 내 생애 마지막 스캔들 (The Last Scandal of My Life)—a title which suddenly makes you sad, all considered.

It’s really horrible writing these things, so I’ll just stop. All I can say is, thank you for everything, and you shall be missed. Rest in peace.

[Naver]

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Reader Comments

  1. pochiW 10/02/2008 @ 1:22am

    RIP Choi Jin-shil (shock…prayers.) X your previous article on her was “Disappearance” movie. This presumably never went into production?

  2. X 10/02/2008 @ 1:29am

    It did. Just not with her. I think it’s starring Moon Sung-Geun and Chu Ja-Hyeon.

  3. thunderbolt 10/02/2008 @ 2:19am

    ”...apparently lending money to a friend makes you a loan shark.”

    It’s sickening, isn’t it?  People responsible for all those ridiculous conjectures should just go stick their heads into a cesspit.  My blood boils too at all the damning pronouncements by holier-than-thou know-it-alls.  If she was clear-headed, if she could rationalize, she wouldn’t have ended her life.  So stop judging her!  This is a time for grieving, not for proselytizing. 

    Rest in peace, Choi Jin-shil.  You must have hurt more than anyone could imagine.  You were so courageous for so long, but the time came when you could no longer hang on.  Unless we have walked in your shoes, we will never understand what you were feeling and going through.  Farewell.  We miss you already.

  4. X 10/02/2008 @ 2:37am

    It’s the Korean media, no surprise there. They’re a bunch of vultures.

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