Our top 5 Korean actors: Hyun Bin and ... ?

K-Pop Blog > Overview > K-Drama

You've finished watching another K-drama and are faced with the difficult decision of what to watch next? What helps you decide? Do you ask friends for recommendations, do you look for specific genres, or are you mostly interested in specific actors?

For us, it's definitely the latter, because it's the actors who bring a role to life. Boring stories become more interesting because of them and good stories become brilliant stories!

Today, we present to you our top 5 favorite actors, of whom we would watch anything! We are curious if you share our opinion. We've already told you one of our favorites: Hallyu star Hyun Bin! Would you like to know which place he took and who else is in it?

• 5th place
  
• 4th place
  
• 3rd place
  
• 2nd place
  
• This is our number 1!

5th place: Lee Minho

Born: June 22, 1987

That Lee Minho made it into our top 5 is no surprise, as the actor has been idolized by millions of fans for many years not only in South Korea, but all over Asia and even beyond!

He started his acting career in 2002 at the age of 15 with small supporting roles. However, as early as 2006, Lee Min Ho landed his first leading role in a series called "Secret Campus". In the same year he was involved in a dramatic car accident. The car in which Minho and three friends were sitting was hit by a car that was fleeing from another accident. The two friends who were in the front of the car died on the spot. Lee Minho and another friend, actor Jung Il Woo, survived seriously injured but had to be treated in the hospital for months.

Minho fortunately recovered and returned to the big screen in 2007 with a leading role in "Mackerel Run." This was followed by another leading role in "Get Up" (2008). Although his career was undoubtedly going well at that point, the big break came in 2009!

Lee Minho played Gu Jun Pyo, the heir to one of the biggest companies in South Korea, in "Boys Over Flowers".

The series is largely set in an elite school for children of wealthy families. Gu Jun Pyo and his three best friends are known as the F4 by the other students. The F4 are the most influential students and, of course, the best looking. Gu Jun Pyo's quiet school life is properly shaken up when poor Geum Jan Di is accepted to the elite school by special permission. Boys Over Flowers became a cultural phenomenon throughout Asia and helped spread the "Korean Wave"!

Lee Minho rose to become one of the biggest stars in Asia and could hardly keep himself from advertising deals! For years, references to the F4 were made in other K-dramas, and Lee Minho's iconic hairstyle in the series was also long remembered by Korean series fans.

Since then, Lee Minho has starred in many more successful K-dramas, steadily gaining even more fans.

These are a few of his most famous series:

Boys Over Flowers (2009)
City Hunter (2011)
The Heirs (2013)
The Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)
The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

Have you seen them all? We highly recommend them, our personal favorite is City Hunter!

4th place: Kim Soo Hyun

Born: February 16, 1988

This name is certainly very high not only on our list, but also on many others. But how could we leave him out? Like Lee Minho, Kim Soo Hyun is one of the highest paid actors in South Korea, and not without reason:

After acting in theater in high school, Kim Soo Hyun made his big screen debut in 2008 in the series "Kimchi Cheese Smile." This was followed just one year later by his first leading role in "Jungle Fish"! Soo Hyun went on to play a few smaller roles, but in 2011 he landed another leading role in the musical drama "Dream High". He was the only actor in the main cast alongside a number of idols and trained for several weeks singing and dancing for his roles in JYP Entertainment. The drama was especially popular among teenagers and helped make Kim Soo Hyun's name known.

Since then, he has only played leading roles and the very next one in a historical series called "Moon Embracing the Sun" (2012) catapulted him to the top!

He got so many offers for advertising deals that he represented 17 products at the same time, breaking the record set by figure skater Kim Yuna in 2009. But that wasn't all.

His next series "My Love from the Star" (2013/ 14) increased Kim Soo Hyun's popularity even more! The romantic fantasy series tells the story of an alien who lands on Earth in 1609 and falls in love with the hottest female actress of the moment many years later! The series was a massive success. Kim Soo Hyun became the most sought-after advertising model. He appeared in more than 30 commercials!

My Love from the Star is probably his best-known and most iconic series to date, and a must-see for any K-drama fan.

Soo Hyun went on to film the series The Producers (2015) and the film Real (2017) before beginning his military service in 2017, which is mandatory for all men in South Korea. Kim Soo Hyun finished his service in 2019 and thrilled fans with brief guest appearances in the hit series "Hotel del Luna" and "Crash Landing On You". He finally made his official return to the big screen in 2020. His new series "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" was the most popular romantic series of the year on Netflix in South Korea.

These are Kim Soo Hyun's most famous works:

Dream High (2011)
Moon Embracing the Sun (2012)
My Love from the Star (2013/ 14)
The Producers (2015)
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)

3rd place: Yang Se Jong

Born: December 23, 1992

Yang Se Jong is the youngest actor in our list, not only in terms of his age, but also his acting debut. He first appeared on the big screen in 2016, in the Doctor series "Dr. Romantic". In 2017, he played the young version of the male lead in the historical series "Saimdang, Memoir of Colors," which revolves around a female artist. However, Se Jong actually filmed "Saimdang" before "Dr. Romantic".

His acting career took off almost instantly, as those first two roles were also his last supporting roles. Still in 2017, Yang Se Jong landed leading roles in the crime series "Duel" and the romantic melodrama "Temperature of Love". In Duel, he played three different roles at once! But it was mainly his role as a young chef in Temperature of Love that made Yang Se Jong famous. He won three "Best New Actor Awards" at the end of 2017 for his acting performance in the series!

