Five “Newbie” K-Drama Actors I Stan

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As a longtime K-Drama/Korean movie fan, over the years I have amassed a pretty nice collection of actors that I’ve become quite the fans of. I can name my traditional list of actors that I follow and still love their work (aka the senior actors such as Hyun Bin, Gong Yoo, Lee Jun Ki, Song Joong Ki, Lee Dong Wook, etc). However, with the recent influx of new dramas almost every week announced, it can get hard to keep track of new actors that keep cropping up and blowing the competition out the water.

Let’s list the newbies who have impressed me and to whom I look forward to in the many years to come. Oh, and just because I’ve titled this post as newbies doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re super new, they’ve just been on the scene for less than five years at least. Without further ado, here goes:

1. Kim Seon Ho

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Purists would argue that the current hot boy of new K-Drama actors does not qualify to be on this list, because prior to debuting in K-Dramas, he was a longtime theater actor. But he is an exception to this case because not only is he wholesome, he sells out products fast with his incredible mug. Plus, he’s so famous nowadays, recently winning two awards for both actor and entertainer categories.

2. Lee Do Hyun

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Debuting almost four years ago in 2017, Lee Do Hyun has shown great range in his acting to become a major star in a short period of time. He’s got a slate of projects on his plate, he oozes looks, talent and charisma, he’s just got it going on, and is set to be a major player in the industry.

3. Song Kang

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Seen initially as a teenybopper actor (at least to this writer), Song Kang has recently shown that he is a very versatile actor with his pick of acting projects, from starring in two seasons of Netflix K-Drama series Love Alarm, another Netflix K-Drama Sweet Home, to playing a ballerino in Navillera. He’s truly stretching the limits for himself.

4. Kim Young Dae

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Casted on the streets to become an actor while on holiday at home from his university studies overseas, he’s become a highly sought after actor since. With credits that range from Extraordinary You to the extremely popular Penthouse drama series, he recently snabbed a fried chicken chain endorsement deal, Kim Young Dae’s career is on a high.

5. Hwang In Yeop

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The last guy on this list, what can we say about Hwang In Yeop? From his start as a model to current rising It Boy, Hwang In Yeop is going stronger by the minute, enjoying a huge popularity boost from his turn in True Beauty. With his recent casting in Netflix K-Drama series The Sound of Magic, his star is continuously rising, validated by a Male Rookie Actor Award.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the five new Korean actors I have selected to lead the next generation of Korean screen productions. Now, I know that there are many more other talented new actors out there I have missed out on, but maybe they’ll be able to replenish this list and lead the next wave soon.

Early 2021 K-Drama Obsession: True Beauty

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K-Dramas, always had a liking for it, I’ve been watching them ever since the hallyu wave started almost two decades ago. However, I haven’t caught an ongoing drama, preferring to binge my dramas now, until this one, tvN’s True Beauty. Luckily I was already a reader of the webtoon the drama is based on and what piqued my interest to watch the drama too was a released still from the then upcoming Episode 7.

So long story short, I caught the drama from the aforementioned Episode 7, then managed to catch up in real time, and what a pain in trying to wait for double weekly episodes (this is why people binge).

Just to clarify, this post is NOT a review or a recap post because, there are others sites and places that specialize in that area, and it’s not exactly this writer’s area of expertise (so sorry🙏 😝).

The drama True Beauty became a weekly obsession because: I was a fan of the webtoon, the extremely attractive cast, and the proverbial staple in K-dramas, the love triangle. Fans of the drama became split in two camps, namely the two male leads, whether you were in Team Suho (Cha Eunwoo) or Team Seojun (Hwang In Yeop), and which guy would win over the female lead Im Jugyeong’s heart played by actress Moon Ga-young. Also, I have now just realized that drama adaptations of webtoons can totally differ from the source material, whether for better or worse.

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  (L-R Hwang In Yeop, Moon Ga-young, and Cha Eun Woo)

The very attractive main cast of True Beauty

I must confess that I developed major second lead syndrome and became a mammoth fan of actor Hwang In Yeop who played Han Seojun due to the portrayal of his character. This is considered astounding due to his rookie actor status. Also, I felt bad for only discovering him now, but better late than never eh?

Like every True Beauty fan, I looked out for new stills and BTS (behind the scenes) videos released every week by the network, tvN, which was extremely generous on their behalf for thirsty fans, or maybe just their way of torturing us (again, this is why bingeing is so much better).

At the end of the day, while I do think that they did managed to tie things up nicely for each character, with the exception of SPOILER ALERT the second lead. I do believe that this drama will be a drama that will be referred to for both existing and future fans and become a cultural zeitgeist for many years to come.

I consider True Beauty the rare exception in me returning to watching an ongoing drama, so thank you True Beauty for brightening up our early 2021. Here’s to you True Beauty, now onto my next K-Drama binge.

K-Star Highlight: Hwang In Yeop

Viewers of Korean drama True Beauty were charmed by the storyline, the characters, and the great acting. Among the three main cast members of the drama, one particularly stood out, and he is actor Hwang In Yeop (HIY) who played the second male lead character Han Seojun.

HIY is arguably the breakout star and all-round best character from Korean drama True Beauty, who since then has seen his stock rise up ever since the premiere episode of the drama (even though his character only appeared in Episode 2, and what an entrance it was). His Instagram followers has seen a huge bump from a roughly 200K followers to now 9 million (and counting) followers. Talk about impact.

His newfound fans now know his story as the model turned actor who had only debuted back in 2018 as a model, but had ambitions to be an actor and only got his first role in web drama WHY. Considered to be a late entry into the industry at the age of 27, he had completed his mandatory military service prior to debuting, and had made up his mind to fully pursue acting while in the military.

Why have we developed HIY Mania? For one thing, other than the obvious (looks, voice) that he resembles the webtoon character so much, as are the other two leads, HIY had to overcome the prejudice of the initial reception when his casting was announced. Among the comments seen were that he was an unknown and that fans wanted various idol stars who supposedly inspired the original webtoon character. HIY however has proven all the doubters wrong by not only exceeding expectations, but clearly became the best performer in the drama (the entire cast did great too). HIY has also shown that not only can he have chemistry with every single character in the drama, he overall has an incredible aura and tons of star quality.

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Yes, the character of Han Seojun was also the reason why so many fans fell for him. Han Seojun was the most selfless, loving, gracious, friend/lover/brother that any girl could have wanted except, SPOILER ALERT for those who didn’t watch the drama, by the lead female character of Im Jugyeong played by actress Moon Ga-young. HIY did him justice by managing to perfectly flesh out the character of Han Seojun and portraying him sensitively to appeal to both webtoon and drama fans. Plus, his character Han Seojun was overall so much better than the character of the main lead Lee Suho.

I will not go any further into commenting how some of the webtoon plotlines and scenes were changed from (webtoon Han Seojun) to be transferred to (main lead of drama Lee Suho) but HIY rose above that and truly made the Han Seojun character outstanding against all odds. Though in the finale episode, his performance in the first 15 minutes made us Han Seojun fans bawl our eyes out, he did get a slightly nice tie-up to his story arc. I do however have to agree that the writers did the Han Seojun character a disservice in the end, and just wished his parts could have been written better for his conclusion arc, one that truly honored his character’s evolution in the drama.

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HIY the actor has won us over with his offscreen personality, his talents, and his incredible potential. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for him and the path his career takes. Truly a star is born. While in True Beauty, SPOILER ALERT the character of Han Seojun didn’t get the girl, actor HIY has truly won a million girls’ hearts worldwide.