It needs no reminding that Korean television has taken the world by storm. Much of that is thanks to their riveting plots, but equally crucial are its talents, especially actors who strike a deft balance between good looks and raw talent. This has, in turn, helped increase the worth of several Korean drama actors, making them the highest-paid actors in the industry.
Many K-dramas are now among the most watched content in the world. Take for instance Netflix’s Squid Game, which set unprecedented streaming records for the platform. And it is just one example. In fact, millions around the world are hooked on Korean drama — binge-watching one drama after the other.
Highest-paid Korean drama actors making more money
The extraordinary success of Korean shows has resulted in the emergence of some of the biggest names in entertainment. The actors are not restricted to television alone; they leave their mark in widely successful films, too.
Of course, with an ever-growing market, it is obvious that the actors headlining the shows are raking in millions. However, how much do they make per episode? That’s a question on everyone’s minds.
So, from Kim Soo-hyun to Song Hye-kyo and Lee Jung-jae to Hyun Bin, take a look at some of the highest-paid Korean drama actors in television.
Kim Soo-hyun
Winner of two Grand Bell Awards — South Korea’s equivalent of the Academy Awards, Kim Soo-hyun is one of the biggest names in the world of Korean drama.
Kim began his career with the Korean drama Kimchi Cheese Smile in 2007 and gained commercial as well as critical success with shows like Dream High (2011-12), Moon Embracing the Sun (2012), My Love from the Star (2013-14) as well as films such as The Thieves (2012) and Secretly, Greatly (2013).
After completing his mandatory military service, Kim made cameo appearances in hit dramas Hotel del Luna (2019) and Crash Landing on You (2020) before charming all with his splendid performance in the well-received It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020), for which he was reportedly paid around KRW 500 million (USD 361,000 / INR 3 crore) per episode, according to The Korea Times.
He opted for a lower pay in 2024 with the critically acclaimed drama Queen of Tears. The show marked Kim Soo-hyun’s return to acting three years after his last on-screen appearance on One Ordinary Day (2021) — the Korean remake of the acclaimed BBC series Criminal Justice.
Created by Korean production house, Studio Dragon, which is behind several major television hits, including Under the Queen’s Umbrella (2022) and Twinkling Watermelon (2023), Queen of Tears paired Kim opposite Kim Ji-won. The show ended its run as the highest-rated tvN series of all time with a nationwide household rating of 24.85 per cent.
According to Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, Kim Soo-hyun was paid KRW 300 million (USD USD 217,119 / INR 1.81 crore) per episode for the 16-episode show, bringing his total earnings to KRW 5 billion (USD 3.7 million / INR 30 crore).
As for One Ordinary Day, Kim was paid around USD 423,000 (INR 3.5 crore) per episode for the hit show, making him the highest-paid K-drama actor to date. In total, he earned USD 3.38 million (INR 28.21 crore) from the eight-episode show. This figure not only remains his highest pay to date but also makes him the highest-paid K-drama actor as of mid-2024.
Lee Jung-jae
Though more renowned as a movie star, Lee Jung-jae shot to international stardom in 2021 with Netflix’s Squid Game. The incredible popularity of the show, and his performance made him the first Korean to win the respective best actor awards at the Critics Choice, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards.
Lee was reportedly paid USD 248,000 per episode for the nine-episode drama, for a total of USD 2.2 million. He is set to reprise his role in the second season of the series, which has been confirmed by Netflix.
The phenomenal success of the first season almost ensured that Lee would earn more for his appearance in the second. In June 2023, multiple media reports citing South Korean tabloid Dispatch said that Lee is believed to have asked for a salary of USD 1 million per episode for Squid Game 2.
Reports said that since Netflix earned around USD 900 million from the first show, it cannot possibly ignore Lee’s demand. Though it has not been confirmed, Lee would easily surpass Kim Soo-hyun as the highest-paid K-drama actor if he is indeed paid USD 1 million per episode for Squid Game 2.
Even without Squid Game, Lee would still be one of the greatest and richest actors in the Korean entertainment industry. His films have almost consistently recorded commercial success and he has won numerous honours over a three-decade-long career for his memorable performances in films.
Among his best-known movies are Il Mare (2000), Over the Rainbow (2002), New World (2013), The Face Reader (2013) and Deliver Us from Evil (2020). In 2022, he made his directorial debut with the film Hunt, in which he co-starred with Jung Woo-sung.
He is now firmly placed on the international stage, playing the Jedi master Sol in the Star Wars TV show The Acolyte (2024). Exactly how much he is receiving for the role is not clear, but his stature ensures that it will be in several millions of dollars.
Song Joong-ki
In just over a decade, the South Korean actor has become the toast of K-drama fans around the world. He is internationally renowned for playing a South Korean special forces soldier in the highly successful Descendants of the Sun (2016).
