The Actor Brand Reputation Rankings for April, 2025 are out via the Korean Business Research Institute and, to no surprise to me at least, Buried Hearts‘ star Park Hyung Sik is at #1.
Yep, smash-hit Buried Hearts is apparently still winning almost three weeks after its series finale aired.
Park Hyung Sik was followed into the Top 5 by Lee Byung Hun, who is currently starring in The Match, the once #1-ranked film at the box office, at #2.
At #3, we have Park Eun Bin (Hyper Knife, which didn’t get much press in the west but performed well in South Korea), with Ha Jung Woo (star of black comedy film Lobby, which he also directed and wrote) at #4, and Seo Kang Jun (Undercover High School) rounding out the Top 5.
The rest of the Top 30 looks like this:
- Park Hyung Sik
- Lee Byung Hun
- Park Eun Bin
- Ha Jung Woo
- Seo Kang Jun
- Go Youn Jung (Resident Playbook)
- Lee Jun Hyuk (Love Scout)
- Choo Young Woo (The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call)
- Park Bo Gum (When Life Gives You Tangerines)
- Jung Hae In
- Moon Ga Young (My Dearest Nemesis)
- Jung Jae Kwang (The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call and A History of Losers)
- Lee Soo Kyung (When Life Gives You Tangerines)
- Park Ji Hoon
- Lee Da Hee (The Divorce Insurance)
- Kang You Seok (Resident Playbook)
- Choi Dae Hoon (When Life Gives You Tangerines)
- Uhm Ji Won (For Eagle Brothers)
- Lee Je Hoon (The Art of Negotiation)
- Hong Hwa Yeon (Buried Hearts)
- Shin Shi Ah (Resident Playbook)
- Hyun Bong Shik (The Match and Lobby)
- Choi Hyun Wook (My Dearest Nemesis and guest role Weak Hero: Class 2)
- Son Suk Ku (Heavenly Ever After)
- Ju Ji Hoon (The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call and guest role in The Witch)
- Lee Dong Wook (The Divorce Insurance)
- Roh Jeong Eui (The Witch and Crushology 101)
- Gong Seung Yeon (Karma)
- Lee Joo Bin (The Divorce Insurance)
- Gong Yoo
In other words, an excellent showing for actors from The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call (3 in the Top 30), from Resident Playbook (3 actors), from The Divorce Insurance (3 actors), and When Life Gives You Tangerines (3 actors).
And a well-deserved #1 for Park Hyung Sik, who did a spectacular job in Buried Hearts.
You can check what the actual brand reputation index each actor earned, and how far apart they are from each other, via Good People Korea.