Best Lee Do-hyun K-dramas To Watch
Lee Do-hyun made his acting debut in 2017 under the label, Yuehua Entertainment. He made his debut as an actor in 2017. After his appearance in the 2019 drama, Hotel del Luna, Do-hyun shot to fame and starred in multiple shows where he was seen taking the lead role.
Following the success of the show, Do-hyun was seen in series like 18 Again, Youth of May, Melancholia and Sweet Home where he took the lead role. The young actor has a promising career now as he stars in the Netflix original revenge drama, The Glory which has been released on streaming platform worldwide.
Here are our recommendations for the 8 best Lee Do-hyun’s K-dramas to watch. Have any of your favourites made the list?
Melancholia
Set at a private high school, which is a hotbed of corruption, the 2021 K-drama, Melancholia follows a beautiful story between a mathematics teacher and a genius mathematics student. Ji Yoon-su is a mathematics teacher at a private high school and is strong-willed. She is passionate about mathematics and encourages her students to be better at the subject.
Yoon-su becomes involved with Baek Seung-yoo (played by Lee Do-Hyun), a student at the private high where she teaches. He is a lonely young boy who hardly talks but he likes taking pictures with his DSLR camera. Seung-yoo has a surprising past and used to be a child prodigy in Math but things changed after he moved to the States.
18 Again
Based on the Hollywood Movie ’17 Again’ the comedy K-drama, ’18 Again’ revolves around the life of Hong Dae-young who is in a tough spot in his relationship with Jung Da-jung, his wife and the mother of his two children. 20 years after giving up on his dream he starts a family with Da-jung who had fallen pregnant after they graduated high school. Dae-young blames his wife for the way his life turned out to be.
Convinced life would be better without her husband in it, Da-jung gives up on saving her marriage and files for divorce. This makes Dae-young regret his mistakes from when he was 18 years old and he wishes to go back in time and choose his career over his relationship.#
Dae-young is suddenly transformed back into his 18-year-old self (played by Lee Do-hyun) as he gets a new chance to change his life and turn it into what he desires it to be.
Sweet Home
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Sweet Home tells the story of Cha Hyun-soo who is orphaned after an extreme and unexpected family tragedy. Hyun-soo moves into a new apartment complex but soon there is an alien invasion in the town where monsters start taking over the world and killing people.Â
Similar to a zombie apocalypse, the monster has a way to turn people into monsters too. The inhabitants of the apartment complex including Lee Eun-hyuk (played by Lee Do-hyun) now have one sole goal and that is to stop the monsters that are lurking everywhere outside from getting inside. Sweet Home was also announced to have a sequel that will be released in 2023.Â
Youth of May
The 2021 K-drama Youth of May is set in May of 1980 during the turbulent times of the Gwangju Uprising. At that time, Hee-tae (played by Lee Do-hyun) and Myung-hee fall in love despite coming from extremely different backgrounds. Both Hee-tae and Myung-hee fall into a love that seems destined by fate.
Hee-tae is a medical student, who entered medical school at the top of his class and is an easygoing person. Hee-tae also has an unyielding spirit and obstinacy. Myung-hee has worked as a nurse for the past 3 years and is a lovely person, who stands up against what is not fair.
Hotel del Luna
The 2019 drama Hotel del Luna follows the story of Jang Man-wol, the CEO of Hotel del Luna. Man-wol made a big error many years ago which causes her to be stuck at Hotel del Luna. She is beautiful but fickle, suspicious and greedy. She meets Koo Chan-sung who used to work as the youngest assistant manager ever at a multinational hotel corporation.
Due to an unexpected case, he begins to work as a manager at Hotel del Luna. The hotel’s clientele consists of ghosts. Lee Do-hyun plays Go Chung-myung in the show who is a royal guard captain at the hotel and becomes a friend of Man-wol and Yeon-woo.
Thirty But Seventeen
The 2018 show, Thirty But Seventeen sees Lee Do-hyun play a supporting role as Dong Hae-beom. This 32-episode drama narrates the story of Woo Seo-ri, a violin prodigy at 17 who was about to study in Germany. After getting into a bus accident, Seo-ri wakes up after being in a coma for 13 years.
Mentally she is still only 17, while physically she is now 30. Meanwhile, after experiencing a similar trauma 13 years before, Gong Woo-jin does not want to have a relationship with anyone. This series is about a man and a woman whose lives stopped in their own ways when they were 17. The two get together and try to seek the happiness that they once lost years ago. Ahn Hyo-seop plays Yoo Chan in the show.
Clean with Passion for Now
Jang Sun-gyeol has mysophobia (fear of germs) and runs a cleaning company. He meets Gil O-sol who has a bright personality and does not mind getting dirty. With the help of Gil O-sol, Jang Sun-gyeol faces his mysophobia and also falls in love with Gil O-sol. Lee Do-hyun plays the supporting character of Gil Oh-dol, Oh-sol’s younger brother who is a promising Taekwondo athlete.
Beyond Evil
Beyond Evil follows the story of two fearless policemen from the Manyang Police Substation of the Munju Police Station. Lee Dong-sik and Han Joo-won are two cops who break the law to catch a serial killer. In the course of uncovering the culprit’s identity, they question the innocence of everyone involved in the case, including themselves. Lee Do-hyun plays young Lee Dong-sik in the show.
KBS Drama Special: Scouting Reporter
The short special KBS drama follows the story of Kyung-woo a former baseball player who now works as a baseball scout. Jae-won (played by Lee Do-hyun) is a promising high school baseball player. The show saw Do-hyun win the ‘Best Actor in a One-Act/Special/Short Drama Award’ at the 33rd KBS Drama Awards.
Bonus: Reincarnation Love
The short 6-minute advertisement is a short-time-loop romance drama taking off from Lee Do-hyun’s most loved show, Youth Of May. The show follows the first meeting of Jeon Sang-tae, who went on a blind date as a substitute for a friend. There Sang-tae finds his destiny girl Kim Hwa-ni.
And there we have it, our list of the best Lee Do-hyun K-dramas of all time!
What do you think of our list? Have we included your favourites? Or have we missed any must-watch dramas or movies? We love to hear from you so do feel free to let us know in the comments below.