MyDramaList MDLv6.6
Home→ South Korea→ Korean Actors & Actresses→

Most Overrated Korean Actor/Actress

Peachietime

@lord_varvara

Can’t quote so I will reply here -

Hmmm not sure if you get my point. I of coz understand acting and singing are two different routes, but I am simply stating they didn’t just jump out of nowhere and get noticed. It’s still an entertainment industry where entertainers in either acting and singing are always interchangeable after all. Same in any country. They earned their commercial value over being an idol after completions and years of hustling so I can understand why they are chosen over good actors with 10+ years of experience but less known (doesn’t mean I think it should be, but it’s the hard fact that so many audiences really don’t care for acting/plots they just need to see pretty faces. If there’s demand there’s always supply). 

I don’t agree idols who just come and be picked as leads, at least do some smaller roles and show that they are worth it and can act well before taking on lead roles - that’s my take but I just wanted to reply on that one particular comment about some actors have been acting for 10+ years and only started being noticed now <— these idols have also worked years to be known in the “entertainment industry”. While the talent for acting and singing is drastically different, just can’t deny the fact that both routes are seen as “celebrity” and singers are also on screens and known by the public that can draw commercial successes. They both worked in their lane long enough to get known. Just don’t want to discredit people’s hard work but my respect also stops right there. Bad acting idols should just start small and keep practicing.

Quote
tilted-sun
 lord_varvara:
But what does idol training in singing and dancing and aegyo fake-ness has to do with acting

Im not a fan of any idol, I haven't followed kpop in years but I do know some knowledge from 2nd gen era which is that since Super Junior became the first group to be trained as (accidentally) entertainer idols in 2005 (mostly hosting/Variety ) there has been an introduction of acting teachings in the training programmes. Because of their early success in the Hallyu wave ( regardless of people's opinions on SJ) and the fact it was partially because of their ability to cross promote with their entertainment careers, management companies took notice and began adding more training that matched that usually in the hosting variety realm. 

What happened after that was that they noticed that a lot of ex idols (like Jung Ryeo Won who left her kpop group to pursue acting)  or idols whose group were on hiatus or ex trainees turned to acting so they began adding some acting lessons into their trainee programmes whilst pushing some of their active idols to take on acting which is how we got actors who are active as idols at the same time e.g. IU, Taecyeon and D.O. . 

All of this to say that older idol actors are less likely to have acting training but newer idols are more likely to have some limited acting teaching. This obviously doesn't make them good and I imagine its harder (not impossible) to be good if you have an active idol career because you have to limit your choices and acting to maintain your brand as an idol, if that makes sense. 

Quote
Xtinew

I haven't found any Female actress that I like. I think their acting is kind of overly exaggerated and irritating;  widen eyes (expression of fake shock), panting, always say "what? Hey...ah", crying loud (supporting male actors too), speak too loud. But I like some of them in 'particular drama' like Kim Min-jung  (Mr. Sunshine), Kim Yoo-jung (love under the moonlight), Son Ye-jin (CLOY & Something in the rain) depends on their characters and overall performance. If a director wants them to do 'panting', actors should run a mile before come to action to give a genuine 'panting' - NOT stay in a spot and doing fake panting...didn't sound good. Korean actors can cry 'wet & loud' without expression of sadness or lost. The actress act shock innocent widen their eyes and ask 'what?' so predictable. A lot of actresses has 'mommy' face...frozen expression Lee Se-young or Song Hye-kyo. 

Quote
Emperor
 lord_varvara:

Speaking of infantilizing, bowl cuts, anyone? That's little boy's hair given to grown actors to look younger or something? No wonder half of drama 30somethings still play highschool students. 

You just mention my years of frustration of that 'bowl cut ' .😄😄😄..it was really a pandemic , like I was seeing it everywhere ...because It looks so bad on some actors ...now there is another pandemic of broken bowl cut , where still hairs are down but there is small space , it is still tolerable though  ...but still bowl cut is in ..means if you are bad your hairs are up , if your hairs are down then you are innocent and good 

Quote
Sukai

@Peachietime 

They worked their ass of as an idol for many years but not as an actor. We are talking about here not their life as an idol but as an actor. We are not invalidating their hardwork as in idol trainee but they are not in the acting line ever since which is the questionable part. Being an idol trainee for many years does not have to do with being an actor. 

