Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Queen of the Morning Calm’s Tina Jung
Tina Jung is an award-winning Korean Canadian actress, writer, and producer whose journey into the industry seemed destined from the beginning. The daughter of two actors, Tina grew up surrounded by the arts and was always encouraged to express herself creatively.
After graduating with a theater degree, Tina made the transition into film and television with projects like Suits, Good Witch, The Expanse, and Jigsaw.
Currently, she’s captivating audiences as the lead of Queen of the Morning Calm. Pop Culturalist caught up with Tina to learn more about her career path and latest film.
Career
PC: You’re an actress, producer, and writer. How did you discover your passion for the arts? Is there one that you naturally gravitate towards?
Tina: I grew up in an artistic family. Both my parents were actors in South Korea before we immigrated to Canada, and both my older sisters are also artistically and musically talented. I just so happened to be the one out of my sisters that ended up choosing the arts as a career. I naturally gravitate towards acting because that’s what I spent most of my life working on. I’ve been interested in acting since I was a kid. I got my parents to enroll me in all the acting camps and dance classes. I signed up for all the talent shows and did the school plays and dance clubs. Performing was and has always been my passion. I only recently got into writing and producing not that long ago, and I enjoy it just as much. It’s always nice to try on many hats and see what interests you.
PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Tina: My parents were big influencers in my life growing up. They have always been supportive of me in everything I wanted to try. They never restricted me but rather encouraged me to try various things. That goes for my sisters as well. We had a lot of creative freedom in our childhood, and our weekly schedule was filled with different types of after-school classes that focused a lot on the arts and sports.
In terms of a celebrity figure that influenced me as I got more serious with my education in the arts, I would say Sandra Oh. She was a godlike figure to me in theater school—someone who I aspired to be. She made me see and believe that I too can be on the stage and screen and portray powerful characters like her. I was a recipient of the Sandra Oh Acting Award from the Korean Canadian Scholarship Foundation, and I got a chance to tell her that in person a few years ago at the ACTRA conference in LA, and I will never forget what she told me. She took my hand, looked at me straight in the eye, and told me that I’m at the right place at the right time with the diversity shift happening in the industry, and she told me to keep going. So that’s what I’m going to do.
PC: Both of your parents were actors. What has been the best piece of advice they’ve given you as you embark on your career?
Tina: They’ve given me so many throughout the years, but the one that stood out was that I need to be equally as patient as I am ambitious but always stay ready. I think about this a lot. Acting is like a muscle: you have to constantly be building and working on it to improve. If one day you have to run a marathon, you’ll be ready for it instead of lagging behind or getting scared even before you start.
PC: You got your start in theater. What has the transition been like going from the stage to the screen?
Tina: When I graduated from theater school, I was lucky enough to get an agent right away. I’ve always been interested in acting on screen, but I didn’t get a chance to learn that in school. I told my agent to send me out for everything TV- and film-related so that I could start building some experiences naturally. I can’t say the transition was easy, as I was learning as I was going, but it was surprisingly smooth. Having a theater background was a huge benefit for me because having formal training served me well going into this new medium.
Queen of the Morning Calm
PC: Tell us about your new film, Queen of the Morning Calm, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Tina: Queen of the Morning Calm is an empowering story about a mother and daughter trying to escape from the cycles of poverty and abuse while learning to become dependent on each other. It’s a story of emancipation, a journey of healing, and a lesson on self-love. Debra is a young immigrant sex worker who always lived at the mercy of men. She is the kind of person who puts everyone she cares about first before herself, questioning her happiness in the process. As she starts to take control of her own life, find her voice, and learn how to be a more nurturing mother, she becomes fearless and impossible to stop, breaking free from a label that was once put on her from a world that turned its back on her.
What drew me to this project was the story of Debra and her struggle to find her identity by discovering that she needs to be the hero in her own life to become a fearless independent woman to get out of the world she doesn’t belong in. The script was heavy, emotions were raw, and there were a lot of truths in this story that I wanted to help bring out to the audiences.
PC: Debra is dealing with a lot in her life. How did you prepare to tackle her journey?
Tina: I really wanted to dive into Debra’s character and start from the beginning to get a sense of who she was from inside out. I began the research of Debra by asking backstory questions of where she came from, how she got to the place she is at now, what her relationship was like with her parents, how she met the people in her life now, etc. I then began to journal from her point of view, I took pole dancing lessons to physically get into her character, I talked to some dancers to listen to their stories, and educated myself with the right materials to deal with the whole topic. The more I developed Debra’s character, the more I was able to connect to the script in an authentic way and see her point of view from a relatable level. I felt like I was discovering more about her every day, and it was very interesting to see her come alive on screen.
PC: What do you hope audiences take away after seeing Queen of the Morning Calm?
Tina: I hope this film shines a light onto the world of sex workers and abusive relationships. This film is a platform to get these stories heard. We want to be able to share the stories of countless women who are going through this or something similar. It’s an important story to share, and I hope the audiences can resonate with Debra and encourage others to find their own voice to break free from an environment they don’t belong in.
Pop Culturalist Speed Round
PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Tina: Masterchef
PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Tina: Clueless
PC: Favorite book?
Tina: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
PC: Favorite play or musical?
Tina: Watching The Lion King on stage was pretty epic. It’s also my favorite Disney movie, so that might have something to do with that.
PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Tina: Once I get hooked on a band or an artist, I go pretty deep into it for a while. Right now it’s BTS.
PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Tina: Lana Candor
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