Ock Joo-hyun

Ock Joo-hyun (Korean: 옥주현; sometimes spelled Ock Ju-hyun; born March 20, 1980) is a South Korean singer and musical theatre actress, known mostly for her role as the lead singer of the South Korean girl group Fin.K.L. After their unofficial breakup in 2002, Ock released three solo albums and has participated in musicals, namely Aida, Chicago, Cats, 42nd Street, and The Count of Monte Cristo.[1]

In this Korean name, the family name is Ock.
Ock Joo-hyun
Background information
Birth nameOck Joo-hyun
Also known asOck Ju-hyun, Oak Joo Hyun, Ok Joo Hyun
Born (1980-03-20) March 20, 1980
Seoul, South Korea
OriginSouth Korea
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active1998–present
Labels
Associated actsFin.K.L
Websiteockjuhyun.net
Ock Joo-hyun
Hangul
옥주현
Hanja
Revised RomanizationOk Ju-hyeon
McCune–ReischauerOk Chuhyŏn

Career

As a member of Fin.K.L
Main article: Fin.K.L

Fin.K.L debuted in 1998 with DSP Entertainment and quickly became popular, catapulting all its members into stardom. Ock served as the lead singer for Fin.K.L until it became inactive as a group in 2002; she has since taken part in Fin.K.L's digital single "Fine Killing Liberty" in fall of 2005, including filming the music video.

Solo music

Starting her solo career summer in 2003, Ock came out with a ballad called "난..." ("Nan...", meaning "I..."), which entered the top 10 of Korean music charts. By her second album, which came out late fall in 2004, the public was startled by the sudden change in appearance, as she had experienced a significant weight loss; Ock attributed to her intense yoga training. Her popularity rose and she was able to perform on various music shows for a lengthy period with her singles "Catch" and "Sweet Rainyday".

Her third album, titled Remind, was released on June 12, 2008 The first single off the album is "Honey", which is a departure from her previous singles as it incorporates R&B. She began her comeback performances the following weekend on the major TV music shows.

Her next album, "Reflection" was released in 2013. In 2014, Ock partnered with musical composer and director Frank Wildhorn, with whom she worked together in the musical "Monte Cristo", to release an English language album titled "Gold" with popular musical numbers.[2]

Other works

In addition to launching three albums, Ock has worked as a radiostation DJ for MBC, and as an MC for Korean networks SBS, MBC, and KBS. She has also received an award for "Best Radio DJ" during the MBC awards of 2005. She obtained the main role in the Korean version of Tim Rice's musical Aida, starting on August 27, 2005.

Ock has also done television work as a permanent member on various variety shows. In addition to being one of the main girls on Heroine 5, she was a part of Goldfish, an MBC TV show, in 2006. She was featured in the first season of MBC's reality program, "I am a Singer" with other veteran stars of Korean music. She was voted first place for her rendition of "1000 days", and also sang Korean ballad "Love is Gone", "Man is Ship, Woman is Harbor" and a re-make of fellow Fin.K.L member Lee Hyori's "U-Go Girl".[3]

Ock has continued to further her "yoga celebrity" career, even helping to open up a yoga studio. She also released her own yoga VHS, DVD. More recently she published a new book about maintaining fitness of mind and body.[4]

In March 2009, it was revealed that Ock would be teaching classes in music at Dong Seoul College.[1] She also appeared in Tony Hawk's pro skater 2 as a playable character.

Musical actor

Ock has received much success as one of the most popular leading ladies of Korean musical theater. Often, she is described as a charismatic leading lady with high ticket power. Today she is renowned almost more for her presence as a musical actress than her days as a pop-icon and singer.[2]

She debuted in the role of Aida as the lead role in 2005. Many praised her strong vocals but were intensely critical of acting as well as her status as a former k-pop idol.[5] When she returned to the role again in 2010 she fell ill and was unable to make one of the shows. The production only featured a single cast and no understudies or standbys were used during the run. Due to this, the show was cancelled and many people complained at the oversight of the situation, Ock was then blamed for the incident despite the company being at fault.[6] The following year she starred in Chicago and was met with better reviews saying that her acting had improved.

In 2010, she appeared in the Count of Monte Cristo in the main role of Mercedes. She appeared as the leading female role in the Korean adaptation of Das Musical: Elisabeth, opposite JYJ's Junsu in 2012.[7] She received a Best Actress Golden Ticket Award and Korean Musical Award for this role. She followed these acclaimed adaptations of European musical theater into a new role as "Mrs. Danvers" in the musical "Rebecca," inspired by Hitchcock's movie of the same name. Playing a slightly unhinged and dark character, Ock showed a new side of herself and was rewarded with great popularity among audiences and received the 2013 Korean Musical Award for Best Actress in a supporting role.[8]

In 2014, Ock starred as Elphaba in the first Korean production of "Wicked the Musical"[9] and also reprises the role of Danvers in "Rebecca" due to its popularity in South Korea. Starting in November 2014 Ock began her role as Marie Antoinette, in the musical Marie Antoinette at Charlotte Theater in Seoul, South Korea.[10]

In 2016, Ock starred in her first original role with Mata Hari. It was also the first original musical from EMK Musical Company which was created in collaboration with Frank Wildhorn.[11] He had stated that she had been one of the main inspirations for the character and songs of Mata Hari,[12] and had sung high praises of her performances in his other musicals such as The Count of Monte Cristo.[13] She later reprised her role in the 2017 production which had since been revised.

