The popularity of Korean stars exceeds far more than their domestic base. With the advent of new OTT streaming platforms and the spread of the “Hallyu” wave, many Korean celebrities are finding fame internationally. Aside from being talented, Korean stars are revered for their personalities and other skills. Actors such as Song Hye Kyo, Song Joong Ki, Gong Yoo, Son Ye Jin, and many more are applauded for their superb portrayals of different characters in various K-dramas. However, some K-netizens are not satisfied with some actors' performances, stating various reasons. Some actors with great acting skills get hate too, just because of the way they portray their negative characters on screen! Let’s take a look at some Korean actors who got hate for their roles.
1. Shin Hye Sun
Shin Hye Sun has given spectacular performances in dramas like Still 17, Angel’s Last Mission: Love, Hymn of Death, and many more. Mr. Queen, a historical comedy-fiction drama, was a Baeksang Awards nominated show and is much beloved among fans. The plot revolves around Jang Bong Hwan, an arrogant chef working in South Korea’s Blue House, who gets magically transported back into a queen’s body in the Joseon Era. The role of the queen is played by Shin Hye Sun. As Bong Hwan is a man trapped in a woman’s body, quite a bit of fun ensues as he gets used to his body. Hye Sun was criticized for this role, stating the reason that her acting skills weren’t keen enough to portray a queen’s character.
2. Lee Min Ho
It is not as if Lee Min Ho is criticized for his acting skills. It’s the repeating type of character that irks the fans. Nobody is discrediting the hard work and talent Min Ho put into his projects like Boys Over Flowers, Heirs, and Legend of the Blue Sea, but fans are fed up with the copy-paste characters he plays every time. Dubbed “rich man” by the nation, Min Ho’s characters are always some variation of the type of richer-than-god characters who romance the sweet, poor girl. Fans feel like Min Ho doesn’t push himself in terms of his acting range. However, his recent stint as an enigmatic anti-hero in Pachinko has pulled him out of his comfort zone.
3. Lee Yu Mi
Lee Yu Mi is currently in traction owing to her role in the drama Strong Girl Nam Soon, a spin-off of the 2016 series Strong Girl Bong Soon. Lee Yu Mi is widely recognized as Ji Yeong from the super-popular series Squid Game. Her next big break came in the zombie thriller All of Us Are Dead as the vile and mean Lee Na Yeon. While many viewers applauded Yuri for the way she masterfully portrays the two opposing characters, some people had a lot about her character in All of Us Are Dead. Na Yeon was a sort of antagonist character in the series who received lots of hate, and by extension, Yu Mi got hate too.
4. Park Shin Hye
Park Shin Hye and Lee Min Ho were the epitome of the rich-guy-poor-girl romance trope owing to their romance in The Heirs. Her first on-screen kiss with Lee Min Ho looked as if it was physically painful for her, and almost all of her kissing scenes in the drama were awkward and cringe to watch. Fans began to criticize her for her “dead fish” kissing style, which continued in her upcoming drams such as Heartstrings and Flower Boy Next Door, and concluded that she wasn’t fit to act in romance dramas.
5. Lee Jong Suk
An ongoing discourse among K-dramas fans is that some actors who are “visually blessed” rely too much on their good looks and charms rather than working hard to refine their acting skills. One such actor, fans discern, is Lee Jong Suk. Some believe that he gets away with his lackluster acting skills due to his pretty visuals. His emotional range is very low, as seen by his smug expressions while his character is in intense pain in W: Two Worlds.
6. Cha Eun Woo
Like Jong Suk, Cha Eun Woo is another such actor who fans discern as having “all looks and no acting skills”. His roles in My ID in Gangnam Beauty and True Beauty are carbon copies of each other, the character of an emotionally distant male love interest who has a soft for the main lady. His acting skills are subpar at part, and even on the most emotionally charged his expressions are always stone-like. Fans argue that he gets roles due to his looks, and his fanbase plays a massive role in helping his dramas’ achieve high ratings.
7. Im YoonA
Im Yoona is the lead rapper and supporting vocalist of the girl group Girls’ Generation. After achieving great success in the singing industry, she has made significant waves in the acting industry too. Over the years she has acted in many successful dramas. Even though she has a great filmography, fans criticize her for her mediocre acting in her earlier works. Fans noticed that her acting was stiff and unnatural. Yoona has significantly refined her acting skills over the years, a recent example being her most recent work King The Land. Fans still believe that she should work at showcasing different emotions.
8. Go Ara
Even though Go Ara doesn’t have any problems landing new projects, fans believe that her acting skills remain unimpressive. K-netizens speaks about her “luck” in the acting industry, stating that most of her acting career is indebted to her management company SM Entertainment. Her role in Hwarang is criticized by viewers which is seen as cringe. Most viewers acknowledge that she has great visuals but find her on-screen emotional expression strange, which comes off as unnatural.
9. Hwang Jung Eum
There is a consensus among K-drama lovers that Hwang Jung Eum is a pain to watch on the screen. Even though she is not that popular with some of the other actors on this list, fans just can’t forget her bad performances, especially her acting in Kill Me, Heal Me. Fans feel as though her voice acting is too high-pitched, which sounds like she’s always yelling. She is known to take an approach to acting which is a bit over the top.
10. Bae Suzy
Bae Suzy is an actor and former singer who fans believe shouldn’t have gone into the acting industry. She has starred in quite a few big dramas such as While You Were Sleeping and Vagabond. While her acting isn’t terrible, viewers pointed out that she could use some work on her consistency. In her dramas, there are some parts in which her acting will blow you away, while some scenes will have you questioning yourself if that’s the same actress or not. Her earlier dramas, especially, were criticized due to her acting.