He went on to thrill fans in the romantic series "Still 17" (2018) and the historical drama "My Country: The New Age" (2019).

From 2020 to 2021, Yang Se Jong did his military service and has not been seen in a new role since then. However, he has been filming the Netflix series "Doona!" since mid-2022. (The Girl Downstairs) together with singer and actress Bae Suzy. We are looking forward to his return and are excited to see what other successes Yang Se Jong will achieve in the future!

Once again, here's an overview of the series starring Yang Se Jong, in case you want to see more of him:

Duel (2017)
Temperature of Love (2017)
Still 17 (2018)
My Country: The New Age (2019)

We met Yang Se Jong in Duel, and he's been one of our favorites at least since Temperature of Love! He may not yet have as long a track record as the others in our list, but all of his previous works have won us over completely.

2nd place: Hyun Bin

Born: September 25, 1982

As you probably know, Hyun Bin has had a long and very successful career, as the actor made his acting debut back in 2002 and has been starring in extremely successful series ever since, and it's hard to imagine the K-drama world without him!

It's hard to summarize this career in a few sentences, but we'll take a quick look at the most interesting milestones with you anyway. For example, did you know that Hyun Bin's first film project "Shower" in 2002 never aired? Due to financial problems, filming had to be canceled and the movie never came out. Fortunately, Hyun Bin was not discouraged and made his acting debut in 2003 in a series called "Bodyguard". In his next drama "Ireland" in 2004 he already played one of the leading roles and with the romantic comedy "My Lovely Sam Soon" in 2005 he became a star!

The series was a great success and reached average ratings over 37%. This still makes it one of the most watched Korean series of all time! In the following years, Hyun Bin was repeatedly praised for his roles and received several awards.

In 2010, Hyun Bin's already very successful career was pushed even further! In the fantasy drama "Secret Garden", he played the arrogant company owner Kim Joo Won, who is changed by his encounter with the stuntwoman Gil Ra Im. During the series, the term "Hyun Bin Syndrome" was used, because no matter where you went, you couldn't get around the actor. Whether it was the Internet, newspapers, or television; Hyun Bin was simply everywhere! In the same year, he filmed the English-language film "Late Autumn, which is still the most successful Korean film in China! So despite all his previous and subsequent successes, 2010 is a special year in Hyun Bin's career.

Hyun Bin's more recent works have also all achieved record-breaking success. Both the fantasy drama Memories of the Alhambra (2018/ 19) and Crash Landing on You (2019/ 20) are among the highest-rated Korean dramas in the history of cable television. In Crash Landing On You, Hyun Bin also fell in love with Son Ye Jin, who played the female lead. The two are now married and have a son!

Surely Hyun Bin will continue to inspire us in the future. With all the successes, he deserves a place in the top 5 from all K-drama fans and as you can see, we are also among his admirers.

These are Hyun Bin's most successful works that you should definitely watch if you don't know them yet:

My Lovely Sam Soon (2005)
Secret Garden (2010/ 11)
Late Autumn (2011) - Film
Memories of the Alhambra (2018/ 19)
Hyde Jekyll, Me (2015)
Crash Landing on You (2019/ 20)
Confidential Assignment (2017) & Confidential Assignment 2 (2022)

Our personal favorite is Memories of the Alhambra starring Hyun Bin & Park Shin Hye!

Let's move on to #1! Of course, any of the actors in this list would have deserved this spot, but we had to make a decision:

Our number 1 is Lee Jong Suk

Born: September 14, 1989

Lee Jong Suk first rose to fame as a model in 2005, as he was the youngest male model to ever participate in Seoul Fashion Week at the age of 15 at the time! Since then, he has walked the runway at several more fashion shows.

In between, Jong Suk even trained as an idol for three months, but left his agency because they did not support his dream of an acting career. In 2010, he finally made his official acting debut in the romantic comedy "Prosecutor Princess", laying the foundation for his successful acting career! In the following two years, Lee Jong Suk attracted attention with supporting roles in several dramas and films. Among others, he had a recurring role in the cult series "Secret Garden".

His breakthrough came in 2012 with "School 2013".

The series revolves around a troubled school class whose teachers help their students overcome problems. For his performance, Jong Suk received the Best New Actor Award and since then he has played one leading role after another!

His very next series, "I Can Hear Your Voice" (2013), was a particular success. In it, Jong Suk played a student who can read minds. The drama was so successful that it was even extended for two episodes!

In 2014 and 2015, two more hit series starring him were aired: "Doctor Stranger" and "Pinocchio". Thanks to his acting performance in both dramas, Lee Jong Suk received several awards, including becoming the youngest recipient of the "Best Actor" award at the 27th Grimae Awards! Subsequent projects also brought the actor countless nominations and awards.

Personally, we just can't get enough of Lee Jong Suk. We've watched many of his K-dramas at least twice, so he definitely deserves the top spot in our Top 5 list!

These are a few of his most famous series:

School 2013 (2012/ 13)
I Can Hear Your Voice (2013)
Doctor Stranger (2014)
Pinocchio (2015/ 16)
W: Two Worlds (2016)
While You Were Sleeping (2016)
Romance Is a Bonus Book (2019)
Big Mouth (2022)

It's hard to choose a favorite among all these series, but if we had to name one, it would probably be Pinocchio! The series is the perfect mix of romance, humor, traumatic backstories, emotions and tears. Have you watched it?

Did you find any of your favorite actors in our list? What would your top 5 look like? Let us know!