In 2018, Ock was cast as Anna Karenina (along with Jeong Sun Ah) for the Korean premiere. Prior to that, she travelled to Russia to meet the cast and crew of the Russian production that was opening before her own run. She appeared at the curtain call for opening night, and sang a trio with Ekaterina Guseva (Anna Karenina) and Sergey Lee (Alexey Vronsky).[14]

Theatre
Theatre Credits
Year Production Role Venue Dates Notes
2005 Aida Aida LG Arts Center 2005.08.23–2006.04.20 First Korean-language production
2007 Chicago Roxie Hart Sejong Center 2007.09.18–2007.09.30 First Korean-language production
2008 Chicago Roxie Hart National Theater of Korea 2008.07.10–2008.08.30
Cats Grizabella Charlotte Theater 2008.09.19–2009.01.18
2009 42nd Street Peggy Sawyer LG Arts Center 2009.07.21–2009.08.30
Chicago Roxie Hart Seongnam Arts Center 2009.06.09–2009.06.25
2010 Chicago Roxie Hart Seongnam Arts Center 2010.01.09–2010.02.28
The Count of Monte Cristo Mercedes Universal Arts Center 2010.04.21–2010.06.13 Korean Premiere Production
Aida Aida Seongnam Arts Center 2010.12.14–2011.03.27 Single casting only*
2011 The Count of Monte Cristo Mercedes Chungmu Arts Center 2011.03.01–2011.04.24
Guys and Dolls Adelaide LG Arts Center 2011.08.02–2011.09.18
2012 Elisabeth das Musical Elisabeth Blue Square Interpark Hall 2012.02.08–2012.05.13 Korean Premiere Production
Rudolf das Musical; The Last Kiss Mary Vertesera Chungmu Arts Center 2012.11.10–2013.01.27 Korean Premiere Production
2013 Rebecca das Musical Mrs Danvers LG Arts Center 2013.01.12–2013.03.31 Korean Premiere Production
Elisabeth das Musical Elisabeth Seoul Arts Center Opera Center 2013.07.26–2013.09.07
Wicked Elphaba Thropp Charlotte Theater 2013.11.22–2014.05.31 First Korean-language Production
2014 Rebecca das Musical Mrs Danvers Blue Square Interpark Hall 2014.09.06–2014.11.09
Marie Antoinette das Musical Marie Antoinette Charlotte Theater 2014.11.1–2015.02.08 Korean Premiere Production and premiere of a new version of Marie Antoinette
2015 Elisabeth das Musical Elisabeth Blue Square Interpark Hall 2015.06.13–2015.09.06
2016 Mata Hari Mata Hari Blue Square Interpark Hall 2016.03.25–2016.06.12 World Premiere Production
Sweeney Todd Mrs Lovett Charlotte Theater 2016.06.21–2016.10.03
2017 The Bridges of Madison County Francesca Johnson Chungmu Arts Center 2017.04.15–2017.06.18 Korean Premiere Production, Single casting only*
Mata Hari Mata Hari Sejong Center 2017.06.16–2017.08.06
Rebecca das Musical Mrs Danvers Blue Square Interpark Hall 2017.08.10–2017.11.18
2018 Anna Karenina Anna Karenina Seoul Arts Center Opera House 2018.01.10–2018.02.25 Korean Premiere Production
Elisabeth das Musical Elisabeth Blue Square Interpark Hall 2018.11.17–2019.02.10
2019 Sweeney Todd Mrs Lovett Charlotte Theater 2019.10.02–2020.01.27
Rebecca Mrs Danvers Chungmu Arts Center 2019.11.16- 2020.03.15

* Note: Most, if not all, large scale Korean Musicals are generally double or triple cast for a role. The actors share the role equally and alternate throughout the eight show week.

Concerts
Year Title Dates Venue Notes
2011 Ock Joo Hyun 1st Concert 2011.12.11 Blue Square Interpark Hall
2013 K-Musical Stars Concert 2013.09.20 LG Arts Center With Im Tae Kyung, Kim Seung Dae, and Kai/Jeong Ki Yeol
2015 Promise 2015 2014.12.31 Sejong Center With Im Tae Kyung, Im So Ha, Min Young Ki, Shin Young Sook, Jeon Dong Seok
2016 vOKal; 10th Anniversary COncert 2016.01.22–01.23 Blue Square Interpark Hall Celebrating her 10th anniversary from her debut as a musical actress. The title is purposefully misspelt and capitalised to highlight "OK" which refers to her romanised last name.
Memories The Musical Concert 2016.10.28

