Jin Ki Joo: Korean Actress on True Education & Strength

Actress Jin Ki-joo revealed in an interview celebrating the release of the Netflix original series 'The Bequeathed' that she has walked a path of choices driven by "liking and being drawn to it." While she calls herself an "​animal of forgetting," she explained that behind that lies intense effort and a strong sense of responsibility.

In 'The Bequeathed,' Jin Ki-joo plays Im Han-rim, a former special forces officer who fearlessly charges forward to protect education. 'The Bequeathed' is based on a webtoon of the same name and is set against the backdrop of the Teachers' Rights Protection Bureau, an organization created to safeguard the crumbling education system. Since its release, the series has gained popularity, topping Netflix's 'Top 10 Series in Korea Today' and ranking first globally for non-English TV shows.

Jin Ki-joo expressed her awareness of the show's popularity, finding it novel that even friends she hadn't been in touch with were reaching out. She was particularly surprised by overseas fans who showed interest by researching her past career.

Having played a contract teacher in her previous work, Jin Ki-joo took on a character of a different texture in 'The Bequeathed,' portraying a Teachers' Rights Protection Bureau supervisor who protects the vulnerable. For this role, she had to express rough action based on Jeet Kune Do and an inner strength hardened by overcoming past pain. Although she felt fear when she first received the script, she approached the training with the thought, "​I need to practice more and elevate my performance so the director doesn't look worried."

Jin Ki-joo immediately began action training without a break as soon as her previous project wrapped up, and even on days without filming, she visited the practice room daily to engage in physical training. The driving force that enabled her to endure the arduous training process was respect for those who live intensely in real-life situations, deep trust in the director and writer, and the 'dream team' of senior actors she worked with.