Sad truth but penetrating the kdrama industry was an escape route of most idols for them to continue having an income since you won’t be always at the top of music charts. Kdramas have a lesser competition for leading roles relatively compared to music industry. Also, idols were being used to gain international audiences since money is always first which then compromises the quality of kdramas. It was the Idols’ fans anyway who are patronizing and liking the drama regardless of their bad acting. But remember, the fans are not the only viewers. Which then, the reason why these idols get a lot of hate due to their bad acting. In the end, it backfires to them. 

Kfilm is not prestige?? Low budget does not equate to being prestige. You probably don’t understand what the term prestige means. In fact, the chungmuro industry and chungmuro actors are on the highest hierarchy of the korean entertainment industry while kdrama actors, entertainers, and idols are just beneath them. Everyone can be a kdrama actor but not everyone can be called a chungmuro actor. This is a privilege that not anyone can get. Just take a look at kfilms and you will keep on seeing same names since they are the only ones worthy and have proven acting over time. They do kdramas because they can’t penetrate the film industry. It is selective. 

You must be basing your reference of low revenue during this pandemic. Obviously none of the movies released from the past year have achieved a breakeven point due to limit of audiences. But if you do a little research and check the records of previous years, many low budget films gets a return of 10x their budget which is called a box office success. And it is not the government who grant them money but investors from companies. They have nothing to owe to the government. 

edited Quote
Emperor

@peachietime

Everybody is hardworking in that industry, however it can never justify that a duly deserving  person has to wait so long to get a role ..because age also play a limitation on the role opportunity ...it's like eating away the opportunity meant for somebody , who is totally dedicated to field of acting ..so it is like killing their hardwork ..it is unfair ..even to us who are consumers of media 

Second , as far as capitalism is concerned, because these idols and some overrated actors  surely have  commercial value , it should not stop people for calling out ..which  this discussion is meant for ..to speak in an atmosphere where big PR agencies from every single news agencies imposing us to see or   to accept that these actors or idols are perfect and good actors ..which is A BIG BIG LIE ..

Some of them have started with small roles which was worse now they are improved to bad 

I am sure there could be subjective opinion but surely there is underlying consensus under many names 

We cannot change the system , it will go like this  but atleast we can speak ..atleast it can give little strength to voice to those good and talented actors who are not getting role 

Quote
lord_varvara

@Emperor

Just as you think bowl cut is bad, they give you mullet cut  and mushroom cut. :) :) :)

@Xtinew I have a big problem with Actresses too, more specifically, FLs. I think they oscillate between wide-eyed Mwo? panting  and being frozen pork chops. That mostly stems from FLs being written as 2 different stereotypes with barely anything in between  - aloof hardened "strong woman" (cue Tree acting) or Manic Pixie Dream Girl  (cue Ham).  Both always end up crying over ML who, after being the butt of FLs jokes or strong woman posturing at the start, takes over as the center of the dramaverse, while everyone and FL are relegated to waiting for him to save them and bestow his affection on. 

Example of ridiculous "strong woman posturing" that made me turn off the drama right away and I'm not surprised ratings are low: Happiness FL climbs on the roof to talk ML out of jumping off it, though he never meant to jump, was just being a d***. FL offers him her hand, he takes it and then predictably - cause that's what "drama strong female characters" do one way of the other -  pushes him off the roof so he falls in the duffel bed waiting for him down. That's supposed to come across as "wow, how badass and cool she is!" but it's cringe and eyeroll cause no one normal acts like that. Not to mention an uncomfortable feel they were making light of suicide problem that plagues their country especially teenagers.  So that nixed this drama in the first 10-15 min although I like zombie/vampire genre but I never got to see those parts thanks to annoying FL. Bonus: both "teenagers" were obviously in their 30s.

edited Quote
Sunset
 lord_varvara:

Speaking of infantilizing, bowl cuts, anyone? That's little boy's hair given to grown actors to look younger or something? No wonder half of drama 30somethings still play highschool students. 

I always thought that was a Korean trend.. but whatever I'm fine with them as long as it doesn't look like this guy ugh he looked like a giant 12 year old boy lmao (anyone still remember him?) 

Quote
lord_varvara

wait he wasn't 12?

