The Real Mozamussa Story of Koo Kyo-hwan You Didn't Know (feat. 10 Years of Obscurity)

"Behind the acting of someone who seems cheerful and light-hearted lies 10 years of waiting that only he knows."

One night in May 2022. A man stands on the stage of the 58th Baeksang Arts Awards. An actor receiving the Best New Actor award in the TV category for his role as Han Ho-yeol in Netflix's "D.P." He has become a massive trend, securing lead roles in blockbusters and numerous commercials.

His expression and acceptance speech are as laid-back and sly as always.

Looking at this single scene, he seems like a genius who acts more effortlessly than anyone else in Korea. Throwing out lines casually, his distinctive high-pitched voice, an acting tempo that breaks expectations. All of it somehow turns into a charming character.

However, he was already forty years old when he stood on this stage.

"If they won't cast me, I will cast myself."

Within this short sentence, the time he spent for nearly 10 years struggling to prove his uniqueness to the world is compressed.

Today, we follow five places where a man who seems like a suddenly-appeared superstar actor actually shrank in the face of his own individuality.

By the time this article ends, you will realize that behind the unrivaled charm of someone who looks special, there is a fierce period of proving oneself that only they know.

Place 1. The Classroom Where He Envied His Peers (Seoul Institute of the Arts, Film Department)

Source: Entertainment Geojunggi (Daum)

Born in 1982, Koo Kyo-hwan graduated from the Film Department of the Seoul Institute of the Arts.

He was different from ordinary aspiring actors. The biggest difference was his voice. His unique high pitch and distinct vocalization. In a classroom teaching acting, amidst peers showing off heavy, textbook vocalization, his voice was often considered a 'tone unsuited for an actor.'

The emotion he frequently felt in the classroom was distress. Should he fix his voice? Should he practice ordinary dramatic acting like everyone else? He often felt small in front of his individuality, which might have been a complex.

The truth he saw in this place was this: Being different from others feels like a weakness until it becomes a weapon. And enduring the period where it feels like a weakness is what ordinary people like us do.

Place 2. A Small Room Feeling Powerless While Waiting for Casting Calls (Late 2000s)

Source: Cine21

Right after graduation, he knocked on the doors of commercial films and theater stages. But even after debuting with the film "Boys" in 2008, there weren't many sets looking for him.

During the time he had no agency, even when he handed out profile pictures and auditioned, the result was always silence. The time in his room where there was nothing he could do but wait for others to contact him.

What he felt at this time was a massive wall. In the position of an actor—a job that is only established when chosen by someone—the time of the unchosen is utterly powerless.

Place 3. The Streets Where He Wandered to Get DVDs of His Own Appearances (Around 2013)

Source: Women's Generation (Yeoseong Shidae)

Instead of sitting and waiting, he jumped into playing minor roles in independent films. However, after appearing in a minor role, he often couldn't even see the final product to check his own acting. A time when no one paid particular attention to him.

Based on his experiences during this period, in 2013, he directed and starred in a short film titled "Why Independent Film Directors Do Not Give DVDs?". It was a decision that if no one would call him as a lead, he would grab the megaphone himself and make himself the lead.

The truth he saw at this time was twofold.

First, if others don't make a stage for you, you have to make it yourself. Second, the first person who must acknowledge your acting is yourself.

On the set of a short film that no one watched, he endured the positions of director and actor simultaneously.

Place 4. The Independent Film Studio Where He Met Director Lee Ok-seop (Since 2013)

Source: MBN

Around the time he was struggling to make films alone, he met someone. Lee Ok-seop, an alumni of the Seoul Institute of the Arts and an independent film director.

The two formed a creative group called '2X9HD'. Lee Ok-seop's '2' and Koo Kyo-hwan's '9'. Going beyond simple lovers, in this studio, they became each other's director, screenwriter, editor, and actor.

What he did in this studio is clear. He changed the position where he had to take responsibility for everything alone into a position shared with a colleague who matched his vibe. Saying "We may like different things, but we find the same things uncool (hu-jyeo)," the two wove their worlds together and poured out works like "A Romance Data" and "Fly to the Sky."

The truth he saw in this studio was this: When your individuality feels unfamiliar to the public, if you have just one colleague who recognizes it and builds a world with you, that place becomes a base camp to the next stage.

Place 5. An Empty Desk Even After Winning an Award for "Jane" (2016-2019)

Source: JTBC

In 2016, he perfectly pulled off the role of a transgender woman, 'Jane', in the film "Jane," receiving extreme praise from critics. Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival, Best New Actor in Film at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

He earned the title of 'idol of the independent film scene,' but the massive doors of popular cinema didn't open immediately. In the face of commercial film capital, his late 30s was a period where people doubted if his unique breathing and acting could work in the mainstream.

Three years where he gained critical acclaim, but his public recognition remained stagnant. He silently made 2X9HD's short films, refined his own acting tone, and endured that period.

One thing he showed is clear. Even when the stage doesn't open right after receiving the most glamorous trophy, only the person who protects their desk to the end, instead of anxiously throwing away their true colors, can seize the next opportunity.

Epilogue

We often use expressions like "late bloomer" or "a genius who appeared like a comet." These are lazy expressions that condense the process of someone who endured for a long time.

Koo Kyo-hwan's life shatters the illusion of these expressions.

The classroom where his voice was a complex, the room where casting calls never came, the streets where he begged for DVDs to see his acting, the 2X9HD studio combined with a colleague, the empty time in his late 30s waiting for the call of commercial films even after winning awards. The person who passed through these five periods is now sitting in the position of a megatrend dominating screens and OTT platforms.

One thing he showed is clear. Only the person who doesn't run away by abandoning their colors in the place where they look the most unfamiliar can eventually forge those colors into their most powerful weapon.

In the next part, we will follow the breakthrough process of how he, who stayed in the independent film scene until his late 30s, was cast as a villain in a commercial blockbuster and turned his uniqueness into a mainstream weapon.

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Micro-Mission

Today, think of one characteristic of yourself that you consider a complex. That trait you thought was a weakness because it was different from others. A voice, personality, or unique taste.

Try imagining the classroom or workplace where you felt small because of that trait. And write down what kind of position you will sit in when that trait becomes a 'weapon.'

Even the weakness you are most ashamed of becomes your most irreplaceable weapon if you endure and forge it.

Today, record that 'weakness' of yours as a single-line weapon. Where that line leads will be decided at your next seat.

Note: The factual relations in this newsletter are based on public reports and his interviews, including his real name Koo Kyo-hwan, born in 1982, graduated from the Seoul Institute of the Arts Film Department, early distress over his voice, the unknown days after his 2008 debut in "Boys", directing and starring in the 2013 short film "Why Independent Film Directors Do Not Give DVDs?", his long-term relationship with director Lee Ok-seop since 2013 and co-managing the '2X9HD' production (interview remarking "we find the same things uncool"), and continuing activities focused on independent films even after gaining critical attention and winning Best New Actor for "Jane" in 2016.