Check out Viki’s top picks of our all-time favorite actors!

Our Favorite Actors

JTBC

Ten years ago, Kyung Woo Yeon (Shin Ye Eun) was as innocent and carefree as any eighteen year old might be. With dreams and ambitions and a heart ready to love, it was only a matter of time before she fell for someone. And fall she did; for her friend, Lee Soo (Ong Seong Wu). Little did she know that at the time, Lee Soo also had a crush on her. Unfortunately a simple misunderstanding kept them from confessing their feelings.

A decade later, Woo Yeon still harbors a crush on Lee Soo. Working as a calligrapher, she still keeps in touch with her friend, but has never confessed her feelings for him. Oddly enough, the same could be said for Lee Soo, who is now working as a professional photographer. Though the two have taken turns having a crush on each other for over ten years, misunderstandings and missed timings have continued to keep them from becoming anything more than friends.

With feelings ten years in the making, Woo Yeon and Lee Soo begin to realize their feelings for each other are becoming too strong to keep hidden. Has the time for their confessions finally come or will yet another misunderstanding keep them apart?

“More Than Friends” is a 2020 romantic comedy drama directed by Choi Sung Bum.

More Than Friends

💕Friends or Lovers💕

Fuji TV

At twenty-eight, Junko Sakuraba’s (Satomi Ishihara) greatest dream is to live and work in New York City. Unfortunately, working as an English language school teacher isn’t getting her any closer to her dreams. As disappointed as she is at being so far from making her greatest dream come true, Junko is even more disappointed in the fact that she’s soon turning twenty-nine and still has never had a boyfriend.&nbsp;

With a funeral service to attend, Junko has little time for thoughts about dreams or men. But things take an unexpected turn when she notices a handsome monk praying at the temple. Well aware of the fact that a funeral isn’t the best time to find a guy, Junko tries to ignore him but fate decides to make things difficult. With her legs numb from kneeling so long, Junko’s attempt to stand ends in disaster when she accidentally knocks a bowl of ash from the altar on the handsome monk’s head. Mortified, Junko tries to convince herself it’s okay because she will never see him again. But fate, it would seem, has one more trick to play.

Tricked into a matchmaking session by her family, Junko arrives only to find that the other party is none other than the handsome monk, Takane Hoshikawa (Tomohisa Yamashita). Will this second meeting go better than the first or have the two been doomed from the start?

Adapted from the manga series of the same name by Miki Aihara, 5→9 From Five to Nine is a romantic comedy drama directed by Shin Hirano, Hideyuki Aizawa, and Masaki Tanimura.

5→9 From Five to Nine

⏰ From 5→9 Straight to Burnout

Min Ik is a competent and clearheaded man who works as an executive of a leading telecommunications company. This smart guy recognizes people he has met just once and has the insight to read others\u2019 thoughts until he is diagnosed with face blindness. Gal Hee, a loyal secretary of Min Ik, is a dowdy and a disheveled little woman who has worked for Min Ik with all her might. On the day she gets fired out of the blue, she happens to witness Min Ik almost getting murdered by someone and becomes his right-hand man. Min Ik, who suffers from face blindness, mistakes Gal Hee for Veronica, a charming and influential figure in the filming industry, and falls in love with her. Gal Hee starts to pretend to be Veronica, and as time passes, even she gets confused about who she really is. But Veronica finds out about Gal Hee\u2019s double life and puts an end to it. Would the intertwined relationships and feelings be untangled in the end?

The Secret Life of My Secretary

Secret Secretaries Team

One rainy day, Su Zai Zai (Zhang Miao Yi) is taking shelter at a small store when a dashing young high school student named Zhang Lu Rang (Zhou Yi Ran) stops by to buy something. He stands next to her for a brief moment and she instantly falls for him. The next day, their paths cross again as she drops her wallet while cycling to Jiangyi High School and he picks it up – later handing it in at the school. It is not long before she discovers that he is her new classmate.

Their personalities are very different, however. While she is always cheerful and never daunted, Zhang Lu Rang comes across as aloof and haughty. He is an academic whizz who lives with his uncle, but despite his cold exterior, he is actually wracked with self-doubt and has trouble letting people get close to him. However, once he is confronted with Su Zai Zai’s seemingly unending optimism and cheer, he begins to soften. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship – or maybe something more romantic?

This drama was based on a novel named “She’s a Little Crazy” by Zhu Yi.

