Cover These K-drama actresses spent years making supporting roles memorable before getting their chance in the spotlight (Photo: IMDB)
These K-drama actresses spent years making supporting roles memorable before getting their chance in the spotlight (Photo: IMDB)
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You’ve probably seen these K-drama actresses before—playing the best friend, the rival, the ambitious colleague or the woman who somehow steals every scene. Now, they’re finally getting stories of their own
You’ve probably seen them before. Maybe she was the best friend who had the funny lines. The second female lead you quietly preferred to the heroine. The prosecutor who appeared for three episodes and somehow became the most interesting person in all three. Or the chaebol daughter-in-law who looked like she had a much better drama happening somewhere just offscreen.
Korean dramas have spent years building an exceptional bench of actresses who can turn a supporting role into something audiences remember long after the credits roll. Now, some of those women are finally getting the part that lets them take up the entire story.
The spotlight shift is especially satisfying because these aren’t necessarily newcomers being introduced as the next big thing. Many are K-drama actresses audiences already know, sometimes from a string of supporting performances across wildly different genres. They’ve been scene-stealers, second leads, comic relief, antagonists and dependable members of ensemble casts. The difference now is that the camera is finally staying on them.
These K-drama actresses are getting something they have arguably earned for years: the chance to be the woman whose story everyone else has to follow.
In case you missed it: 8 K-drama stars who went from second leads to main leads
Ha Young
Above After years of supporting roles, Ha Young gets the very different job of being the woman Jung Hae-in claims is his girlfriend (Photo: Netflix)
After years of supporting roles, Ha Young gets the very different job of being the woman Jung Hae-in claims is his girlfriend (Photo: Netflix)
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Ha Young is probably the most timely example of the phenomenon of K-drama actresses who finally got their due.
Before Our Sticky Love (2026), she had accumulated the kind of résumé that makes viewers scratch their heads, wondering where they saw her. Her supporting roles included appearances in Doctor Prisoner (2019), Mouse (2021), The Good Detective 2 (2022) and Doona! (2023), among others. She was visible without necessarily being the name at the top of the poster.
Then came Go Eun-sae.
In Our Sticky Love, Ha Young plays a prosecutor who becomes involved in a dangerous case before an accident leaves her with amnesia. She wakes up in a rural village with no memory of her identity—and a handsome boxing coach, played by Jung Hae-in, claiming to be her boyfriend.
It is a considerably bigger showcase than being the memorable person who turns up in somebody else’s storyline. Ha Young’s previous roles established that she could make an impression in limited screen time. Our Sticky Love finally gives her enough room to demonstrate what happens when that presence has an entire plot built around it.
See more: Why ‘Our Sticky Love’ is Jung Hae-in’s most unexpected K-drama yet
Lee Joo-bin
Above The woman you remember from the ensemble is finally becoming the person the ensemble revolves around (Photo: tvN)
The woman you remember from the ensemble is finally becoming the person the ensemble revolves around (Photo: tvN)
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Lee Joo-bin has one of those faces that appear everywhere in Korean television before you realise you’ve been watching the same actress for years. She’s had memorable parts in Be Melodramatic (2019), She Would Never Know (2021), Doctor Lawyer (2022), Money Heist: Korea (2022) and Queen of Tears (2024), where her performance as Cheon Da-hye (remember, the brother’s con-artist wife?) gave her an especially large international audience.
Her transition from being “Oh, she's in this!” to “Oh, she's the lead” is especially rewarding to long-time K-drama fans. She gathered momentum in The Divorce Insurance (2025), where she starred opposite enduring superstar Lee Dong-wook, and culminated with Spring Fever (2026), in which she takes the central role of Yoon Bom alongside another icon, Ahn Bo-hyun.
Lee Joo-bin’s rise doesn’t feel like an overnight discovery. She had already been working steadily for years. Audiences simply kept encountering her in the supporting cast until the industry finally started putting her name above the title. Isn’t that the most rewarding leading-lady upgrade?
Park Ji-hyun
Above After stealing attention as the calculating Mo Hyun-min in ‘Reborn Rich’, Park Ji-hyun finally got a drama built around her own formidable presence (Photo: IMDB)
After stealing attention as the calculating Mo Hyun-min in ‘Reborn Rich’, Park Ji-hyun finally got a drama built around her own formidable presence (Photo: IMDB)
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Park Ji-hyun is an especially good example of how a supporting performance can become a career turning point.
