‘Doona’ and Others: How Bae Suzy Is Gravitating Toward More Meaty Roles

Bae Suzy, or just Suzy, has distinguished herself over the last ten years as a singer-actress-model in South Korea, perhaps best known for starring in Dream High (2011), Gu Family Book (2013), Uncontrollably Fond (2016), While You Were Sleeping (2017), Vagabond (2019), Start-Up (2020), and Anna (2022), which instinctively brought her a slew of honors. She is adroit—pragmatically thriving in fiction, with an informed awareness of her characters’ emotions. That honing in recent years is best evidenced by Suzy gravitating toward more meaty roles that seek out newness.

With her forthcoming romance K-drama Doona on the brink of release and its demand reaching a fever pitch, the actor is making a splash again, thanks to the eponymous role. Doona unfolds the chance encounter between Lee Doo-na (Suzy), an ex-K-pop sensation, and Lee Won-jun (Yang Se-jong), a college freshman, culled from Min Song-ah’s romance webtoon The Girl Downstairs. Won-jun attempts to elude her, but she is too hard to ignore. Difficulties deepen when they move into a shared house and love infiltrates.

Doona is unorthodox; read the webtoon to get a hang of her. Suzy introduced her to Korean media as “honest and outspoken,” also plagued by heartache and feelings of isolation, giving her the image of “a cat with sharp claws.” In truth, Doona is more of a “dog cat” who is fond of people, Suzy noted. Lee Jeong-hyo, the show’s director, praised Suzy, saying, “I liked that she was able to improvise and act immersed when given directions.” “She is an actor with many surprising qualities,” he added.

Suzy’s improved acting, which vividly portrays a character’s inner being, is where I believe the element of surprise comes from. Probably she has an eye for detail and observes people and their responses in ordinary settings, amassing experiences to draw on while performing on-screen. She presses for diversity now—in the roles she takes on, given her presence in the industry for more than a decade. “I wanted to show a different type of acting that I’ve never done before,” Suzy revealed in an interview with The Korea Times regarding her portrayal in the psychological thriller web series Anna (2022).

Everything in Anna springs from a falsehood when Yu-mi (Suzy) lies, adopts another identity, and starts living as Anna. In the interview mentioned above, Suzy included that the role rang true for her while acting, “so hearing people say that I’ve met the best role in my career feels so surreal and exciting.” She also shared consulting a psychologist for insight into Yu-mi’s frame of mind, learning that anxiety drove her to act and do things in the story. In an evocative representation of Yu-mi’s milieu, Suzy brought the character’s psychological complexity to life.

Beginning in 2019, it seems the actor’s penchant for requiring roles got more obvious. Consider Go Hae-ri from Vagabond, a National Intelligence Service (NIS) employee who opts to be a civil servant but becomes a clandestine operative. Vagabond follows stuntman Cha Dal-gun’s (Lee Seung-gi) retribution; his nephew suffers a plane crash triggered by terrorists and schemes, causing him to join Hae-ri and the NIS. Hae-ri was Suzy’s first foray into a spy action thriller, which piqued her interest in the role. If you’ve seen the drama, you know her intrigue is inevitable in how Hae-ri stays encased in mystery for long—a substantially distinct characterization from many of those Suzy has undertaken hitherto.

Start-Up, Suzy’s follow-up, is set in the fictive Silicon Valley of South Korea, dubbed Sandbox, and tells the tale of individuals in the start-up scene, where she strikes a memorable Seo Dal-mi who aspires to be Korea’s Steve Jobs.

It’s quite amazing how Dal-mi builds a life from scratch—she aspires, pursues her goals, toils, and essentially prevails. Her experiences can be enlightening for professionals looking to advance in an ever-more-competitive field. Despite coming from a humble background, Dal-mi is an impassioned embodiment of infectious energy and knowledge. The more you track her journey, the more you learn that in life, it’s all about getting cracking, rolling up the sleeves, and going the extra mile.

Suzy and Dal-mi sort of have a symbiotic connection. Suzy draws inspiration from Dal-mi to flesh out her character. In turn, Dal-mi elevates to a dominant force through Suzy’s virtuosity; the role won her awards, including Outstanding Korean Actress at the 2021 Seoul International Drama Awards.