More and more idols are stepping away from their usual singing and performing activities by branching into the acting field.
Because so many idols have debuted into an over-saturated market, existing idols had to find different leeways to keep promote themselves. The public has also become more accepting of idol turned actors as more of them make appearances on the small screen through various shows.
In the previous years, many idols were criticized for their lackluster acting. However, this year the idols managed to avoid the criticism with improved acting skills as now agencies are implementing acting studies into the training regimen of idols. Two idols that saw the largest jump in popularity for them so far this year were miss A‘s Suzy and ZE:A‘s Siwan. Suzy gained popularity through ‘Introduction to Architecture‘, and Siwan gained much love and attention through ‘The Moon that Embraces the Sun‘, and then through ‘Equator Man‘ as well as ‘Standby‘. Also, ‘Reply 1997‘ stars Seo In Guk, Eunji, and INFINITE‘s Hoya gained the love of the nation through satoori and also received positive response to their acting. Also, the usual trend of having one actor per group has changed. Girls’ Generation‘s Yuri, YoonA, Jessica, and Sooyoung all acted in different dramas this year, and T-ara‘s Eunjung, Jiyeon, Hyomin and Soyeon, CNBLUE‘s Jungshin, Minhyuk, and Jonghyun, INFINITE’s Woohyun and L, also participated in their own individual sitcoms and dramas.
Dramas such as ‘Dream High 2‘ and ‘To the Beautiful You‘ also drew interest with their idol-studded casting. Upcoming large-scale dramas such as ’Iris 2‘ have also incorporated idols into its cast like KARA‘s Jiyoung and MBLAQ‘s Lee Joon. Kim Hyun Joong, JYJ‘s Yoochun, Jaejoong, Super Junior‘s Donghae, and ZE:A’s Dongjun already have or will be starring in dramas or movies.
