Yoon Shi-yoon debuted as an actor through a daily sitcom in 2009, and, in 2010, he became the main actor in the drama Bread, Love and Dream, which raised his name and led to him becoming increasingly recognized as an actor. In the same year, he also made his debut on the big screen, with a leading role in the horror movie Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp. Best known for his role as Kim Tak-gu, let’s find out more about this talented actor. The following are the top 10 must-watch dramas starring Yoon Shi-yoon.
High Kick Through The Roof
High Kick Through The Roof is a South Korean daily sitcom that aired from September 7, 2009, to March 19, 2010, with a total of 126 episodes. It tells about two sisters, Shin Se-kyung (Shin Se-kyung) and Shin Shin-ae (Seo Shin-ae), who moved from their remote country village home to the big city of Seoul. They are amazed by modern city life. The sisters move into the home of Lee Soon Jae and work as maids for his family. Lee Soon-jae (Lee Soon-jae) runs a small food company. He has one son, Lee Ji-hoon (Choi Daniel), who is a doctor, and one daughter, Lee Hyun-kyung (Oh Hyun-kyung), who works as a high school teacher. Hyun-kyung’s husband, Jung Bo-suk (Jung Bo-suk), works as the vice president for his in-law’s food company. Meanwhile, Lee Soon-jae is smitten with Kim Ja-ok (Kim Ja-ok), vice-principal at the high school where Hyun-kyung works. Kim Ja-ok also opens a boarding house, and one of her tenants is Hwang Jung-eum (Hwang Jung-eum), who works as a private tutor for Jung Joon-hyuk (Yoon Shi-yoon), the son of Bo-suk and Hyun-kyung. In High Kick Through The Roof, Yoon Shi-yoon played as the tough, semi-rebellious son of Jung Bo-suk and Lee Hyun-kyung, Jung Joon-hyuk, and Hae-ri’s older brother. He is lax in his studies, but is sharp and is a good judge of character. He is initially very rude to his new tutor, Jeong-eum, but later comes to accept her because of her sincerity and he begins to like her. Upon realizing Se-kyung’s charms and beauty, he develops an intense crush on his noona (the term for a slighter older female), and is willing to do anything for her. Like his uncle, he has a soft heart and is caring for others, especially the Shin sisters. Jung-eum mistakenly thinks he loves her until she sees a picture of Se-kyung in his notebook. He’s known for fighting in school and is best friends with Kang Sae-ho. He is jealous of Se-kyung’s attraction to his uncle and continually tries to impress her. He succeeds in making her to like him, but loses to his uncle in winning her heart. Through his role in this sitcom, Yoon Shi-yoon was nominated for Best New Actor in TV at the Baeksang Arts Awards and won MBC’s Best Couple award with his co-star, Shin Se-kyung. Debuted as an actor through this sitcom, the show made Yoon Shi-yoon’s name rise to fame for his role as a semi-rebellious teenager. Yoon Shi-yoon also starred in High Kick 3: Revenge of the Short Legged as a cameo, which is also part of the High Kick series. This is the third iteration of the series after the success with the previous series, Unstoppable High Kick, which aired in 2006-2007, and High Kick Through The Roof, which aired in 2009-2010.
Bread, Love and Dream
Bread, Love and Dream, also known as King of Baking, Kim Tak-gu, tells about Kim Tak-gu (Yoon Shi-yoon), who is the eldest son of Gu Il-jong (Jun Kwang-ryul), the chairman of Geosung Foods Enterprise, and Kim Mi-sun (Jun Mi-sun), his mistress. The Chairman’s wife, Seo In-sok (Jun In-hwa), is furious with her husband and shuns Tak-gu. When his mother is kidnapped, Tak-gu runs away from home and spends the next 12 years looking for her. On his journey, he enters a baking school owned by Pal-bong (Jang Hang-sun), who is a legend in the baking industry. Coincidentally, he was also Tak-gu’s father’s teacher. In said school, Tak-gu also finds Jo Jin-gu (Park Sung-woong), the man who kidnapped his mother. Jo Jin-gu tells Tak-gu that she accidentally fell off a cliff. Tak-gu decides to stay at the bakery and learn the art of making bread, as his father did before him. Gu Ma-joon (Joo Won), Tak-gu’s half-brother, is also at the school, hoping to learn about baking to win his father’s approval and take over the family business. He lives under an assumed name and never reveals his true identity. Ma-joon still nurses a hatred for Tak-gu from their childhood. It is later revealed that Tak-gu’s mom is not dead and that she is looking for him. The Chairman, who also spent the past 14 years looking for Tak-gu, eventually finds out that he is at the bakery and is furious at Ma-joon for not telling him. The Chairman wants Tak-gu, his eldest son, to take over the family business instead of Ma-joon. Rejected, Ma-joon plots to steal Tak-gu’s childhood friend, Shin Yu-kyeong (Eugene), and embarrass his family in the process. Tak-gu eventually finds his mother, but In-sok and her lover (the Chairman’s assistant), Han, plot to rob Tak-gu of his inheritance to let Ma-joon take the Chairman’s position. When the Chairman finds out, Han attempts to murder Tak-gu, but Tak-gu is saved by Jo Jin-goo. Meanwhile, Ma-joon’s plan to embarrass his family works, but it doesn’t give him the satisfaction he expects. He reaches a truce with Tak-gu and the two agree to let their older sister, Gu Ja-kyung (Choi Ja-hye), run the company. The show ends with Tak-gu continuing to work at the bakery with his girlfriend, Yang Mi-sun (Lee Young-ah), while Ma-joon decides to travel around the world with his new bride, Shin Yu-kyeong. Manager Han is imprisoned and the Chairman is happy that at last, his loved ones found happiness. In this drama, Yoon Shi-yoon acted as the main lead for the first time, playing the role of Kim Tak-gu, the eldest son of the chairman of Geosung Foods Enterprise and his mistress. He is a determined young baker who overcomes many trials while pursuing his goal of becoming the best baker in Korea. Bread, Love and Dream was one of the most-watched shows in South Korea in 2010, with a final episode viewership rating of 50.9%, becoming the 25th highest-rated drama of all time. This drama aired on KBS2 from June 9 to September 16, 2010, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 22:00 for 30 episodes. The success of this drama means it is considered the breakout role for lead actor Yoon Shi-yoon, catapulting him to immense popularity as well as receiving much praise for his sincere acting. On September 2, 2010, it was announced that the rights to broadcast the series had been sold to China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Cambodia. The Philippines even made a remake of the drama, titled Baker King, which premiered on TV5 on May 18, 2015. There is also a Turkish remake of this drama series, as Aşk Ekmek Hayaller. Yoon Shi-yoon’s hard work in this drama yielded results by netting Yoon Shi-yoon nominations in various categories at various awards shows, many of which he won.
