Seoyeon Jang on ‘Beef’ Season 2, Portraying Eunice, Being Petty

It’s quite possible Seoyang Jang manifested her role in Beef season two.

The British-Korean actress recalls scrolling through Instagram in the weeks before she got the audition for season two of the award-winning Netflix series, when she came upon a clip from the show’s first season. “I remember thinking to myself, this is the kind of role that I want to do,” the 31-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter on a Zoom. She’s in L.A. for a slew of Beef press, finding a brief moment of respite.

Jang plays Eunice, the clever assistant to Oscar-winning actress Youn Yuh-jung’s chairwoman character, in the latest installment of Lee Sung Jin’s anthology series. She joins Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny to round out the main cast of the second season, which is set in a California country club.

“I think I indirectly manifested for it because I got the audition,” the actress continues. “I was so shocked because my manifestations don’t really happen.”

Below, Jang shares how she found her way from acting in K-dramas to starring in Beef, why it’s so exciting to be surrounded by petty characters and what she’ll remember most from the experience.

You’ve done plenty of work in Korea, but Beef is your second U.S. project, correct? How are you feeling about it coming out?

Despite growing up in London and speaking the language, I’ve never imagined or thought that I would be able to work in Hollywood. In a certain way, I did limit myself. I loved K-dramas — and I still do, I love K-dramas so much — and thinking that’s what I wanted to do. Thinking like that limited me in the direction that I wanted to go in, because nowadays, it’s a global stage. You can do both. I was so adamant in wanting to do K-dramas because that’s where my passion first formed for acting. Then I did Butterfly. I met great people, which opened more doors, and then came to Beef. Butterfly was definitely a springboard for me. It was also a project that really changed the direction of my career as a whole.

Did you move to Korea from London for work originally? Or did you move younger?

I started as a K-pop trainee.

With what company?

I can’t say, but it was a big company. I was cast to become an idol trainee when I was really young. I moved back by myself when I was 19. From there, I gradually transitioned and found my love and passion for acting. Then I just sort of dropped the K-pop part, and I decided to pursue acting.

You’ve been in some big Korean projects, and you started acting because of your love for K-dramas. What made you decide you wanted to start auditioning in the U.S.?

It was never a conscious decision to try for Hollywood or Western roles. It was more if a certain audition opportunity came. It was literally just one thing leading to another — It was never me deciding to go down one route and trying to pursue it. It was just such a natural process. In hindsight, I’m so grateful that it happened this way.

What was getting into this character? Sonny’s so good at making this heightened world relatable, but Eunice often feels the most relatable amongst some big moments and some petty characters.

I feel like we all have those petty sides to ourselves, and it’s very refreshing to see these characters amplify that pettiness because I feel we live in a world where we have to hold our tongue and really just get on with it rather than act in a way that we all want to deep down. It’s definitely exhilarating to see that and itself is very much a stress reliever for me. But playing a character that is normal is relatable because she’s just trying to stay inside her little society. She’s just trying to do her job, and she’s just trying to survive her own way. We are all trying to do our best, but the method is different. Eunice, despite having an educational background in international school, she was brought up in a Korean household like I was, and I think that does set a very different dynamic due to cultural differences.

You have some genuinely great moments of levity. In the first or second episode, when you’re bringing the chairwoman around, and Josh and Lindsay are talking, and you tell her, “There’s nothing worth translating.”

I love that part.

I loved it. This show’s form of dark comedy is so specific. What were you doing to prepare for that as an actor? Were you watching things?

No, because I directly empathized and related to Eunice as a person. As I mentioned before, my family lives in London still now. When we first went there, obviously my mom didn’t speak English, so she relied a lot on us — us as in my brother and I — to do translations for her. It’s funny because it gets to the point where you’re translating both ways. Say for example, my mom and a English person, and it gets to the point where you’re like, “You don’t have to, there’s nothing worth translating.” It’s so relatable. The reason why Sonny is capable of doing that is because he, obviously, grew up in Korea as well, so maybe he has experience in that with his own family or friends or even he just has people around him that share similar experiences. That is so personal and so relatable and so original. When I read that part, I was like, “This man…”

What was your collaboration with Sonny like?

Sonny is a very difficult person to read. I’m always trying to figure out what he’s thinking. I’m always trying to figure out if he likes it or if he doesn’t like it. I’m always trying to navigate his thoughts. But at the same time, the more I worked with him, the more scenes we did together, I got to learn very fast that he has such a clear cut, genius vision of what he wants to see in this specific scene and the show as a whole that I felt so reassured.

