Dohee: From ‘Tiny Giant’ To ‘Yeosu’s Ambassador’ [Interview]

Tiny G's Dohee expresses her happiness in no shortage of words, saying, "It's amazing how I wanted to be known as 'Yeosu's Ambassador' just a year ago. I've fulfilled that goal by taking that role in 'Respond 1994', and it feels like a dream come true."

Dohee's debut was in August of 2012 with the idol group Tiny-G (Tiny Giants). Her first interview was for the promotion of Tiny-G's single, "MINIMANIMO". Like the name implies, the members were short, but they were also very memorable and left strong impressions. They didn't receive the spotlight with their single, but they were bound to be great. Dohee's love for her hometown Yeosu was especially memorable - she said in her first invterview that she wanted to be Yeosu's ambassador.

Less than a year later, her dream of being an ambassador of her hometown Yeosu came true through her role in "Respond 1994". She played Jo Yoon Jin, a college student from Yeosu, and was critically acclaimed for perfectly portraying the role of a college student who is new to the city life. Dohee's accent and the fact that she is actually from Yeosu herself helped her land the role.

Dohee said that she lost about 8 pounds for the role. Her success brought not only personal acclaims but also a lot of attention to her group, Tiny-G. Her acting was what drew people in - her Yeosu accent was spot on, and it worked perfectly for her role in "Respond 1994".

Of attaining the role, Dohee said, "My manager set up the audition for me, and I went into it without any previous experience as an actress. My manager just told me to show off my accent. I did exactly that, but I didn't hear back from the producers for about two months. Just when I gave up, I received a call from the writer and the director of 'Respond 1994'. We spoke for about two hours, and they said 'let's do it'. It still wasn't clear to me whether I got the role, but that was their confirmation."

Previous to her role in "Respond 1994", Dohee only worked on singing and dancing for her debut with Tiny-G. Naturally, she decided to take acting lessons for her role, but the producer asked her to not take the classes because her raw acting was so natural. Dohee was born in 1994, so she had to ask around to learn what it was like in 1994. She learned and began to love Seotaiji's music. She even had her first kiss while filming "Respond 1994".

Dohee spoke on these subjects, saying, "My dad thought that I was convincing as a 39 year old married woman in the drama, but my mom told me that it was too much of a stretch, since I was only 19 at the time of filming. My friends were more excited about my first kiss, which was with my partner Kim Sung Kyun. Previous to that, I never even had my face near a guy's face, so it was pretty nerve wracking. Sung Kyun apologized profusely because he thought he was robbing me of a first kiss, but it wasn't too big of a deal. It made us much better friends afterwards (laughter)."

Dohee's love of Yeosu was apparent even when she was just a rookie with Tiny-G. She said that she would do anything to better her hometown and openly stated that she wanted to represent Yeosu. She's done exactly that.

"I'm glad that I became popular with my role in 'Respond 1994' because I'm happy that Yeosu is again on people's minds and because our group Tiny-G is in the spotlight. It's amazing because I am receiving so much love as an actress. I screen-capture every time I'm on the front page of a news site."

Dohee confessed that even though her fame makes her happy, she also feels a lot of pressure about her next career move. She is currently working on a new album with her group Tiny-G. She said that she is now the tallest member of the group because she grew 1 cm taller than the rest of the group. She now stands at 152cm.

Dohee concluded the interview by speaking her heart, saying, "I was lucky to be cast for this role. It was completely because of my accent. I can't depend on my accent to continue to get me new roles, so I am very worried about my acting career. I should start taking classes and really start learning about acting. I want to pursue it because so many fans have given me love through acting. At the same time, I know that I can't be selfish and I need to devote time for our new album with my group."

Tags
Tiny G
dohee
respond 1994
Seotaiji
Kim Sung-kyun
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