“When I Fly Towards You” is a 2023 Chinese drama series that was directed by Mao De Shu.

When I Fly Towards You

✨Spread Your Wings & Fly✨

People think it is a doctor's bounden duty to save a patient's life. But things are different now. Things are needed to be considered other than saving one's life. Modern medicine has been developed remarkably, and it is quite possible to save a person's life who is on the verge of death. But we need to think about if prolonging a patient's life makes the patient truly happy. Yo Han is a promising doctor who needs only 10 seconds to figure out a patient's condition. While he is gaining fame with his outstanding skills, he confronts one patient who changes his whole life. Si Young is a doctor with a warm heart. Her family has been doctors for generations, and she takes after her mother's exceptional talent and her father's high empathic ability. But one day, Si Young suddenly leaves the hospital. After a year later, she goes to the penitentiary to serve as a temporary medical doctor, and she meets a prisoner who was a former doctor. He is a genius who can grasp the patient's condition within 10 seconds. After meeting him, Si Young's life totally changes. And the day she comes back to the hospital, she meets the prisoner again, and this time, he is a professor. Doctor John is a human medical drama of anesthetists who seek the cause of mysterious pain their patients suffer, like detectives chasing after a suspect.

Doctor John

Hunan TV

Growing up in the same neighborhood, Qi Ming (Ma Tian Yu) and Yi Yao (Zheng Shuang) were the best of friends. Always the protective older brother, Qi Ming spent his entire childhood wishing he could give Yi Yao the warm and caring family she spent her days dreaming of. An inseparable pair, the two never imagined a life in which the other wasn’t a part.

As time passes, the bond between Qi Ming and Yi Yao only gets stronger. Helping her through a series of unfortunate events and challenging obstacles, Qi Ming finds himself slowly developing other, more intimate feelings for his lifelong friend but it’s not until he and Yi Yao graduate college and move away, that she admits those feelings are reciprocated.

Unfortunately, the demanding nature of their careers soon gets in the way of their blossoming love. With no other choice, Qi Ming and Yi Yao are forced to separate, their dreams of a happy life together suddenly gone. But not all hope is lost, for life is like a flowing river and its course may lead to better things ahead.

Based on one of China’s bestselling novels, “River Flows to You” is a 2019 romantic drama directed by Lin Hong Guang.

River Flows to You

Beautiful Life With You Team

TV Chosun

Choi Kang Joo (Lee Hong Ki) is his father’s firstborn son, and the heir to the Taeyang Group, South Korea’s most affluent family-run conglomerate.

However, a strange curse has afflicted Choi Kang Joo’s family for the past century: The wife of Taeyang’s heir-apparent always dies shortly after the nuptials are complete!

Regardless, Choi Kang Joo’s family has arranged for him to marry into another wealthy family. His bride will be the scheming, demanding and cold-hearted Jang Yi Kyung (Yang Jin Sung).

But chaos strikes when Jang Yi Kyung vanishes in the lead-up to the wedding. The family convinces Na Doo Rim (also played by Yang Jin Sung) to take her place. Na Doo Rim is a warm-hearted young woman from a humble, rural family who just happens to look exactly like Jang Yi Kyung.

Things get even messier for all involved when Choi Kang Joo falls head-over-heels in love for the kind, loving Na Doo Rim – threatening to derail the carefully laid plans of the Choi and Jang families!

Where is Jang Yi Kyung? What will happen if she returns? Will the Choi family’s curse ever be lifted? And can Choi Kang Joo and Na Doo Rim really live happily ever after?

“Bride of the Century” is a 2014 South Korean drama series directed by Yun Sang Ho.

Bride of the Century

The Cursed Team 

MBS, tvK

Young and a bit naïve, Momoko Hirasawa (Sakurako Konishi) is very much like most young women her age. A hardworking employee at a high-end hotel café, Momoko spends her days serving others and her nights at home, alone. With absolutely no dating experience and zero prospects, Momoko wonders if she’ll ever find that “special someone” everyone always seems to be talking about. On the brink of giving up hope, a steamy encounter with a handsome stranger at the hotel’s rooftop observatory changes everything.

