[Exclusive Interview] This Time, It’s a K-Dessert Variety Show! A Meet-Up with the Five Muses of “Bite Me Sweet” ③ Seong Seung-ha

It looked as if Seong Seung-ha had been walking the path of an acting prodigy. Having gone through Gyeonggi-do High School’s drama and film department and then Sungkyunkwan University’s Department of Acting Arts, from the web drama 〈Short Script〉 to tvN 〈Player2: The War of the Savvy〉, and 〈That Guy Is the Black Flame Dragon〉, and even BL drama 〈Love, in Ueeuiyeon-ae〉. By steadily building up his own strengths, and now just beginning to reveal his presence to the world, Seong Seung-ha said—somewhat surprisingly—that he had always been in the lower ranks. Even in high school. Even in university. According to what he said, since he didn’t have any natural gifts, he looked more closely than others; the more he fell behind, the more stubborn resolve he developed, and that’s how greed (ambition) attached itself, he explained.

​

Dreaming of becoming an actor who has “a positive influence,” Seong Seung-ha seemed to have a solid side somewhere, much like the image he aims for. As the saying went around for a while, he was “someone who doesn’t break easily.” He said he had no feelings of self-disgust, either. If anything, it seemed like he believed that was what brought him this far. On March 18, ahead of the release of the global variety show 〈Bite Me Sweet〉 (Bite Me Sweet, hereafter 〈Bamis〉), we translate the full conversation that CinePlay and Seong Seung-ha had together.

“I’m curious about what led to you joining 〈Bamis〉.”

When I heard the news that 〈Bamis〉—which streams on Viu, an OTT platform that represents Asia—would be produced in Korea, I had curiosity and longing because I’ve never been to Southeast Asia. And I really love sweets—so if it’s even a dessert variety show, I could probably eat a lot, which made me want to do it even more. (laughs)

​

“You said you’ve had a long history working part-time at a café. How did you get started working at a café?”

​

Because I like coffee and sweets, I thought that if I was going to work a part-time job, I should try it at a café—so that’s how it started. But as I kept doing it, I ended up working at one place for close to three years. Besides cafés, I also did various jobs: distributing flyers, working in restaurants, hotel front desk work, and even part-time work managing and selling items at a hand-cream shop.

​

Despite having café part-time experience, during the real-work training for 〈Bamis〉, I teamed up with Ms. Bae Min-gi to make desserts with salmon roe, kimchi, and strawberries—though, to be honest, she basically did almost everything. (laughs)

​

I went at it with passion. (laughs) Since I was getting slightly outmatched by skill, I thought, “Let’s go with momentum and guts.” Honestly, I didn’t feel confident that I could combine salmon roe, kimchi, and strawberries and make something delicious, so I decided to go in with momentum, creativity, and planning.

​

It feels like there’s a kind of amusing charm in you that’s both serious and—somehow—unexpected. While introducing yourself on 〈Bamis〉, you played “Wheels on the Bus” on a pink recorder. Something went wrong, and your awkward skill got exposed—but.

​

Let me use this moment to say it outright: I absolutely did not intentionally make mistakes. It was the real deal. I practiced every day for a week, trying to pull it off perfectly. But of all times, I ended up hitting an off-note, which was disappointing. (laughs) The reason I bought a pink recorder was that when I went to a stationery shop, there just happened to be only pink ones.

​

〈Bamis〉 is a competition survival show where famous pâtissiers from across Southeast Asia and Korean celebrities team up as pairs—two people to a team—to create new desserts using K-style ingredients. What was the chemistry like with the pâtissier you worked with as your partner?

​

I can’t reveal who she is right now, but she liked combining her country’s techniques with Korean flavors. She also made Korean-style desserts by combining lots of authentic homegrown ingredients. At one point, we were eating meat together, and she got an inspiration and reflected it in the dessert. The result was really harmonious and tasted great, so I thought, “So she truly understands Korea really well.”

​

Then, as a new actor, I’ll ask about your life. When did you start dreaming of being an actor? I heard you did taekwondo for 10 years.

I did taekwondo from when I was 7 until middle school, third year. There was a reason it started. A girl who was the same age as me in my neighborhood kept poking me. There’s still a scar near my eye from that time. My parents were upset and suggested taekwondo, and after that, I did it for 10 years. In middle school, the head instructor asked if I wanted to try being an athlete, but my parents didn’t want me to get hurt, so I stopped. Back then, I loved watching movies and dramas, so that’s when I became interested in acting, and I started looking into drama high school (art high school).

​

You took the route of drama high school and then Sungkyunkwan University’s Department of Acting Arts. It seems like you’ve steadily walked the “proper” path of an actor.

​

To be honest, I was always in the lower ranks at both drama high school and university. Even if I worked hard, other people worked harder. Natural talent matters too, but I don’t think I had any. So I always felt like a frog in a well. At drama high school and in college, I was the kind of person who kept settling into reality thinking, “If I just do a little, it’ll be fine.” I kept getting knocked out in auditions and feeling disappointed, so I came to think, “With this, I can’t grow.” Because the results weren’t good, my stubborn resolve and hunger grew even more. So I wanted to get better and better at acting, and that made me keep looking inward, and I started to like it more. It feels like I developed greed (ambition).