2016.11.11

 With Lee Ji Hoon
2017 The Musical Festival in Galaxy 2017.09.10 Nanji Hangang Park
2018 vOKal Concert 2018.03.17–03.18 LG Arts Center
Bigroof Musical Concert 2018.06.02 Busan Cinema Center With Park Eun Tae, Lee Gun Myung, and Lee Ji Hye
To Fly Higher 2018.07.14–07.15 LOTTE Concert Hall Celebrating her 20th anniversary from her debut in the entertainment industry, which started with her debut in the Kpop group Fin.K.L. The title of the show is a play on words with "her" being highlighted in the word higher.
Music of the Night 2018.11.09 Anseong Art Hall With Lee Gun Myung, Lee Ji Hoon, and Lee Ji Hye
TOYOTA CLASSICS Hybrid for Music 2018.11.14 Seoul Arts Center
HAF Festival 2018.11.30–2018.12.01
2019 Best of the Best 2019.01.19 Incheon Culture & Arts Center With Michael Lee
Musical and the Number 2019.03.08 Gwang Ju Cultural Sports Center With Lee Gun Myung, Michael lee, Yoon So Ho, and Lee Ji Hye
Best of the Best 2019.03.16 Iksan Arts Center With Michael Lee
Musical and the Number 2019.04.16 Kimpo Art Hall With Lee Gun Myung, Lee Ji Hye, and Yoon So Ho
Coverstory No. 1 2019.05.19 LOTTE Concert Hall With Im Tae Kyung
ONLY; Kim Moon Jeong Concert 2019.06.07 LG Arts Center Celebrating the anniversary and work of Kim Moon Jeong, a renowned Korean music director and conductor, and performing as a featured artist.
Best of the Best; My Only Moment 2019.06.28 Uijeongbu Arts Center With Michael Lee

Video game appearances

Ock Joo-hyun is a playable character in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (only in the South Korean PC version).

Year Title Role Notes
2000 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Herself South Korean PC version

Personal life

Ock graduated from Kyung Hee University with Sung Yuri and Gong Yoo in February 2005. She is currently signed with Potluck.

Allegedly Ock had revealed herself to be in a long-term relationship with Jeff Chang, son of Korean media mogul. The relationship was said to have started in 2006, however when she mentions him at the awards show where she thanked him, she refers to him as "a friend of mine".[15] It's inferred that they have since broken up and she is not in a relationship with anyone currently. In the director's cut of the Fin.K.L. Camping Club variety show she stated that she didn't want to get married when her fellow members asked about her thoughts.

Awards and nominations
Year Award-Giving Body Category Work Result
2003 Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Ballad Performance "I"[16] Nominated
2005 MBC Drama Awards Radio Sector "Radio DJ" Won
2008 2nd The Musical Awards Performance "Aida" in AIDA Won
2009 3rd The Musical Award Performance "Roxy" in Chicago Won
2010 6th Golden Ticket Award Performance "Mercedes" in Monte Cristo Won
2012 6th The Musical Award Performance "Elisabeth" in Das Musical: Elisabeth Won
2013 7th The Musical Award Performance "Mrs. Danvers" in Rebecca Won
2013 9th Golden Ticket Award Performance "Mrs. Danvers" in Rebecca Won
2014 8th The Musical Award Performance "Elphaba" in Wicked Nominated

References
  1. Ock Joo-hyun Inspired to Instruct Students in Stagecraft Archived March 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Chosun.com. March 14, 2009. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  2. ARIRANG K-POP (September 11, 2014). "SHOWBIZ KOREA-OCK JOO-HYUN ON STARS & MUSIC 뮤지컬 넘버 앨범 [GOLD] 가수 옥주현" – via YouTube.
  3. MBCkpop (February 15, 2012). "4R(1), No. 12, Oak Joo-hyun – U Go Girl, 옥주현 – 유고걸, I Am A Singer 20110710" – via YouTube.
  4. "내 몸의 바운스를 깨워라". Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
  5. "Ock Joo-hyun: Growing into Aida". english.chosun.com. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  6. "옥주현, '아이다' 공연 취소…관객 헛걸음". SBS NEWS (in Korean). January 24, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  7. ko:옥주현
  8. JTBC Star (June 3, 2013). "[The musical Awards] Best Actress in a Supporting Role(여우조연상) "Rebeca(레베카) 옥주현"" – via YouTube.
  9. Wicked (musical)
  10. "'마리 앙투아네트' 옥주현 "'베르사유의 장미', 줄 치며 읽어"". October 31, 2014.
  11. musicalmatahari.com http://musicalmatahari.com/m/bbs/board.php?bo_table=matahari_en&ckattempt=1. Retrieved July 30, 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. "'Mata Hari' is theatrical delight, but empty". The Korea Times. April 10, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  13. 프랭크 와일드혼, 옥주현에 대한 극찬! [뮤지컬] 마타하리 MATA HARI 제작발표회 (2016.3.8), retrieved July 30, 2019
  14. Мюзикл "Анна Каренина": передача эстафеты из России в Южную Корею, retrieved July 30, 2019
  15. "[NEWS] Ock Joo Hyun reveals boyfriend of 7 years".
  16. "2003 MMF part 1". Mwave. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
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