Late Friday afternoon, the members of 2PM greeted the Filipino media with prim smiles and waves, the occasional giddy shrieks echoing outside Manila Hotel’s Sampaguita room. In front of the cameras, the “beastly idols” of K-pop cut quite dashing figures in white three-piece suits that hid their notoriously toned torsos. But off-cam, the twentysomething gentlemen were more like playful young pups, just as cute, and maybe twice as naughty.
It’s 2 p.m. in sunny Bangkok. Just inches away, Thai-American K-pop idol Nichkhun is slouched comfortably in his seat, lips curved into that closed-mouth smile of his. He has just finished shooting his ad campaign for Bench at the ultrahip Chamni’s Eye studio in Suan Luang district, and we only have a few minutes to chat before he goes to rehearse for a solo show downtown.
He’s a singer, dancer, rapper, multiinstrumentalist, TV host, ramp/print model, and celebrity endorser. But there’s more: Nichkhun is also an aspiring actor, and a promising one at that.