Quote
Sunset

I heard of him over a decade ago on TV or Youtube so he was more like 24 back then. 

that haircut reminds me of Monchhichi dolls

edited Quote
lord_varvara

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Quote
redmists
 Xtinew:

I haven't found any Female actress that I like. I think their acting is kind of overly exaggerated and irritating;  widen eyes (expression of fake shock), panting, always say "what? Hey...ah", crying loud (supporting male actors too), speak too loud. But I like some of them in 'particular drama' like Kim Min-jung  (Mr. Sunshine), Kim Yoo-jung (love under the moonlight), Son Ye-jin (CLOY & Something in the rain) depends on their characters and overall performance. If a director wants them to do 'panting', actors should run a mile before come to action to give a genuine 'panting' - NOT stay in a spot and doing fake panting...didn't sound good. Korean actors can cry 'wet & loud' without expression of sadness or lost. The actress act shock innocent widen their eyes and ask 'what?' so predictable. A lot of actresses has 'mommy' face...frozen expression Lee Se-young or Song Hye-kyo. 

I rarely like Korean actresses tbh. It's the candy-esque acting you described that puts me off them. That combined with the poor writing for female characters and it's really hard to like stuff.  Very similar dialogue also - What? Hey! What do I do?! (I dislike hearing this in particular, and you only ever hear the females uttering it helplessly in every drama). 

Just utterly disempowering, especially given the society we live in now. I've dropped so many K-dramas over the years cos of very unlikable actresses/acting. 

 Emperor:

You just mention my years of frustration of that 'bowl cut ' .???..it was really a pandemic , like I was seeing it everywhere ...because It looks so bad on some actors ...now there is another pandemic of broken bowl cut , where still hairs are down but there is small space , it is still tolerable though  ...but still bowl cut is in ..means if you are bad your hairs are up , if your hairs are down then you are innocent and good 

The bowl cut phenomenon was odd. I remember being in Korea around that time, just chilling in the airport at Jeju, and hordes of students were disembarking from planes. What did I see? Waves of boys coming at me with the same identical bowl haircut and dark-rimmed glasses.  Just masses of them. It was kinda weird tbh. But I guess people there take their trends super seriously. I realise actors always get very similar haircuts. 

Quote
larami
 redmists:
Any former idol turned actresses. the whole snsd acting line. suzy. krystal. seolhyun. hyeri. how these talentless ppl are getting LEAD roles are beyond me 

I think you made a lot of good points but some are too harsh. 

I wholeheartedly agree with the last one though. I like all of the women you mentioned BUT only as idols. I always try to check their dramas out expecting to see something different but nope. And they can't even use the "they're just starting out" excuse like Cha Eunwoo. It s been years since they started yet no improvement. 

edited Quote
larami
 lord_varvara:

Speaking of actors who rely on their looks, which is almost a rule in teen and romance dramas, I cut CEW some slack because he's simply stunning, one of or the most beautiful male face I've ever seen. So if he relies on that, well, he also delivers in that department, unlike barely above average looking actors replying on their overhyped barely above average looks just because they came from some third-tier idol group or were idol rejects.  For some fans, if someone was an idol no matter how low on the totem pole, they are automatically considered hot and talented. Hell no!

completely agreed. Lee Minho is one actor I really do not understand why everyone goes gaga over. He's like the Asian equivalent of Brad Pitt. Rowoon is another one. They're obviously good-looking with symmetrical faces and all but do nothing for me.  Cha Eunwoo might rely on his looks but it's only been 3 years? (correct me if I'm wrong) since his debut and he REALLY does deliver. It's also weirdly why I never stick with his dramas past ep 1. The irony in hiring someone known for their handsome face for a drama with the message "looks don't matter" cracks me up. It does matter because I keep getting distracted by Cha Eunwoo's face and that just defeats the message they're trying to deliver? I don't know its a weird paradox of emotions watching characters be all shallow over CEW"s looks and then find myself doing the exact same thing. 

edited Quote
larami
 lord_varvara:
couldn't watch past maybe 7-8 episodes but it was obvious to me that everyone in the principal and supporting cast acted circles around him. Not a high bar but they were legit better and some were really good. But it's Rowoon who's lining up leading roles because he's in a third-tier idol group.

Sorry for quoting you so much but you're just stating what I thought the entire time I was watching Extraordinary You.  Kim Jae Wook and the guy who played the ml Kim Young Dae carried the whole show.  The fact they're not in any new dramas or are relegated to supporting ones while Rowoon is everywhere is a disservice. 

I didn't really find the actress Kim Hye Yoon that good either, maybe cause I dropped sky castle on ep 1, which is where she gets a lot of her hype from.  She and the girl from Lovers of the Red Sky are one of the most overrated new-gen actresses for me. 

Quote

Recent Discussions

Hottest Discussions