South Korean actor Gong Yoo, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, yesterday expressed surprise at his popularity among Taiwanese fans and said he should have come earlier in his career.
The star of the hit South Korean film Train to Busan arrived in Taiwan on Thursday for a four-day visit and is scheduled to meet fans at Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City today in an event hosted by Mickey Huang (黃子佼).
The 5,500 tickets for today’s event were sold out within 10 minutes of going on sale on March 25, the organizers said.
Photo: CNA
Gong said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday that he was surprised when he heard the tickets had been snapped up so quickly.
Although he was once told by a Taiwanese fan at an event in Japan that he has many Taiwanese fans, he was still somewhat skeptical, until now.
“When I heard the tickets had sold out, I came to believe what the fan told me,” Gong said through an interpreter. “I feel I’ve waited too long to come here. I’m really sorry about that.”
The 37-year-old model-turned-actor made his acting debut in the South Korean TV series School 4 in 2001.
His breakout role came in The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, a 2007 TV drama that became a hit.
After a bit of a lull in his career, Gong rose to international stardom when he starred in last year’s horror-thriller Train to Busan, which tells the story of a group of terrified passengers on a suspicion-filled, blood-drenched train ride during a nationwide outbreak of a mysterious virus.
Gong plays a fund manager who sacrifices his life to save his daughter and other passengers on the train.
He also starred in the TV drama series Guardian: The Lonely and Great God last year, which was hugely popular across Asia.
Commenting on the phenomenal success of the film and TV series, Gong said he did not expect them to be such a big success when he took on the roles and felt lucky to have gotten the parts.
He said he would work harder to be a better actor and would like to play the role of a bad guy, which would be a new experience for him.
Gong wraps up his visit to Taiwan tomorrow.
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