15. Ha Ji-Won
Ha Ji-won is the stage name of actress Jeon Hae-rim. She’s been in a few hit historical dramas likeEmpress KiandDamo, along with romantic comedy series likeSecret Gardenalongside the famed Hyun Bin.
One of her best performances came in the role of Empress Ki, a badass boy-like female who’s torn between two lovers, Wang Yoo (played by Joo Jin-mo) and Toghon (played by Ji Chang-wook).
Another role she played was Song Eun-jae ofHospital Ship, a doctor who was brought to work on a ship serving people on a remote island rather than being in a “real” hospital.
14. Shin Hye-Sun
Shin Hye-sun played the role of Cha Si-ah in the seriesLegend of the Blue Sea. She got her first lead role in the seriesMy Golden Lifein 2017, then moved on toStill 17andAngel’s Last Missionand beyond.
One of her best performance is her role in the seriesMr. Queen, a historical fantasy series where she plays the role of Queen Cheorin, an outward woman who has a man’s soul stuck in her body.
13. Park Shin-Hye
Park Shin-hye starred in the hit romantic seriesStairway to Heavenas the young Jung-suh, for which she won Best Young Actress at the SBS Drama Awards in 2003.
She also got the lead roles in several awesome drama series—includingPinocchio,The Heirs, andSisyphus: The Myth—and films like#Alive, a zombie apocalypse movie where she’s one of the survivors.
She also played the role of the adult Ye-sung in the hit comedy-drama filmMiracle in Cell No. 7in which she plays the daughter of a mentally disabled man who’s wrongfully accused and imprisoned for murder.
12. Bae Suzy
Bae Suzy (or Bae Su-ji) started as a member of the now-disbanded all-female K-pop group Miss A. She later debuted as an actress in the hit drama TV seriesWhen You Were Sleeping, a legal drama about a lawyer and a reporter who are intertwined by precognition.
One of her best performances is in the Netflix seriesStart-Upwhere she plays the role of Seo Dal-mi, who dreams to be a successful entrepreneur and builds her own startup in a world full of competition. She also starred inAshfall, a South Korean disaster film.
Related:The Best Korean Disaster Movies
11. Jun Ji-Hyun
Some might only remember Jun Ji-hyun as the funny actress who accidentally met an alien in the seriesMy Love From the Star, or for her titular role in the romantic-comedy filmMy Sassy Girl, but her performances didn’t end there.
She played a mermaid who falls in love with a man in the seriesLegend of the Blue Sea, and also played other roles in many other films and series, includingAssassinationandThe Thieves.
Many were awed and thrilled when she appeared in the last part of the zombie apocalypse Netflix seriesKingdom, and later played the role of Ashin in the series' special episodeKingdom: Ashin of the North.
10. Son Ye-Jin
Son Ye-jin is an award-winning actress who bagged 51 awards and 72 nominations throughout her career.
She starred in the filmsApril Snow(romantic drama),The Art of Seduction(romantic comedy), andThe Tower(disaster film). She also played the main female lead in the seriesDon’t Look Back: The Legend of Orpheus, the third in a trilogy followingRessurectionandThe Devil.
She won three awards and two nominations for the seriesCrash Landing on You, where she played the lead role of a rich woman from South Korea who accidentally lands in North Korea while paragliding.
9. Park Min-Young
Park Min-young is best known for her roles inCity Hunter,Healer, andWhat’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. She also got to play two roles in the seriesDr. Jin: one as the lead character’s girlfriend in the present and one as a noble woman in the past.
Park Min-young also starred in the horror filmThe Catas a claustrophobic woman who’s haunted by a girl with cat-like eyes. It’s one of her best performances along with the seriesHer Private Lifewhere she played a fangirl who got caught in a romance with her boss.
8. IU (Lee Ji-Eun)
Lee Ji-eun (better known by her stage name IU) is best known—as far as her acting career—for her role in the seriesHotel Del Luna. She also starred inDream High(with Bae Suzy) andMoon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeoas the lead female.
