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"I don't really meet people much, and I enjoy spending my time quietly at home watching TV. I also don't like drinking."
Recently, Kang Tae Oh held an interview for Moon River at a café in Seoul. Having debuted in 2013 through the web drama After School: Lucky or Not, he has advanced his acting career steadily. His big breakthrough came in 2022 when he was cast opposite Park Eun Bin in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, breaking popularity records.
At the peak of attention since his debut, Kang Tae Oh took a temporary hiatus from the entertainment industry due to his mandatory military service. He returned three years later with the romantic comedy The Potato Lab and recently Moon River.
Moon River tells the story of Crown Prince Lee Kang (Kang Tae Oh), who has lost his smile, and Park Dal Yi (Kim Se Jeong), a merchant who has lost part of her memories, as their souls get swapped, unleashing chaos.
Kang Tae Oh plays Crown Prince Lee Kang, the royal heir who appears prickly and self-willed, yet carries deep wounds from losing the woman he loved.
Kang Tae Oh is among those few actors who have never been embroiled in controversy. "Other than when I'm filming, I rarely go out. I have a small circle. It's basically just my high school friends and a few acquaintances I met while working. I occasionally only meet the people I already know." He continued with a smile, "Since I don't like drinking, there are times when people eventually stop inviting me out."
"I learnt early on how to spend time quietly by myself. I guess that naturally made me something of an outsider (laughs)."
Since Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Kang Tae Oh has landed leading roles back-to-back. When asked if he feels a sense of responsibility, he replied, "Yes," and added, "I'm much more aware of what people think and pay more attention [to these things] than before."
He continued, "With more screentime, I'm on set longer and more often. Being there every day with the cast and crew, like a family, you naturally start picking up on the mood. I started to feel that even my smallest actions carry a lot of weight, so I tried to be extra careful with my words and behavior. Even when it was tough, I tried not to show it."
When reporters remarked that he has been steadily building his career well over the past 13 years, Kang Tae Oh responded, "I still have a long way to go. The road ahead is very long. No matter the job, I'm just doing what I should do as a person. I don't really think about it consciously. I'm just doing what I naturally have to do."
Six years ago, Kang Tae Oh revealed in an interview with a media outlet that he was an avid escape room enthusiast. When asked whether he still enjoys escape rooms after his discharge from the military, he replied, "Recently, I went to an escape room with Se Jeong and the other Moon River cast members as well. We all met up in Daehangno to watch a play. We had some time to kill before the play started, so we played escape room and then went to see the play."
"I hadn't done an escape room in a really long time, and they've gotten a lot harder (laughs). I also met up with the Run On cast recently, and Soo Young even said we should go play one. When we were filming Run On, we made a lot of memories doing escape rooms."
Kang Tae Oh shares that he has learnt how to spend time alone. When asked what he usually does at home, he replied, "I watch the news and YouTube, and sometimes I play games with friends." "I live a pretty boring life," he said. "I really like Stranger Things, and the new season came out recently."
