Korean actress plays a psychotic, trashy woman who sleeps with a priest and plots to kill her husband.

It's a controversial role that many other Korean actresses, who prefer to stick to the safe and winning formulas of romantic comedies, would hesitate to undertake.

But controversy is exactly what Korean babe

Kim Ok Vin lives for in her work.

Said Ok Vin, 23, in an e-mail interview with The New Paper: 'I am not attracted to easy and simple roles. I feel alive only when I am challenged with difficult roles that push me to improve my acting skills.

'For Thirst, there was no reason at all to reject such a good script; I accepted it immediately.'

The model-actress has a penchant for challenging roles.

Before Thirst, she played a kisaeng - a Korean female entertainer similar to a Japanese geisha - in last year's The Accidental Gangster And The Mistaken Courtesan.

She's best remembered for playing a prostitute in the 2006 Web-comic-inspired film, Dasepo Naughty Girls.

At first, Ok Vin was reluctant to take on the role because of the explicit scenes, but she eventually agreed based on the director's previous works.

Thirst, which is rated R21 here, has both violent and sexual scenes, but the actress said there was 'no hesitation' to work on the film. She said had faith in acclaimed film-maker Park Chan Wook.

She added that her friends and family have been very supportive of her work and are always curious to see what new roles she takes on.

The only movie genre she has yet to try out is romantic comedies.

Said Ok Vin: 'I don't know if I will act in any romance movies in the future. But if I do, I can compare that experience to the challenge I had filming Thirst.'

She admitted that she was physically exhausted during filming as many scenes in the movie required her to move with speed and dexterity, traits that vampires are supposed to have.

Although she said she has perfected the vampire's look and mannerisms, she doesn't believe that these mythical creatures exist.

Ironically, her favourite films include Tom Cruise's Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) and European vampire movie Let The Right One In (2008).

But if vampires did exist, Ok Vin said she thinks 'they would likely be similar to humans in terms of their moral standards', not their dietary preferences.

Maybe so. But would female vampires be hotties like her?

'I am the sexiest female vampire around because even the priest loves me,' she said with a laugh.

This article was first published in The New Paper