Kim Soo-hyun [2026]: Queen of Tears and Why He's Korea's Biggest Star

Queen of Tears (눈물의 여왕) became the most-watched Korean television series in Netflix history — 682.6 million viewing hours according to Netflix's own biannual engagement report. It also became the highest-rated tvN drama ever, surpassing Crash Landing on You with a 24.85% peak rating. At the center of that phenomenon was Kim Soo-hyun, already one of the most recognizable names in Korean entertainment, doing perhaps the best work of his career.

The Netflix Record-Breaking Role

From Shy Student to Hallyu King

Kim Soo-hyun began acting to overcome shyness — his mother enrolled him in acting classes during school years for that reason. His television debut came in 2007, but it was Dream High (2011) — a musical drama about students at a performing arts high school — that gave him his first major platform. Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) reached a 42.2% peak rating, earning "national drama" status, and his face became one of the most recognizable in Korean entertainment.

The global breakthrough came with My Love from the Star (별에서 온 그대, 2013–2014), in which he played an alien who has lived on Earth for 400 years and falls in love with a Hallyu star. The show generated over two billion views on Chinese streaming platform iQIYI alone — an extraordinary number that demonstrated the scale of the global Korean drama audience before that audience became widely recognized in the West. It made Kim Soo-hyun one of the highest-paid actors in Asia. He co-founded his own management company, Goldmedalist, in 2014.

After mandatory military service (2017–2019), he returned with It's Okay to Not Be Okay (괜찮아, 사랑이야, 2020), a mental health drama that was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful on Netflix. Queen of Tears (2024) was his highest achievement yet.

Kim Ji-won: The Queen of the Show

It would be incomplete to discuss Queen of Tears without acknowledging Kim Ji-won, who played Hong Hae-in with extraordinary precision. Her ability to make a character who begins as deeply unsympathetic — cold, dismissive, arrogant — into someone the audience genuinely grieves for is a significant acting achievement. Kim Ji-won (born September 19, 1992) debuted in 2011 and built her reputation through Descendants of the Sun (2016), Fight for My Way (2017), and My Mister (2018) before Queen of Tears made her a genuine A-lister. She won Best Actress at the Baeksang Arts Awards for her performance.

Major Filmography — Kim Soo-hyun

Why he matters: Kim Soo-hyun has been making K-drama history for over a decade — from the Chinese streaming explosion of My Love from the Star to the Netflix viewing record of Queen of Tears. He is the clearest example of what a sustained, career-long commitment to quality Korean drama looks like at the highest level.