Despite the (spoiler!) upsetting conclusion of the first episode, the performances of the heartthrob actors, the adorable female lead, and the riveting storyline, it didn’t take long for “Lovely Runner” to become the most talked about Kdrama series online. The male lead is making waves as Korea’s latest “it” guy, but who is Byeon Woo Seok? Here’s a closer look at this rising star.
1. His zodiac sign is Scorpio
In two of his recent popular roles, we’ve seen him playing a high school student. But he is actually in his early thirties already. He was born on October 31, 1991.
2. Byeon Woo Seok is a model turned actor
His height is 187 cm (6’1″) and just like Nam Joo Hyuk and Jang Ki Yong, Byeon Woo Seok started his career as a model before moving into acting. The 3 of them worked together and were under the agency YG K+. And 2 years ago, Woo Seok was a Bench Body Model.
3. He is persistent
In an interview with The Korea Times, Byeon Woo Seok mentioned that his parents weren’t really happy with him pursuing modeling, although they have supported him since he started acting. But his path to success was not smooth. He faced more than 100 audition rejections and once auditioned 30 times in just a month.
Byeon Woo Seok also mentioned in the interview that he wants to try working in different genres and play roles such as a psychopath or a fantasy drama character. But he also said that he wants rom-com or ‘healing’ genre works that would give comfort to audiences to help get them through tough times.”
4. He’s done a lot of cameo roles
Some have known him since “Record of Youth” with Park Bo Gum. He mentioned that his Instagram followers increased from about 20,000 to 40,000 after the series started to air on Netflix. While some knew him from “20th Century Girl” or “Strong Girl Nam Soon”. But way before all that, he’d done a lot of cameo roles in popular dramas. (I now understand how Im Sol didn’t notice him before, we were all Im Sol!)
In 2016, Woo Seok made a cameo appearance in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo as Joon Hyung (Nam Joo Hyuk)’s senior. He also played the role of Go Ha Jin (IU)’s ex-boyfriend in Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, where he cheated on Go Ha Jin with her friend. In 2019, he also had a cameo appearance in the drama Welcome To Waikiki 2 as Yoon Seo Joon, Soo Yeon (Moon Ga Young), and Woo Sik (Kim Seon Ho)’s senior in high school. In Search: WWW, he played the character of Han Min Gyu and appeared in a few episodes.
5. His motto is “Enjoy life”
In the same The Korea Times interview, Woo Seok said that his life motto is to ‘enjoy to the fullest.’ He continued, “I value pursuing things that would make me happy.” And his pursuit of happiness led him to start an acting career.