​

Then, first of all, if we recall the moment when your acting was recognized by others—what would that be?

​

The professor said he wanted to put on a special performance and told us to come out on weekend early mornings. Out of 20 classmates, 18 raised their hands saying they wanted to do it, but when morning finally came and we got there, no one showed up. I thought, “This is my chance!” We put on a play with 〈Crime and Punishment〉 as the theme, and since I was the only one there, I ended up playing the main role. The professor told me to memorize A4-sized, 10 pages of lines by the next day. It was really “Sparta.” And after putting on that performance, I got my first A+. Including high school, that was the first time I earned first place. I learned the lesson that, “If you’re sincere, you’ll eventually win,” and “The one who works hard is the one who ultimately wins.”

​

As a new actor, you’ll probably go to a lot of auditions. Is there a special mindset you bring to auditions, or a signature move that’s uniquely yours?

​

It’s really hard, but if I get too greedy, I end up getting tense, so I have to lock in. I think I need to have a reasonable level of ambition and be prepared well. If I had to say a signature move, it would be finding the points in the script where you can do something different from others. That’s why they say the “you” in you becomes more memorable.

​

Among your filmography so far, what character is the most similar to you? In the web drama 〈Short Script〉, you appeared as the role “Ha Seung”—a role made by reversing your own name—so it made me think maybe it’s a part that reflects you the most.

​

That’s right. I pay close attention to the people around me. I have good instincts for noticing small details—if someone looks uncomfortable, it’s ingrained in me to approach them and take care of them. The Ha Seung character moves with that kind of mindset too, so it just felt like showing “me.” I don’t know whether the other person is approaching with genuine goodwill or coming at you like a fox, but my reactions to it seem similar.

​

Meanwhile, Jin-hwan in 〈Love, in Ueeuiyeon-ae〉 is a completely different person from your personality. You had to show acting that’s different from the everyday-life acting you did in 〈Short Script〉, so it seems like you must have done a lot of research.

When I went to the audition, I thought I’d be cast in the lead (the one who’s driving it), but when I got selected, it turned out I’d be doing the opposite, so at first I was thrown off. That’s because I felt like the charm in me leading might be slightly less. I worried a lot about what kind of gestures and facial expressions I’d need to make myself look like that kind of person. Also, there were really many emotional scenes, and since both the co-star and the director were new as well, all three of us had ambition. We met, kept repeating practice, tried different approaches, and looked for answers.

​

Didn’t you also sing the OST for 〈Love, in Ueeuiyeon-ae〉? And in 〈Player2: The War of the Savvy〉, you also took on the role of an idol. Were you always interested in songs and dance?

​

During the college entrance process, besides acting, you also had to demonstrate special skills like dance or singing. I naturally set singing aside. Since my level in both dance and singing wasn’t top-tier, I figured I had to do something. So I forced myself to take on dance. I made choreography using only arm-stretching movements with as little body movement as possible. When I sang the OST for 〈Love, in Ueeuiyeon-ae〉, I leaned on autotune a lot too. (laughs) In 〈Player2〉, since the team members had older relatives who were actual idols, we practiced dance for 6 hours a day. That’s when I first realized, “So there are things that even hard work can’t fix.” (laughs) Even so, you captured it well enough that I didn’t come off like I’m tone-deaf. But from my perspective, I still feel like I probably couldn’t dance well enough, so it’s a bit disappointing.

Seong Seung-ha’s voice tone is very impressive. It’s a low tone, and his speaking style is calm. After he started acting, did you adjust and refine your voice tone?

When I hear the lines I did before, my voice sounded extremely thin. After I went to the military, everything changed a lot. I served as an assistant instructor, and because I had to have weight to my voice, it seems like I kept using that kind of voice without even realizing it. So it naturally became thicker, and settled into a calmer place.

​

As a new actor, you’ll be rotating your profile cards a lot. I’m curious about Seong Seung-ha’s profile. What’s written in your profile? Things like special skills and hobbies.

​

Right now, there’s nothing special, but if I could write something, it would be my regional dialect. Because I’m from Busan. I haven’t really tried dialect acting, so someday I really want to do it. But since I learned Seoul speech, it feels like I’ve forgotten my dialect. When I go back to Busan, my friends say it’s cringey that I’m using too much Seoul speech. (laughs)

​

Do you have a role model as an actor?

​

Sun-joong-ki senior. He’s also a SUNGKYUNKWAN University senior, and he filmed a Seongdae magazine feature. It’s not like I’m bragging, but I did too. Since Sun-joong-ki senior made a lot of changes even back when he was a rookie—showing everything from innocent roles to passionate variety show personalities, and also charisma as an actor—I want to show those kinds of diverse changes too.

​

Then what kind of image do you want to embody as an actor?

​

I want to become an actor who can have a good influence. Environmentally and socially, I want to bring a positive influence. Doesn’t becoming famous give words more power? Like Leonardo DiCaprio, I often think I want to use that power for good.