“Due to the drama’s popularity, the number of scripts I receive has increased tenfold or even twentyfold,” Byeon Woo Seok shared on tvN’s You Quiz on the Block, expressing how his newfound fame has impacted him. The actor has become an “icon of first love” and has experienced a surge in popularity following tvN’s Monday-Tuesday drama, Lovely Runner, which premiered on the 8th of last month.
In light of his success, we’ve highlighted four other celebrities whose careers were forever changed by a single project.
Kim Soo Hyun
Kim Soo Hyun is a name synonymous with ratings success. While his career began to take flight with KBS’s school drama Dream High, it was MBC’s historical drama The Moon Embracing the Sun in 2012 that propelled him to superstardom.
Adapted from a novel, The Moon Embracing the Sun is a historical drama with a dash of fantasy that tells the heart-wrenching love story between King Lee Hwon and the female shaman Wol. Kim Soo Hyun embodies Lee Hwon, capturing the hearts of female viewers with his portrayal of a pure-hearted king who can’t forget his first love. This role allowed him to break free from typical historical drama typecasting, and the show itself captivated audiences of all ages, reaching a peak viewership rating of a staggering 42.2%.
Lines like “Until I can figure out this confusion, until I know what these feelings are… don’t you dare go far from me” and “You told me to forget you. You hoped that I forgot you, right? I’m sorry. I wanted to forget you, but I couldn’t do it,” resonated deeply with viewers and became so popular that they were frequently parodied on variety shows.
Kim Soo Hyun’s star power continues to shine brightly. His latest project, Queen of Tears on tvN, recently concluded with the highest rating in the network’s history (24.9%).
>> Kim Soo Hyun, Byeon Woo Seok & Cha Eun Woo: Who Will Be This Year’s Asia Star?
Lee Min Ho
The project that paved the way for Lee Min Ho‘s global success, extending his reach to the Apple TV Plus original series Pachinko, is none other than the 2009 KBS 2TV drama Boys Over Flowers.
Based on a popular Japanese manga, Boys Over Flowers was a phenomenon. It sparked remakes in Taiwan and Japan and captivated audiences with its story of a working-class girl who finds herself enrolled in a prestigious private school alongside the wealthy and arrogant “F4” boys.
Fueled by the success of the original manga, the drama generated major buzz even during production as Lee Min Ho, then a rookie actor, landed the coveted lead role of Gu Jun Pyo. With his towering height, sharp features, and perfectly styled “conch shell bread” hair, Lee Min Ho was hailed as the perfect embodiment of the manga character. This role finally paid off his five years of hard work and catapulted him from relative obscurity to instant stardom.
Lee Min Ho’s journey continues with highly anticipated second season of Pachinko and upcoming drama Ask the Stars, where he stars opposite Gong Hyo Jin.
Kim Tae Ri
Kim Tae Ri faced continuous rejections in auditions, but the 2016 movie The Handmaiden completely changed her life. She landed the lead role in the film, standing out among 1,500 contestants.
Her first movie was directed by the renowned Park Chan Wook, and she even got to attend the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, which is a dream for many actors.
Set in the 1930s, The Handmaiden tells the story of a count (played by Ha Jung Woo) who intentionally approaches a noblewoman (Kim Min Hee) intending to take her money. Although hired by the count in the movie, Kim Tae Ri left a strong impression as the ambitious maid named Sook Hee, who refuses to be manipulated by him.
Despite being a newcomer to the acting world, she boldly handled the nude scenes and led the story alongside Kim Min Hee, marking her rise as an actress.
Kim Tae Ri is set to return in a new drama titled Jeong Nyeon, which is scheduled for release in the second half of this year.
Bae Suzy
Suzy held the title of “icon of first love” long before Byun Woo Seok. While she found fame in 2010 as part of the K-pop group Miss A, it was the 2012 movie Architecture 101 that truly catapulted her to national sweetheart status.
Architecture 101 is a romantic movie where Lee Jae Hoon’s character, Seung Min, falls head over heels for Suzy’s Seo Yeon at first sight during an architecture class. The film was a smash hit, drawing in over 4 million viewers and sparking a wave of 90s nostalgia. With iconic songs like “Etude of Memories” and “Love of a New Generation” playing alongside pagers and CD players on screen, it took audiences on a trip down memory lane. But more importantly, it cemented Suzy’s image as the quintessential “first love.”
Suzy is finally making her big-screen comeback with Wonderland after a five-year movie break following Ashfall.
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My introduction to Kim Soo Hyun was “My Love from the Star”, on Netflix! It was also my introduction to Kdrama and flower boys. I have never recovered from being gob smacked. And I’m still a fan because he’s not just a pretty face, but an actor with great range and superior talent.