Nam Joo-Hyuk: one actor, infinite characters and a quintessential leading man in all his glory!

Nam Joo Hyuk is a man of few words, but he sure lets his work do all the talking! Here's the iconic K-dramas the actor has starred in that you shouldn’t miss out on!

Nam Joo Hyuk is one of the leading K-drama actors today who not only has garnered the love of his fans but critics as well. He has a rather good eye for choosing the right scripts, and his K-dramas are proof! His body of work so far shows that he wants to play all kinds of roles and is usually drawn towards stories that create an impact in the K-drama genre rather than just choosing to do a done and dusted recipe that is known to work always. How he completely changes himself for each character and how he plays all of them with such conviction is something that has always remained intact since his very first K-drama. But apart from being a good actor, he is also popular for being an absolute hottie in the K-drama world! The insane height, the jawline and the adoration with which he looks at his female characters just add to all of us swooning over him! Over the years, he has built a rather loyal fan base who will, without fail, be first in line to watch anything that he chooses to be a part of! As most avid fans might know, his military enlistment ended recently, and he is in the middle of shooting his next K-drama. 

Also Read: Melo Movie review: Love, heartbreak, grief and cinema all co-exist in this bittersweet slice of life!

But while he does that, here’s everything that one can catch up on from his filmography!

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo- Netflix

In Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok Joo plays Jung Joon-Hyung, a national-level swimmer. While he had to focus on being number one, he was also just a teenager at heart who wanted to experience all the typical things in college like all of us do. He was an absolute green flag and a softie on the inside and loved Kim Bok-Joo for who she was and not her outer appearance. Their love story is just the light-hearted rom-com you need on a weekend!

Start Up- Netflix

Start Up highlighted the struggles of small businesses and how cut throat the industry can be. Nam Joo-Hyuk plays the introverted math genius Nam Do-San in this one. Nam Do San is stuck in a messy situation with Seo Dal-Mi and Ji-Pyeong but his love for Dal-Mi only grows deeper. He starts off as a naive individual in the world of tech and goes on to work in Silicon Valley to give her the best life that he can. It is a soup for the soul K-drama that will make your heart flutter and make you cry at times.

Twenty-Five Twenty-One- Netflix

While I’m still reeling from the trauma that this K-drama gave me 3 years ago, I still recommend this to everyone if they’re a Nam Joo-Hyuk fan! The drama is a bold take on not everyone who loves each other passionately, will end up together or get married in the end. Life happens and people do go their separate ways while still rooting for each other. Baek Ye-Jin came into Na Hui-Do’s life exactly when she needed it and changed it for the better. The dark and intense scenes where we see him crying just tugs at your heart and there’s this certain depth in his eyes that you cannot get over! So while this show does not have a happy ending, it still goes down as one of Nam Joo-Hyuk's best!

Vigilante- JioHotstar

For a change, Nam Joo-Hyuk plays an anti-hero in this one. You see him killing people and choosing gore violence but to people who have wronged the weaker people in society in some way! So it does have you wondering if he is doing the right thing or not and your love for him will have conflicted at a lot of times, and just root for him to not get caught. Tbh, the bad boy vibes just make him look hotter!

The Bride of Habaek- Netflix

The egotistical deity, Ha-Baek, travels to Earth to find a magical stone. He seeks aid from a psychiatrist, So-ah, who immediately rejects him and his journey becomes harder when three gods appear. While this is in no way a quintessential K-drama we all look for, but a good one to binge one if you want to see Nam Joo-Hyuk in his earlier days when he had just started out as an actor. 

The Light in Your Eyes- Netflix

Without spoiling much, this K-drama is not what it seems like at first glance, and that’s really how much I can say about the story. Nam Joo-Hyuk plays Lee Joon-Ha and trust me, the way he loves his girlfriend in the series is really just what  all of us want in life. He truly understood the fact that it’s not about the extravagant gestures but the little things in daily life that matter!

So here’s wishing our favorite K-drama hero a very Happy Birthday and may we get another K-drama we get to obsess over this year!

For more entertainment, follow us on @socialketchupbinge