Actor You Need to Know: Han So-hee

While Han So-hee hasn’t had an extended run in Korean entertainment, she deserves the right to extol her superb talents as an actress. She, who is also a model, is an up-and-coming star who reliably provides standout on-screen performances—whether it be as a femme fatale, a struggling high schooler, a conquering hero, or just the girl next door.

Until the debut of The World of the Married in 2020, the 28-year-old actor can be seen having secondary roles in K-dramas like Money Flower (2017), 100 Days My Prince (2018), and Abyss (2019). Based on Mike Bartlett’s drama series Doctor Foster, The World of the Married—dubbed the highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history—follows the lives of a husband and wife whose breach of trust creates mayhem. Han plays Yeo Da-kyung, having an affair with the married guy concerned. Her international notoriety stemmed from this drama, drawing admiration for the veracity with which she played her part.

Thereupon, she has gotten several roles worth noting. Her breakthrough in Reunited Worlds (2017) and screen time in After the Rain (2018) secured her credibility as a dab hand in acting. But it should be noted that being featured in SHINee’s music video, “Tell Me What to Do” (2016), an impressive tune of worry and pain in the throes of a troubled relationship, was what set off the trajectory of her career. You can go over the same in our list of 12 K-pop music videos featuring K-drama actors.

Han also featured in a couple of more prominent songs and videos, including “That Girl” (2017) by Jung Yong-hwa (feat. Loco), “The Hardest Part” (2018) by Roy Kim, and “You and I” (2019) by MeloMance.

Back to The World of the Married, its enormous success led Han to join the cast as Yoo Na-bi in 2021’s uncharacteristically passionate sensual drama, Nevertheless, opposite Song Kang, where the two have an open relationship. They are not technically dating, yet there is an overwhelming attraction between them that keeps them both pining for each other. The actors picked up praise for their mature performances, notwithstanding the drama’s debatable scenes.

The roster of badass K-drama heroines is rather long. In action-packed films and dramas, an increasing number of Korean actresses have frequently pushed themselves to the edge and triumphed. With her starring role as Yoon Ji-woo in My Name (2021), Han etched her name on that list. The grisly murder of her father causes Ji-woo, a high schooler, to experience a complete 360-degree shift in her circumstances. To find the murderer, she teams up with a criminal boss and the police. Her emotional upheaval before and after her dad dies adds to her suffering. Even so, she’s tough as nails, rising out of the ruins.

Despite the awfulness of her encounters with the evil men, the real level of violence she exhibits is considerably higher. For the role, Han apparently spent months preparing the action sequences, thereby pulling the stunts herself.

Ji-woo’s character is entirely at odds with that of Lee Eun-soo, a vibrant and beautiful young woman. In the romantic musical web series Soundtrack #1 (2022), starring Han and Park Hyung-sik, Eun-soo is a striving lyricist who moves in with her best friend (Park as Han Seon-woo). In the four-episode miniseries, they both play admirably, most specifically Han. Brilliantly apparent are her reactions to initially not understanding love for Seon-woo and then later discovering it, as well as her distress when she discovers him drifting away.

Han is always demonstrating expertise by slinking into her character’s mantle without much effort. She is endlessly adaptable. She can be sweet, assertive, seductive, or evil, as I’ve outlined before. In actuality, Han is a full-blown entertainer, and her next TV series, the forthcoming Gyeongseong Creature, which she’s starring in with Park Seo-joon, is certain to enhance her professional standing. In the allegedly historical horror, we join the leads as they try to figure out why others are disappearing and, in the process, learn an appalling truth. The drama will debut in the fourth quarter of this year.