Esquire
You've heard of generations in K-Pop. Now, it's time for K-Drama generations. While the concept of "generations" for actors in the industry is not common, there are other measures of demarcation that help us discern one era from another. Internationally, we do it with the help of the Korean wave and its popularity all over the world. For instance, 1999โ2006 constitutes Hallyu 1.0, 2007 to mid-2010s is called Hallyu 2.0, and the latter half of the 2010s to the present time, is referred to as Hallyu 3.0. Once again, just like the generations in K-Pop, this classification is subject to debate and often interpreted differently in accordance with varying standards.
To open a healthy discourse about generations in the history of Korean dramas, we compiled some actors who defined their respective generations in the K-Drama industry. For the purpose of concision, we will be discussing K-Dramas from the past decade, that is, from 2002 to 2022.
This list will only include male actors. If you'd like to see a female version of the same, please let us know in the comments section!
Note: The division of generations in this article is purely subjective and is not meant to be taken as the ultimate standard or an exhaustive list. If we have missed any prominent actors, please let us know in the comments down below!
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The 1st Generation
The 1st generation of "K-Drama" in the context of global recognition came with "Winter Sonata", which proposed the idea of a male protagonist that is gentle, sensitive, and romantic instead of upholding Western ideals of machismo and indifference. This mov
