Yoon So-yi on running a grilled fish restaurant: 'As a mother, I have nothing to fear'

Actress Yoon So-yi has shared an update on her life running a grilled fish restaurant in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, opening up about the realistic challenges of balancing an acting career with parenting. She explained that she has not abandoned her primary career as an actress, but rather chose a path she could pursue while waiting for her next project amidst an uncertain production environment.

On the 7th, a video titled 'Actress Yoon So-yi, Living This Hard? | A Walk Through Hot Seongsu Lately' was released on Han Chae Ah's YouTube channel. Han Chae Ah and Han Groo met with Yoon, who is operating the restaurant in Seongsu-dong, to discuss her reasons for starting the business, parenting, and her acting career.

The menu Yoon chose was unexpectedly simple. She explained that she built the restaurant around familiar dishes she is most confident in, specifically 'Baekban' (a traditional Korean set meal) which she has eaten since childhood.

For Yoon, the restaurant was not a sudden move for survival. In an interview released last June, she revealed that she felt a low psychological barrier to running a restaurant because she grew up watching her mother manage various eateries, including galbi and bulgogi restaurants. She chose grilled fish because it is a dish difficult to prepare at home, and she expressed high confidence in the quality of her cooking.

It is reported that many customers visit the restaurant after recognizing her as an actress. In previously released content, Yoon also shared that elderly customers recognize her and offer kind words, noting how hard she works.

Recently, as footage showed waiting lines forming due to a surge of customers, the restaurant has gained attention not just as a celebrity's "side hustle," but as a legitimate small business.

However, there was a more important reason why Yoon is running the restaurant: parenting.

When Han Groo asked, "Do you intend to act or work on projects again?" Yoon spoke honestly about the current market situation facing actors. She mentioned the reality of actors waiting for work, saying, "The market is so bad these days that it seems like there isn't just one or two actresses around me waiting to be called."

Yoon did not lack the desire to act; rather, she said she is ready to return to the set at any time if given the opportunity. However, since she must raise her child, waiting while pursuing a stable occupation is a realistic choice.

Her words also reflect how the structure of acting labor has changed. Unlike the era when regular programming by broadcasting stations and long-term production systems guaranteed stable activities for actors, platforms have diversified into OTT, short-form, and short-dramas. While this offers variety, production and scheduling have become more fluid. From an actor's perspective, the time without a project easily becomes a prolonged 'waiting period.'

Han Chae Ah also explained these changes through her own experience. She shared her concerns, noting that after entering her 40s, she feels the industry atmosphere changing even within just a few months. She noted that if one takes a long break from acting, they may appear to the outside world as an "inactive actor" even if they have been continuously preparing.

Yoon was not entirely free from such anxiety. However, she said she recently returned to the acting set while filming a short drama and felt relieved that her body still remembered the rhythm of production. Her subsequent comment perhaps encapsulated her current mindset.

"Because I have a child, I realized I have nothing to fear, more than I thought."

Yoon's approach to acting has evolved. While she used to place significant importance on how she appeared on screen or how beautiful she looked, she now focuses more broadly on the continuity of scenes and the overall context of a work.

Yoon said that as she began thinking, "As long as I'm not an embarrassment to my child," she became much more bold and aggressive when acting. In an industry where appearance and image function as assets, her confession that she has become less bound by the gaze of others after becoming a mother shows how much her perception of acting has shifted.

Born in 1985, Yoon expanded her career to acting after debuting as a fashion magazine model in 2001. Since then, she has worked across dramas, films, and musicals. She married musical actor Cho Seong-yoon in 2017, and they have a daughter born in 2021.

The sight of an actress with such a career grilling fish in a kitchen and greeting customers might at first glance look like a "transformation." However, for Yoon, it is a way to sustain her life as an actress.

An actor is not only an actor when they have a project. Even during downtime, they must prove who they are and sustain their lives while waiting for the next opportunity. For parents raising children, waiting solely on the hope of being called back is not always a realistic option.

The conversation between Yoon, Han Chae Ah, and Han Groo is significant because it touches on more than just personal updates; it reflects changes in production environments, the shifting opportunities for actresses as they age, and the realistic struggles of balancing career and childcare.

By running the restaurant, Yoon has not given up acting. Instead, she has chosen to control what she can during the unpredictable "casting periods," intending to return to the set as soon as the call comes.

The hands grilling fish in a restaurant and the hands memorizing lines in front of a camera may seem like they belong to two different worlds. But for Yoon, both are part of the same effort to protect her life and her name while raising her child.