[News] Veteran Stuntwoman Has Grown Up with the Job.

[News] Veteran Stuntwoman Has Grown Up with the Job.
Cr. - http://english.chosun.com/

Cho Joo-hyun is a veteran stunt woman with a career spanning over 17 years. The 40-year old, who stands 165 cm tall and weighs 51 kg, has appeared in hundreds of films, TV series and commercials. There are only 10 women among some 200 stunt doubles in Korea, and Cho is the only woman who has been working in the field for more than a decade.

"I've come this far because I tried hard not to be picked on for being a woman", she says.

Her job is a calling. A gymnast in middle and high school, she gave up although she enjoyed it because she felt she was not good enough. She then became an aerobics instructor, but it was a coincidental recommendation by her brother-in-law, who was working in film industry, that introduced her to the world of stunt acting, and it became her career.

When she started, she struggled financially. "At the time, nobody knew that there existed a stuntwoman, so naturally, there was no work for me. So I had to sustain myself by working as many part-time jobs as possible", she says. But she persisted, biding her time by exercising and training every day. On lucky days, she would get a call and go out to the set, but she went through severe physical difficulties. Every time she had to hang on wire, get hit by a car, or fall from a horse, and injuries were simply unavoidable.



Why doesn't she leave this job when she has to risk her life at all times? "I like the people and the field", is her simple answer. What particularly bound her to them was the 2003 MBC TV drama "Damo". "They truly treated me like a star for the nine months of shooting", she recalls. Most of the times, the stunt team stay out of spotlight because they appear only in action scenes. But she was thoroughly moved by the crew, who gave her due recognition and support.

Since then, Cho has made her name as the stunt double for actress Ha Ji-won, who played a lead role in "Damo", and the demand for stuntwomen has increased. Early in her career, it was rare to do one project per year, but now she gets four proposals a day.

It was on the set that she met her lifetime companion, who was the martial arts director of her stunt team in 2006. The treatment that stuntwomen get has greatly improved since 17 years ago. They are recognized as professionals, and the wages have gone up. Cho's philosophical take on the profession has changed. In the past, she would work as hard as possible not to fall behind men, but now she tries to accentuate her femininity. "Even when I do kicks, I highlight the feminine line. It's necessary to think about what only stuntwomen can do, and constantly study positions".

She has been building her career nonstop until the age of 40, but now she thinks it may be time to take a long-deserved break. She finished filming her first film as a lead actress, directed by her husband, and is waiting for the release next year. After that, she plans to have a baby.

Would she continue as a stuntwoman after giving birth to a baby? "Definitely", she says without hesitation. "I want to grow old as a stuntwoman who has withstood the adversities of the job".