Before the resurging Flex X Cop (2024), she had built up appearances in dramas including Do You Like Brahms? (2020), Yumi’s Cells (2021–2022) and Reborn Rich (2022). Her role as Mo Hyun-min in the latter was particularly memorable: ambitious, intelligent and perfectly willing to treat marriage as another instrument of power.
Then Flex X Cop made her one half of the central investigative partnership. As Lee Kang-hyun, Park plays a veteran detective who finds herself working alongside an immature chaebol heir who has joined the police. The drama gives her considerably more space to establish the character's competence, frustrations and personal stakes.
It also revealed something that had been hiding in plain sight. Park Ji-hyun didn’t suddenly become charismatic when she became a leading actress. She had been doing that in the background all along. Finally, the spotlight moved over her.
Geum Sae-rok
Above Geum Sae-rok spent years proving she could disappear into an ensemble before romance dramas finally gave her the centre of the frame (Photo: IMDB)
Geum Sae-rok spent years proving she could disappear into an ensemble before romance dramas finally gave her the centre of the frame (Photo: IMDB)
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Geum Sae-rok has always been a particularly fun actress to spot in a cast list because she rarely seems interested in playing the same woman twice.
She appeared in supporting roles before taking on increasingly substantial parts, including The Fiery Priest (2019), Joseon Exorcist (2021) and Youth of May (2021). She also became one of the central figures in The Interest of Love (2022–2023), where she played a woman caught in a frustrating, emotionally complicated workplace romance.
Her transition into full leading-lady territory became undeniable when she headlined the Disney+ romance Soundtrack #2 (2023) as piano teacher Hyun-seo, followed by the lead role of Lee Da-rim in the flagship KBS drama Iron Family (2024–2025).
Her progression is worth noting because she does not fit the neat “unknown actress suddenly becomes a star” narrative.
By the time she was being positioned as a romantic lead, viewers already knew what she could do. She had spent years playing women with sharp edges, complicated motivations and enough interior life to suggest there was always another story happening beyond the frame.
Gong Min-jung
Above If you have ever watched a K-drama and thought, “Someone needs to give this woman her own show,” Gong Min-jung may be the answer (Photo: Viki)
If you have ever watched a K-drama and thought, “Someone needs to give this woman her own show,” Gong Min-jung may be the answer (Photo: Viki)
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Gong Min-jung is perhaps the most satisfying deep cut on this list because she is one of those many K-drama actresses who have made a career out of being instantly identifiable without necessarily being the star.
She has appeared in an extraordinary range of dramas, including Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021), Little Women (2022), One Dollar Lawyer (2022) and Marry My Husband (2024). Her characters tend to have the sort of specificity that makes an ensemble feel lived-in: funny, prickly, exhausted, competent, chaotic or some combination of all four. Her move into prominent leading territory—including headlining the slice-of-life comedy series Sorry Not Sorry (2024)—feels less like an unexpected breakthrough than overdue acknowledgement.
Ahn Eun-jin
Above After years of playing the woman you remembered even when she wasn’t the main character, Ahn Eun-jin is finally getting the full rom-com treatment (Photo: IMDB)
After years of playing the woman you remembered even when she wasn’t the main character, Ahn Eun-jin is finally getting the full rom-com treatment (Photo: IMDB)
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There was a time when Ahn Eun-jin was almost guaranteed to be one of the most interesting people in a K-drama without necessarily being the person in the middle of it.
Audiences first got to know her through supporting and ensemble roles, but Hospital Playlist (2020–2021) was the real fame machine. As Chu Min-ha, the warm but determined resident who falls for Yang Seok-hyeong, she became one of those characters whose storyline could make viewers forget they were supposed to be watching someone else’s romance. She was even nominated for an APAN Star Award.
Then came My Dearest (2023), where Ahn Eun-jin took on a considerably larger role as Yoo Gil-chae. The drama transformed her from beloved ensemble player into a leading actress capable of carrying a sprawling historical romance, and her performance earned her the Top Excellence Award at the MBC Drama Awards and Best Actress at the Grimae Awards.
By the time Dynamite Kiss (2025) arrived, opposite Jang Ki-yong, the progression was clear. Ahn Eun-jin wasn’t simply the actress viewers knew from other people’s dramas anymore. She was the romantic lead.
Sasha Lim Uy Mariposa is a lifestyle journalist who is known for her food writing. Based in Manila and currently a marketing content specialist, she still dabbles in entertainment, beauty and dining coverage. She was the former managing editor of Esquire Philippines and was the food editor at SPOT.ph. She also edited several best-selling books about food.
She now writes for the different Tatler Asia markets as a contributing writer for T-Labs.
