Korean actor Han Gi-chan has carved an unconventional path to Hollywood, transitioning from reality TV competition to starring alongside Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung in director Andrew Ahn's reimagining of "The Wedding Banquet." The 27-year-old actor's journey began on the 2019 survival show "Produce X 101," where he competed with dozens of other trainees for a chance at stardom, an experience that unexpectedly prepared him for his current acting career.
Han is refreshingly candid about his early days in the entertainment industry. "I wasn't even trying to be a musician," he revealed in a recent interview. "I was signed mostly as an acting trainee, but in Korea you also do singing and dancing. That's the basics. So I thought, OK, I'll fake it." The grueling reality show experience taught him valuable skills for his acting career, including how to perform under intense pressure and work with multiple cameras.
The transition from idol trainee to actor proved beneficial in unexpected ways. On "Produce X 101," Han performed in front of 50 cameras, making typical drama sets with only two or three cameras feel manageable. "I was never nervous," he explained. "I already knew how to find the lens." This confidence served him well when he landed his first major television role in KBS's "Dare to Love Me" last year.
Han's breakthrough into Hollywood came through an unexpected audition for Andrew Ahn's "The Wedding Banquet," a reimagining of Ang Lee's landmark 1993 film. When Han first read the script, he was confused by the premise. "Two people in love, but he's marrying someone else? It didn't make sense," he recalled. Born in 1998, Han had never seen Lee's original film, which was groundbreaking for featuring a gay Asian American love story at its center.
Ahn's version takes a different approach from the original's farcical comedy, opting instead for a slower, more earnest dramatic tone. The new film follows two couples: a gay male couple portrayed by Han and "Saturday Night Live" star Bowen Yang, and a lesbian couple played by Kelly Marie Tran and Lily Gladstone. Veteran actors Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung round out the impressive cast.
The audition process moved surprisingly quickly for Han. Director Ahn had discovered him through his work in the web drama "Ocean Likes Me" and reached out through his agency. "He didn't know if my English was good," Han explained. "That was the only question. But he thought I looked right for the role." After performing just a couple of scenes over Zoom, Han received confirmation within days that he had landed the part. "That never happens," he said, still amazed by the swift decision.
A few months later, Han found himself on a film set in Vancouver, working on his first Hollywood production and delivering lines in both Korean and English. While he was too excited to experience culture shock, he noticed how language affected his performance style. "Korean keeps you humble," he observed. "You bow, you speak formally. But English gives me freedom. I wasn't trying to be a comic, but in English I moved more, I felt free."
Working alongside Youn Yuh-jung, who became the first Korean to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2021 for "Minari," proved to be both challenging and rewarding. Their first meeting in Vancouver was more of a test than a warm introduction. "She opened the door and said, 'Sit down. Read.' No small talk," Han recalled. "We read the last scene together, the climax of the movie. I cried, twice." Youn's feedback was characteristically direct: "Your Korean pronunciation needs work. Fix it."
Rather than feeling intimidated by the criticism, Han viewed it as motivation and recognition. "She wasn't testing my lines, she was testing me," he said. The relationship evolved throughout production, culminating in a meaningful moment at the Sundance Film Festival. "At Sundance, she sat next to me during the screening. When my name came on the credits, she clapped for me. That was the biggest compliment."
Director Ahn's working style impressed Han with its creative approach. "He worked like a collage artist. He wanted ingredients," Han explained. "He'd say, try it seriously, now try it lovely, now say it to yourself. [It was as if] he collected puzzle pieces and built the film from them." Han embraced this method, providing different interpretations with every take to give Ahn various options in post-production.
One of the central themes of Ahn's "Wedding Banquet" is chosen family, a concept that Han discovered was reflected in the off-screen dynamics of the cast. "We spent every weekend together," he shared. "Hiking in Stanley Park, watching Lily's 'Fancy Dance.' Kelly loves hiking so much, she dragged us for five hours. Even after filming, she still messages me." This experience contrasted sharply with Korean film sets, where hierarchy and professional distance typically dominate interactions.
"In Korea, people respect your individual time, but they don't gather like family," Han noted. "On this set, we respected each other and became a family. I'd never experienced that." This genuine closeness among the cast members translates into the film's quieter, more intimate moments. Han points to a nearly silent garden scene between Tran and Gladstone as his favorite sequence, despite not appearing in it himself. "I only saw it at Sundance," he said. "No dialogue, just emotion. That touched me so much."
The personal stakes involved in "The Wedding Banquet" were evident throughout production, particularly for director Ahn. Han remembered the first time he saw Ahn cry on set during filming of the Korean wedding scene. "It was when we walked down the stairs. He cried a lot. It was what he really wanted to do for his own wedding," Han revealed. Youn also brought personal experience to her role, having previously shared in interviews that she accepted the part of a grandmother who embraces her gay grandson because her own son had come out to her.
This authentic emotional foundation, woven throughout the performances of all the characters, deepens the film's exploration of family dynamics—both chosen and inherited—and their inherent complications and potential for redemption. The lived experiences of the cast and crew add layers of genuine truth to the story's universal themes.
At 27, Han is already looking beyond acting toward creative writing and production. He's currently developing his own script, drawing inspiration from his passion for animation and science fiction. "I think stories should be simple, direct, with a strong message," he explained. "Now, dramas and movies are too full of dopamine. I want to write something intuitive, with impact." He acknowledges that Korean audiences remain somewhat skeptical of science fiction, often finding the genre awkward when combined with melodrama, but believes the global entertainment market creates opportunities for experimentation.
"Korea is still conservative, but with YouTube and streaming, people are exposed to more," Han observed. He sees "The Wedding Banquet's" arrival as part of a broader trend toward more diverse and internationally appealing content. As for how audiences will receive Ahn's reimagining, Han hopes viewers will see it as a respectful homage rather than simply a remake of Lee's original.
"Andrew always says it's not a remake, it's a reimagining," Han explained. "He began with the question: What if the girl was gay? What if she had a girlfriend? That imagination started this film." For Korean audiences specifically, Han hopes they will appreciate both the honor paid to the original film and the universal story about building one's own family that transcends cultural boundaries.
"The Wedding Banquet" is scheduled to open in local theaters on September 24, following special screenings at the Busan International Film Festival on September 18, 20, and 22. The film represents not only Han's Hollywood debut but also his evolution as an artist who has found his authentic voice through an international collaboration that celebrates both chosen family and cultural heritage.