My Cute Guys
My Cute Guys, also known as Flower Boys Next Door, is a romantic-comedy television series based on the webtoon by Yoo Hyun-sook titled I Steal Peeks At Him Every Day. This drama tells about Go Dok-mi (in Korean, literally “lonely beauty”), who is a shy, frugal freelance copy editor who refuses to leave her apartment or interact with people as much as possible. Every day, using a pair of binoculars, she steals peeks at her neighbor across the street, Han Tae-joon (Kim Jung-san), as he goes through his daily morning routine. She had fallen in love with Tae-joon at first sight, after seeing him pick up a puppy in a box and take it home. When she looked out her window and saw him living in the apartment opposite hers, she thought of it as fate. Webtoon artist Oh Jin-rak (Kim Ji-hoon) lives in the same apartment building as Go Dok-mi (Park Shin-hye). He has been in love with Dok-mi for ages, and anonymously leaves a carton of milk with a post-it attached by her door every day. He created a webtoon with his drawing partner Oh Dong-hoon (Go Kyung-pyo), titled “Flower Boy Next Door”, based on Dok-mi’s life as well as his desire to draw her out into the world. Enrique Geum (Yoon Shi-yoon), a genius video game developer, arrives in Seoul from Spain. His reason for coming is “cupid’s arrow.” Though he’s in love with his best friend, Yoon Seo-young (Kim Yoon-hye), she has feelings for his older cousin, Han Tae-joon, so he intends to play cupid for the two. That same day, a new neighbor, Watanabe Ryu (Mizuta Kouki), moves into the apartment across to Dok-mi and Jin-rak. When Enrique comes to stay at Tae-joon’s apartment, he catches Dok-mi in the act. Naturally curious and inquisitive, Enrique decides to find out the reason why Dok-mi is living in seclusion. Meanwhile, Jin-rak is threatened by Enrique’s sudden intrusion into Dok-mi’s life. With all these new men suddenly entering her life, Dok-mi’s solitary and orderly world is turned upside down. In this drama, Yoon Shi-yoon acted as Enrique Geum, He is a genius who developed a wildly successful video game at 17. Opposite with Go Dok-mi’s (Park Shin-hye) character, he is fun-loving, talkative, bohemian, and can’t get enough of soccer. This drama aired on tvN from January 7 to February 26, 2013, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 23:00 for 16 episodes. Directed by Jung Jung-hwa (who previously helmed Flower Boy Ramyun Shop) and written by movie screenwriter Kim Eun-jung (Gabi, Hwang Jin-yi), it is the third installment of cable channel tvN’s “Oh! Boy” series of Flower Boy programming, targeted at the teenage demographic. Broadcasting rights were sold to Japan for the highest price yet for a Korean cable series, and began airing in May, 2013, on TBS. It also aired in ten other Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar, and is available to stream on Iflix in Sri Lanka, with English subtitles.
Mirror Of The Witch
Mirror of The Witch, also known as Secret Healer, is a South Korean television series that is inspired by the book Dongui Bogam. The story tells about Queen Shim (Jang Hee-jin), a royal queen in the palace who, unable to have a child, seeks the help of a shaman named Hong-joo (Yum Jung-ah), so she can give birth to a prince. Hong-joo told Queen Shim to deceive a young shaman named Hae-ran (Jung In-seon), who possessed special abilities, enabling her to sleep with the king so she can become pregnant. Hong-joo then uses black magic to transfer the fetus to the Queen and plans to kill Hae-ran. Unfortunately, Hae-ran finds out everything, predicting the sad fate of the Queen’s babies before dying. Queen Shim later gives birth to twins, Crown Prince Soonhwae (Yeo Hoe-hyun) and princess Yeon-hee (Kim Sae-ron), but was forced to abandon the princess due to the curse. With the help of Shaman Choi Hyun-seo (Lee Sung-jae), Yeon-hee grows up as a beautiful young girl, but she is forced to remain isolated and away from everyone, living in a house surrounded by talismans. Poong-yeon (Kwak Si-yang), Hyun-seo’s son, has had a crush on her since he was young. A young scholar named Heo Joon (Yoon Shi-yoon), the son of a slave and a rich master, has a chance encounter with Yeon-hee, and Heo Jun ties their fates as they journey together to lift the princess’ curse, which causes everyone she loves to die an awful death. Yoon Shi-yoon was cast as Joseon‘s famous doctor, Hee Joon, he is the royal physician who wrote the book Mirror of Eastern Medicine. This drama aired on cable network JTBC, on Fridays and Saturdays in the 20:30 (KST) time slot from May 13 to July 16, 2016, for 20 episodes. it also premiered on Netflix from January 1, 2018.
