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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Entertainment
Michael Ordoña

'Pachinko' actress knows her character's troubles because her grandmother lived them

No, she doesn't mind moving to another room. The shots they got with her sitting on the bathroom counter were probably gold, but the photographer has other ideas for this swanky suite at L'Ermitage Beverly Hills. The shooter directs the actress to sprawl on the bed, click click click. The subject does so with ease, her face never betraying discomfort, her body never tense. In the front room, she contorts slightly so the lens might catch her reflection in a table mirror, cool confidence never waning. Click click click.

Minha Kim, the 26-year-old Korean actress with a few previous TV credits in her homeland, plays Sunja in the buzzy Apple TV+ series "Pachinko." In a cast that includes Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung and Korean heartthrob Lee Minho, she's the lead, and she is ready for her close-up.

"When I was a little girl, I was very timid, inconspicuous," she says later, accepting extra pillows to make herself comfortable on the couch. "I was shy, really, really shy. Whenever I had to speak in front of a lot of people, I'd sweat a lot. I was shivering like this. So nervous.

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