Part 1 - A man who is obsessive with strength.

Lee Sang Woo, whose height is 185cm and weight is 80kg, is considered a representative of hot-body guy. In every his work, writers or directors want to shoot his bare upper body. However he expresses some kind of regrets over his own body. "Before I debuted I used to have heavy weight,94kg. I did not have any fat. Moreover my chest might have been three times as big as now. I was so obsessive with exercise that I would like to be a personal trainer. If I had kept exercising, I would be the best front page model now." This year he turned 30. Since 2nd grade in middle school shortly before his debut in 2005, he had been addicted to exercise for 10years. " I did not like how skinny I was. So I started to work out. When I got a hot body I enjoyed my friends' envious eyes. Conclusively I had illumination about hot body when I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie, Terminator. I had really fun and excitement in building shapes of body and increasing power."
In his early 20s, he served military service in American Army base. At that time my body reached its peak. As he had desire for weight and strength stimulated by black soldiers who easily lifted dumbbell as if they had lifted a bottle of water. "That was a totally different world which I ever knew. I refused to yield to strength. I did not want to be defeated in strength. With a variety of nutritional supplements, I exercised hard. Regardless of the shapes and silhouette of body, the simple thought 'for men the strength more than anything' dominated my thoughts.(smile)"
He looked his body with a bit regrets, he continued to answer." Well, can I say this? To tell the truth I was reckless because I was young. I had worked out with steroid. Nonetheless soon I realized that was a reckless act. When I came across slump, for a short time I experienced a new world with steroid by my American friend. I had difficulty in lifting 100kg bench press, however because of that I was able to lift 140kg bench press. I was excited! Like Samson, I could not believe this happened to me as if I had been a monster."
In any circumstance immoderation results in misfortune and getting something free of charge also ends up in paying the price. There was no exception for him, either.
"I was so into weight that dumbbell fell onto my body. I was injured badly. I was supposed to have my bones shattered. Luckily I had my bones broken. At that time I realized that was god's will." I(the interviewer) was surprised by his honesty. He could have hidden this. Furthermore, I did not expect him to have been obsessive with body. It does not match current 이상우(who is loved by middle aged women for his gentle and soft images.). Anyway he(이상우) got rid of his obsession over strength. He learned a lesson from the accident. " Like exercise, acting can not go well with excessive strength. When wakeboarding, I tried to conquer water with strength. Nonetheless. I ended up in falling off. I got a shock when I saw a skinny woman enjoying wakeboarding. I want to deliver this message to the readers who care so much for strength, the strongly I hit the water, the strongly the water hit me."


Part 2 - Until he restarted exercising.

Far from being an actor, at first he went to college for Biotechnology so as to make good nutritional supplements. Then he decided to be an actor. His acquaintances were surprised by his decision cause he is shy and introspective. When he gets nervous he tends to stammer. So, he does not seem to match being an actor. " When I was a elementary school student, my student number was 18. I did not want to go to school on 18th because I was worried about whether teachers told me to read a textbook." For this reason it makes sense that he was struggling when he got an offer for an actor. "Although I was not talented, I was determined to make myself a better person through difficulties. I learned this from exercise as well like that the more injured muscles, the stronger muscles. I wanted to be a mature person enough to face my weakness. So, I made a decision. When he began to act, he was asked to stop exercising. Directors, writers and other actors told him to do that. The reason why he should stop exercising was because with too many muscles the spectrum of acting is likely to be limited and it might lead him to breathing unnaturally. He already decided to be an actor so he followed their advice. From then he stopped exercising especially muscle-exercising. Instead of dumbbell he graped s. Since 2005(his first drama, 열여덞 스물아홉) he has been acting continuously. On purpose he has chosen weekend dramas and daily dramas which require him to act for a long time. " Although someone is slow, as long as he puts efforts like this continuously, he will be better little by little. If it does not work, then he might be not a human.^^ " " However, there was a side effect from stopping exercising. I had the fat on my stomach. Exercise itself is really funny. In my early 20s I thought I would have a wonderful body in my 30s. If somebody constantly has done Taekwondo(Korean martial art), he will be an expert, won't he? However the people, who have exercised intensively for three or four months, have a better body than those, who had exercised for 20 years and stopped it for three years. This fact is bitter, though. On the other one hand, I think it is not necessary to be obsessive with body." He restarted exercising along with Jeju life. " Rather than in Seoul, I have more time and room psychologically in Jeju. in my spare time, I work out. Of course rather than muscle exercise I do cardio exercises. If I had kept exercising. I would have muscles like bodybuilder at the shooting places. However as he got rid of showing off his body, for him it does not matter. Even if I postpone exercising I don not think I will have the 100 percent satisfying body that I aiming for. Of course after this drama ends if I start exercising hard I will have a better body. But who knows? Partially I decided to shoot in order to exercise again. I want to show the way I am." Maybe he is right. Mostly a lot of women are crazy about details in men's body like pubis and six packs. Men do not look into their body in detail. Instead endurance for exercise and changes through exercise make a big difference. Once he was addicted to exercise, now he is exercising for healthy life. This indicates that in man's life pubis and six packs are not everything.

Part 3 - Life, goes slowly like water.

Considering diverse perspectives, 이상우 is literally slow and relaxed. Moreover, he speaks and behaves slowly. Since his debut, it has been 5 years. Although he constantly has shown up in a lot of dramas and movies, not many people recognize him at once. Mostly his fans are middle aged women. If he appears in a trendy drama, he will be able to make a difference. However, he says," the right time has not come yet. I want to change little by little. I want my career and life not to change rapidly. Even if they are not that funny nor dynamic, I want to be the one whose life keeps going on continuosly. Frankly speaking I am not good at sports. In other words I suck at sports. As well, I started acting late and I am slow. Despite that, unless I do not give up what I am doing, some day I will be able to be good at it. Besides, I hope to get love by people based on my ability then."
In spite of the fact that he says the right time has not come yet, actually he is going through his turning point. Due to a shocking theme, hot issues surface every weekend. In weekend drama, beautiful life, he leads the drama. He actively shows his love like "rely on me!" to 송창의 who is called ' born to be innocent'. Definitely his acting is different from what he has done before. Before his acting was so typical and limited whereas in this drama he pushes ahead with his role without hesitation like he quenches his thirst for acting. He says," I did not begin this drama in order to change my acting. It is not right time to do that, either. I just accepted the new character and trust the writer and director and follow them. I appreciate good comments." When he was asked repeatedly what's the way, he said shyly," I read the same s 30 times. I think I have bad pronunciation so that practice more then others makes it better and natural. I consider myself lack of something, so I keep putting efforts on it. At first when I spoke my lines, looking into the other actor's eyes, I found it difficult. However now I am getting used to it. No matter what you want to achieve, endeavors are the best way even though it might take time to get results or achievements.

Cr: LSW DC