South Korean actress (born 1941)
Na Moon-hee (Korean: 나문희; Na Kyung-ja, Korean: 나경자; November 30, 1941) is a South Korean actress. Since 1960, Na has had a prolific acting career in television and film spanning more than five decades. She established a classic Korean mother persona with her TV dramas Even if the Wind Blows, The Most Beautiful Goodbye in the World (written by Noh Hee-kyung),[3] My Name is Kim Sam-soon, My Rosy Life, Goodbye Solo,[4] Amnok River Flows (based on Der Yalu fließt), and It's Me, Grandma.[5] On the big screen, Na has received acclaim for her roles in Crying Fist,[6] You Are My Sunshine, Cruel Winter Blues[7] and I Can Speak. Her critically acclaimed film I Can Speak (2017) won her the Best Actress trophy in three prestigious award ceremonies: 54th Baeksang Arts Awards, 38th Blue Dragon Film Awards and 55th Grand Bell Awards — a feat that has yet to be repeated.[8]
After a series of comic roles in sitcoms such as Unstoppable High Kick!,[9] the veteran actress garnered newfound popularity and played the title character in big screen comedy Mission Possible: Kidnapping Granny K,[10] followed by starring roles in Girl Scout,[11] Harmony,[12][13] Twilight Gangsters,[14] and Miss Granny.[15]
She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from MBC in 2010, and the prestigious Bo-gwan Order of Cultural Merit in 2012.[16][17][18]
Early life
Na Kyung-ja was born on November 30, 1941, in Beijing, China and grew up there until she was 5 years old. Her family came to Korea in the year of liberation, and once spent their childhood in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do. Her aunt is Na Hye-seok, the first female western painter in Korea, and her brother-in-law is actor Jeong Seung-ho.[19][20]
Career
In 1960, Na Moon-hee started her career onstage. In 1961, she debuted as a voice actor in the first public recruitment of MBC. Because of her longing for acting, she changed her job from a voice actor to a talent, and in 1976, she first appeared in a drama in Korea's first omnibus daily soap opera, High School Alumni. Afterwards, she played numerous roles in various works until the early 1990s, but she did not shine as an actor for a long time.[21][22]
It was the KBS daily drama 'Even the Wind Blows', which was broadcast in 1995, that imprinted the name Na on people. She took on the role of a resolute grandmother who spoke a North Korean dialect, and the North Korean dialect acting she learned from a North Korean woman living in the neighborhood was deeply embedded in the minds of Korean viewers. Her presence shined through in her play and she was honored at the KBS Drama Awards, the first trophy of her own acting life. Not only she, but also with the same work, she achieved the feat of sweeping the Popularity Award in the TV category at the 32nd Baeksang Arts Awards and the Female Talent Award at the 23rd Korea Broadcasting Awards the following year.[21][23]
Afterwards, she gained great popularity by transforming into an authoritative CEO in My Lovely Sam Soon (2005), a nasty mother-in-law in My Rosy Life (2005), and a dancing grandmother in Famous Chil Princesses (2006). She also acted in films, for her role in the 2005 film Crying Fist, for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 42nd Grand Bell Awards. She later won the 7th Female Filmmaker of the Year Award, the 4th Max Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress Award, the 1st Korea Film Awards for Best Supporting Actress Award, She swept trophies including Best Supporting Actress at the 28th Blue Dragon Film Awards.[23]
In 2006, with the family sitcom Unstoppable High Kick, it was so popular that it would not be an exaggeration to say that 2007 was the year of Na Moon-hee and reached its second heyday. In particular, the so-called 'pumpkin sweet potato' anger scene was greatly loved by the younger generation, and is still used as a source of numerous parodies. Even after that , she played the role of Mrs. Kwon Sun-bun who controls the kidnappers in the movie Mission Possible: Kidnapping Granny K (2007), played the role of Kim Moon-ok, the oldest inmate with a heartbreaking story in Harmony (2010), and traveled to Hawaii in Flesh-blooded gun robber (2010). She played the role of Kim Jung-ja, a bank robber who occupies a bank to raise money, and Oh Mal-soon, a swearing 70-year-old grandmother who boasts her son, in Miss Granny (2014), which drew attention with 8.65 million viewers nationwide.
In the 2016 drama Dear My Friends, she performed with veteran actors such as Kim Yeong-ok, Shin Goo, Kim Hye-ja, Go Doo-sim, Yoon Yeo-jeong, and Park Won-sook, and received favorable reviews for showing the life of an old age that draws sympathy from all generations and received a lot of love.[19][24]
In the movie I Can Speak (2017), in which she co-starred with Lee Je-hoon, she took on the role of Ok-bun, who is called 'goblin grandmother' among the officials of the ward office due to frequent complaints to the ward office, and took on the historically sensitive subject of 'comfort women'. was praised for excellent expression in Na Moon-hee's own way. At the end of the year, she swept the 'Best Actress Award' at major awards ceremonies such as The Seoul Awards, Korean Film Critics Association Awards , and Blue Dragon Film Awards , and she was re-evaluated as the best actress of 2017.[25]
Captivating audiences in each work with her outstanding acting skills as well as sincere emotional expressions that resonate deeply in the heart, she is considered one of the 'national actors' and 'national mothers' actress loved by Korea both in name and reality, and as a representative role model for actresses.[25]
Personal life
Na is married and has three daughters.[26]
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Bogwan Order of Cultural Merit (2012)