Unable to forget that moment of passion, Momoko is determined to uncover the identity of her mysterious stranger. Spotting him at work, it doesn’t take long for Momoko to learn that he is none other than Kei Hase (Renn Kiriyama), one of the high-ranking employees at the hotel. Convinced he is too far out of her league, Momoko tries to forget him, but the kisses they shared that fateful evening refuse to be forgotten. Approaching Kei, Momoko tries to find some sort of answer to the myriad of questions she has, but every attempt she makes is met with cold indifference.&nbsp;

Confused, Momoko tries once again to let Kei go but the harder she tries, the more fate seems to bring them together. Will time help Momoko break through Kei’s cold exterior or will their rooftop kiss become a phantom to forever haunt her?

Adapted from the manga, “Love Phantom”, by Kako Mitsuki, “Love is Phantom” is a 2021 romantic drama directed by Osamu Minorikawa.

Love is Phantom

👻 Phantom Lovers 💘

Mizuki Ashiya (Horikita Maki) is a female high school student and budding runner who has been studying abroad in the United States, but decides to transfer to a school in Osaka, Japan, so she can be near a student she idolizes the high jump athlete Izumi Sano (Oguri Shun). The problem is, the school he attends is an all-boys’ boarding school – meaning that she must disguise herself as a male in order to gain entry.

She cuts her hair short and manages to get into the school, even managing to become Izumi Sano’s roommate in his dormitory. But it is not long before people at the school start to learn Mizuki Ashiya’s secret, including her new roommate, who starts to develop feelings for her. Things get complex, however, when other classmates also start to fall for her – and when her brother comes to bring her back to the USA, all sorts of chaos appears ready to break loose!

This series was based on the 2004-2008 manga series of the same name, which was authored by Hisaya Nakajo.

“Hana-Kimi” is a 2007 Japanese drama series that was directed by Matsuda Hidetomo, Tsuzuki Junichi, and Sato Genta.

HANA-KIMI

Team of Successful.

It's a love story hotter than the boiling oil in a sizzling hot wok. Across the street of the 6-star Hotel Giant, there stands a small, shabby Chinese restaurant, Hungry Wok. Chil Seong, the owner of the restaurant, originally took over the restaurant in order to provide a place to work for his former prison mates. One day, a man and a woman whose lives turned upside down overnight come visit Chil Seong. A former star chef, Seo Poong, and a broke heiress, Sae Woo, are in need of Chil Seong's help so that they can get back on their feet. Tune in to Wok of Love and learn about the passion and love that can be found in the hectic working environment of a kitchen.

Wok of Love

The world at your feet and the weight of the world on your shoulders - children of the super-elite class bear the burden of success as they are being groomed as heirs to their family business empires despite only being in high school.
&nbsp;
Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho) is the heir to the Empire Group, a family conglomerate business, but he lives under the constant shadow of his older half-brother, Kim Won (Choi Jin Hyuk), who is already an accomplished young executive in the family business. Despite being betrothed to the wealthy and haughty Rachel Ryu (Kim Ji Won), a hotel heiress, Tan falls in love with Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye), the daughter of his family’s housekeeper.
&nbsp;
Eun Sang and her best friend, Yoon Chan Young (Kang Min Hyuk), the son of Empire Group’s secretary, did not grow up like their families’ employer did, but they get embroiled in their lives nonetheless. Eun Sang gets caught in a love triangle with Tan and Choi Young Do (Kim Woo Bin), the condescending heir to a luxury resort conglomerate, while Chan Young falls in love with Tan’s ex-girlfriend, Lee Bo Na (Krystal Jung), the socialite daughter of a major entertainment executive. Can a romance survive between the haves and the have-nots?
&nbsp;
“Heirs: He Who Wears the Crown Must Bear Its Weight,” also known as “Heirs,” is a 2013 South Korean drama series starring the hottest actors working today. It is directed by Kang Shin Hyo.

Heirs

The Heirs Team

Oksusu

Contract worker Lee Yeon Seo (Kim Ga Eun) daydreams about teaching her manager a lesson but accidentally acts out her vengeful fantasy on the top Hallyu star, Kang Joon Hyuk (Sung Hoon) in a twist of events. Thinking she accidentally killed Joon Hyuk, Yeon Seo secretly takes Joon Hyuk to her house and prepares to get rid of the body! But Joon Hyuk is alive and thinks that he has been kidnapped by a psychopath! Seeing no other option, Yeon Seo keeps him hostage so that he doesn't turn her into the police. How long can she keep him hidden from the world, and can she ever convince him that she's not an evil person? 

"I Picked Up a Celebrity On the Street" is a 2018 Viki Original drama that was directed by Kwon Heok Chan.

Shows

Comments