Actor Song Jong-ho has traded scripts for grill tongs. The ‘Reply 1997’ star told SBS’s ‘My Little Old Boy’ he hasn’t acted in about three and a half years — and now runs a BBQ restaurant in Seoul’s Samsung-dong.
According to Sports Seoul, Song opened up during the October 11 broadcast, where he joined the show’s group blind-date segment alongside his mother.
His mother introduced her 1976-born son by his representative work ‘Reply 1997,’ saying he had been without a project for more than three years. ‘Every time I think about it, I feel like crying,’ she said, adding that despite their financial difficulties, he never showed it.
Song first disclosed the hiatus in a July episode, saying, ‘It’s been about three and a half years since I stopped doing acting work.’ His last project was tvN’s 2023 drama ‘Arthdal Chronicles: The Sword of Aramoon.’ He began to worry: ‘If I can’t work as an actor, how am I going to make a living?’
A partnership offer from a senior led to the restaurant. The cameras showed Song doing everything himself — checking the register, prepping ingredients, taking orders, serving tables, and even valet parking customers’ cars.
The model-turned-actor is known for ‘Surgeon Bong Dal-hee,’ ‘The Princess’ Man,’ ‘Reply 1997,’ ‘The Girl Who Sees Smells,’ and ‘Hwayugi.’ He hasn’t given up acting: ‘I want to keep acting and I also have to keep up my livelihood,’ he said, adding that since his face is already known, audition offers rarely come.