Her role inMoon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeois said to be one of the fans' favorites as she played a modern girl transported to the past. There she meets several young men who are special in her character’s life.
Related:The Best Korean Fantasy Series
7. Kim Go-Eun
Kim Go-eun played the role of the Guardian’s wife in the seriesGuardian: The Lonely and Great God(also known asGoblin), for which which she and the main lead (Gong Yoo) won a Best Couple Award.
She’s also a main character inMemories of the Sword(a martial arts historical film) and a main character in the Netflix seriesThe King: Eternal Monarchalongside Lee Min-ho.
She also played a badass character in the action-thriller movieMonsteras the role of Bok-soon, a girl who wants revenge for his sister’s death.
6. Kim So-Hyun
Kim So-hyun started her acting career at a very young age and won Best Young Actress awards for the seriesMissing YouandMoon Embracing the Sun. She later landed lead roles in the seriesRuler: The Master of the Maskand the filmPure Love(also known asUnforgettable).
Some of her best performances include her role as Kim Jo-jo in the seriesLove Alarm, a story that involves a mobile app that can tell whether there is someone in love with the user within a ten-meter radius.
5. Shin Min-A
Shin Min-a is a model and a well-known actress who played different kinds of roles in movies and TV series of different genres, from an unfaithful wife inThe Naked Kitchento an amnesiac ghost inArang and the Magistrate.
Despite her numerous roles and wide range, she’s most famous for playing the nine-tailed fox in theMy Girlfriend Is a Gumihoseries. More recently, she starred as the lead characters Yoon Hye-jin inHometown Cha-Cha-Chaand Min Seon-a inOur Blues.
4. Kim Tae-Hee
If you’re a fan of classic K-drama, you probably remember Kim Tae-hee as the evil stepsister in the hit K-drama seriesStairway to Heaven.
However, she further cemented her name in the entertainment industry by portraying lead roles across other genres, includingIris,Yong Pal,Forbidden Love, andLove Story in Harvard.
She also played the role of Lee Seol, a student-turned-royal in the rom-com seriesMy Princess. In that same year, she starred in a Japanese series calledBoku to Star no 99 Nichi(My 99 Days With a Superstar) in which she played a Korean superstar named Han Yoo-nah.
3. Kim Yoo-Jung
Kim Yoo-jung started her acting career at a young age. She’s only 23 years old as of this writing, but she already has dozens of roles under her belt with several as lead characters in K-drama series.
In the seriesMoon Embracing the Sun, she played the childhood counterpart of Yeon-woo (with the aforementioned Kim So-hyun playing the childhood counterpart of Bo-kyung).
Many of her earlier roles were portraying the younger versions of characters, but in recent years she’s starred in a handful of well-known series, includingBackstreet RookieandLove in the Moonlight.
She also starred in several great movies, includingThread of Lies(2014) where she played a high school bully with a dark past and20th Century Girl(2022) where she plays a high school student with a heart of gold.
2. Park Eun-Bin
Park Eun-bin stunned audiences around the world in 2022 when she played the lead character inExtraordinary Attorney Woo, a K-drama series about an autistic rookie lawyer.
Her performance elevated the entire series to legendary status, which led to it winning several awards from various award-giving bodies, with herself winning Best Actress at Busan International Film Festival.
But before this explosion to stardom, she played supporting and main roles in several other titles likeJudge Vs. Judge(another legal drama) andThe Witch: Part 2. The Other One(a sci-fi horror film).
Related:The Best Korean Drama Series on Netflix
1. Song Hye-Kyo
Song Hye-kyo started her career in the industry at the age of 14, appearing as the model for a school uniform.
Early in her career, she broke into television with minor roles in various series. It wasn’t until she starred as the female lead inAutumn in My Heartthat her popularity bloomed.
She went on to play lead roles in many popular K-drama series across genres, includingFull House(one of the first rom-com K-dramas) andDescendants of the Sun(an action romance K-drama).
She’s also in the ensemble cast of the thriller K-drama seriesThe Glory, in which she brings out her fiercest performance yet.
Read next:Why Are Korean TV Series (K-Drama) So Popular Now?
