After starring as Han Ji-pyeong in Start-Up, Seon-ho’s popularity hit the roof and he quickly gained attention for his good looks, especially his charming dimpled smile.

Many fans of the show began gunning for his character to win the girl’s heart — instead of the first male lead played by Nam Joo-hyuk — thus turning him into the poster boy for the ‘Second Lead Syndrome Club’.

His acting skills and newfound stardom bagged him countless awards such as Best Emotive Award (Asian Artist Awards), Model Star Award (Asia Model Awards 2020), and TikTok Popularity Award (57th Baeksang Arts Awards).

According to Elle, Seon-ho’s Instagram following grew seven-fold from 400,000 to 3 million during the airing of Start-Up’s 16 episodes.

He currently has a whopping 5.4 million followers on Instagram at the time of writing.

For those of us still recovering from Han Ji-pyeong’s heart-wrenching ending in Start-Up, take heart! Seon-ho is now the first lead in Netflix’s upcoming rom-com drama Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, a remake of the 2004 drama Mr Hong, which means he’ll (most likely) get the girl this time.

He plays the altruistic and handsome village handyman Hong Doo-shik who knows everything and is willing to do anything.

He stars alongside rom-com queen Shin Min-ah, who plays Yoon Hye-jin, a dentist who moves from Seoul to Doo-shik’s village and opens her own dental clinic.

Even though the drama hasn’t premiered, fans have already come up with cute nicknames for the couple: “Shik-Hye” (a play on their names and also the name of a traditional Korean rice beverage) and “Dimple Couple”.

He said: “I wish a lot of females who are watching the drama will think, ‘Oh, I would like to have a boyfriend like Doo-shik’. I think that would be something really nice.”

His wish sounds pretty easy to fulfil, right folks?

He also said: “It’s a drama that can really help people heal and I’m having fun working on this project. You get a lot of good small stories, and a lot of beautiful scenery.”

It’s not unheard of for Korean actors to first debut as a model or K-pop idol.

But before Seon-ho made his television debut, he acted in numerous stage plays after graduating from the Seoul Institute of the Arts in 2009.

According to Soompi, he compared his popularity in theatre to an ‘idol’, to the point where audiences would queue onto the streets to watch his plays.

Later in his career, he transitioned to the small screen, making his television debut with a supporting role in the drama Good Manager in 2017.

Since then, he has been in over ten dramas such as Start-Up and Eulachacha Waikiki 2.

Seon-ho has been a fixed cast member of the fourth season of the Korean variety show 2 Days & 1 Night since December 2019.

Because he was new to the world of variety shows, he gained much love from viewers for his clueless and dorky personality.

However, his mischievousness quickly shone through in later episodes as he grew closer to the cast and better understood the workings of variety show programmes.

According to Forbes, he shared that the popular show helped him “heal and relax”.

He said: “At the travel destinations, I’m able to see beautiful scenery, eat delicious food, and — more than anything — relax while making lasting memories with the other members. I also think being on the show helps me to clear my thoughts. I feel like the members are always by my side.”

Seon-ho released his first single titled Reason in May.

It was a collaboration with Epitone Project, where he co-wrote the song and performed it. He also starred in the music video.

He appeared in another music video by Epitone Project titled Sleepless. While he’s also tried his hand, or rather feet, at dancing, it was more for laughs.

Yes, you read that right, 13 million views on YouTube.

In an episode of 2 Days & 1 Night, the cast members browsed through photos depicting the highlights of their careers and had to guess the chronological order of events.

At one point, Seon-ho pulled a self-portrait from his 2018 drama You Drive Me Crazy.

One of the cast members DinDin said: “Isn’t that the one with the hot kissing scene?”

Flustered by the sudden question, Seon-ho shyly revealed that the video had — at that time — over 10 million views online.

Seon-ho has proven himself to not only be a versatile actor but also a talented and charming man.

It seems pretty clear that his career has only just begun to blossom and fans can expect much more in the years to come.

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is now on Netflix, with new episodes released every Saturday and Sunday. You can also catch Seon-ho in Start-Up on Netflix.

Text: Esther Lam/AsiaOne

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