Oftentimes, a lot of the things are left up to the actors, but sometimes that feels a little bit lonely and a little bit scary. Whereas working with Sonny, because he knew what he wanted exactly, I felt very safe to be on the ship and to have a captain that knew his direction, knew his compass. It was such a safe feeling for me. One of the differences that I did notice when working with him was he is not afraid to show his vision himself, which a lot of the other directors don’t. In that aspect, not only did I enjoy myself, but I think we were able to quickly figure out where I should be heading. I think that was a very good collaboration on my end. I don’t know what he feels like.

I’m sure he feels similarly. That’s kinda funny to hear you say that you couldn’t get a read on if he liked it or if he didn’t. How does that impact your performance? Are you thinking about ways to surprise him to get a reaction if you’re not sure?

I think all the actors will agree with me, but I just wanted to please Sonny. (Laughs.) That’s all I wanted. I just wanted to make him happy. It wasn’t pressurizing per se, but after every take, I would look at Sonny, try and read his reaction. If he likes a scene, I realize that he smiles, but he smiles in such a subtle way. It’s not very obvious to other people, but you have to look at him at the right time to catch that, to be reassured that you’re on the right track. Then if he starts laughing, you think, OK, I did something right. Then, if you sort of think what different version are we going to try on the next take?

How familiar were you with Beef season one? Did you watch it? Enjoy it?

Considering how amazing season one did, it was very difficult to not watch it because there was so much hype about it. When it came out, I watched it and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but not for the normal reasons. It was quite shocking for me, I had never seen anything like it before. It really portrayed the shittiest versions of ourselves so well, but obviously in a more amplified way. I think I related to it so much that I was embarrassed at myself.

That’s what Sonny’s really good at, making humor out of the shittest sides of human beings. Funnily enough, a couple of days or weeks before the audition for season two came to me, an Instagram reel of a Beef season one clip came up. I remember thinking to myself, this is the kind of role that I want to do, because it was just after Butterfly. Then I forgot about it. But evidently, I think I indirectly manifested for it because I got the audition. I was so shocked because my manifestations don’t really happen. I don’t know about you.

No, me neither.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. But it was the first time it really happened. I was so shocked and so grateful. As soon as I got the audition, I knew this was the kind of role that I want to play, especially if it was a introductory role for Hollywood. I felt like it was such a good way to portray myself, not only in the acting sense, but as an actor, because there are Korean lines, English lines.

What did you find relatable about Eunice that made you want this role? Or what about her didn’t feel as relatable that made you want to take it?

She’s a very intelligent character. She obviously had to go through a lot of competition and a lot of society stress. I have never worked in a company — or let alone the richest woman of South Korea — so that was a quality that I respected. Also just being a go getter of life, I feel like that’s something I have to improve on. Someone who’s able to put aside her own greed, her own thoughts at times, and just really push on, for whatever reason it is. That’s something that I wanted to portray because when you’re acting, you are allowed to become that person, right? It’s always a good feeling. When I first read the script, There was a scene specifically written where Eunice has to split her legs up and just be so nonchalant about it. That made me realize she’s clever. She’s really doing well for her life, and she’s flexible. She’s got it all. I love when I have to physically work and physically change for a role. That’s always the fun part of acting. Mind you, I haven’t stretched a day since.

When you look back on this show as a chapter in your life, what do you think the main takeaway will be?

Going back to my point where I said that I used to limit myself unknowingly, I think that my perception has definitely changed. When I was sitting on set, waiting for the scenes with Youn Yuh-jung seonsaengnim — I call her seonsaengnim because it’s a [term of] respect — in L.A.surrounded by people who are not Korean while working, that was a very weird and eye-opening feeling for me. It’s something that I had never dreamed about, not just for myself, for any Korean actor. I think times have changed, definitely. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

I imagine having it be with her — she’s genuinely a trailblazer — that it adds an extra layer on top.

So many layers. It would’ve been amazing sitting next to her in Korea, let alone L.A., while doing the same Hollywood project as her. That’s something that I will never be able to get my head around. That just goes to show how really and truly times are changing. With KPop Demon Hunters and BTS and all of these amazing Korean people. I feel so proud of them. I’m so grateful to be in the position I am.