In 2021, he tasted critical and commercial success with Netflix’s Vincenzo (2021) and wowed critics with the epic sci-fi Netflix film, Space Sweepers. Phenomenally popular among people of all ages because of his performances, good looks and overall conduct in public life, Song was reportedly paid around USD 170,000 per episode for Vincenzo.
His fame grew over the next two years. In 2023, Song starred in one of the highest-rated K-drama shows of all time — Reborn Rich. The actor played the leading role of Yoon Hyun-woo, a senior employee of a Korean conglomerate who is ‘reborn’ as the young grandson of the family that runs the company after he is murdered by them. According to Korean media reports, the actor is believed to have been paid around USD 228,500 per episode for the show. Given that Reborn Rich has 16 episodes, Song would have earned around USD 3.65 million for the show.
Later in the same year, Song also played a lead role opposite Bibi in the Korean film Hopeless. The movie premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and was released theatrically in Korea in October. According to Korean Film Council (KOFIC), Hopeless has earned USD 1.9 million.
Some of his other famous dramas and films include Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010), A Werewolf Boy (2012), The Battleship Island (2017) and Arthdal Chronicles (2019). He wrapped filming for his next movie, Bogotá, in late 2021 but it is yet to be released. His most recent release was the Netflix film My Name Is Loh Kiwan (2024).
Song Hye-kyo
Song Hye-kyo is on a roll. One of the most celebrated female Korean actors of her generation and among the highest-paid Korean drama actors, Song won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actress in 2023 for the Korean web series Glory. She was also nominated in the best actress category at the Grand Bell Awards.
The two-part series, which premiered in December 2022 and concluded in March 2023, brought Song universal critical acclaim. In January 2023, Munhwa Ilbo‘s journalist Ahn Jin-yong reportedly said in a YouTube video on his channel that Song may have been paid USD 163,000 per episode for The Glory. According to Ahn, her salary is the same as that of Jun Ji-hyun.
The figure is only slightly higher than what was reported earlier by Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, which said that she was paid somewhere around USD 160,000 per episode for the drama Now, We Are Breaking Up (2021). Hankook Ilbo, too, pegged Jun Ji-hyun’s salary at USD 160,000.
An ageless beauty, Song is best known for playing the lead opposite Song Joong-ki in Descendants of the Sun (2016). She has, however, been winning laurels for her performances on television since the 1990s. Among her notable appearances are Autumn in My Heart (2000), Full House (2004), That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013) and Encounter (2018-19).
She is also remarkably famous in China and has appeared in acclaimed movies such as Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013) and John Woo’s two-part epic film The Crossing (2014 and 2015).
Apart from her acting career, Song is also the face of luxury fashion brands such as Bottega Veneta. In 2021, the Korean entertainment show TMI News estimated that her charges for product endorsements and sponsored Instagram posts hover around USD 760,000 and USD 460,000, respectively.
Jun Ji-hyun
Jun, who is popularly known as Gianna Jun, is one of the biggest stars in Korean entertainment.
International audiences saw her as the gritty Ashin in Kingdom: Ashin of the North (2020-21), the sidequel to the acclaimed Netflix horror-thriller Kingdom (2019–).
Jun, the first Korean ambassador of luxury fashion label Alexander McQueen, is widely credited for putting Korean entertainment on the world map with the classic romantic film My Sassy Girl (2001), for which she earned her first Grand Bell Award for Best Actress.
She garnered immense fame with Il Mare (2000), The Thieves (2012), The Berlin File (2013) and Assassination (2015). For Daisy (2006), she won her second Grand Bell Award for Best Actress.
Though her first appearance on the small screen was in 1999, Jun did not appear in a TV series until the popular drama My Love from Another Star (2013-14). She followed it up with Legend of the Blue Sea (2016-17).
In 2021, she played the role of a national park ranger in the show Jirisan. According to Ahn Jin-yong, Jun made around USD 163,000 per episode for the show. Jun will next be seen in the K-drama North Star, with actor Gang Dong-won. She has not made an appearance on the big screen since Assassination (2015).
Lee Young-ae
Lee is one of the most successful actors in the Korean entertainment scene. In 2021, she played the role of a cop-turned-insurance investigator who is drawn into a murder case in the series, Inspector Koo. The 12-episode K-drama reportedly earned her somewhere around USD 160,000 per episode.
The veteran actor received rave reviews for playing a world-renowned female conductor named Cha Se-eum in the K-drama Maestra: Strings of Truth (2023). Her salary for the show is not known, but Lee might have made more than what she earned for Inspector Koo.
Speaking in December 2023 about her role, Lee told Korea JoongAng Daily, “I started learning conducting last year around this time. Se-eum is also a famous violinist, but she had to return to conducting after experiencing some complications. There are some scenes showing Se-eum playing the violin in the early and later scenes, which is why I had to start learning the violin as soon as I could; I had never played it before.”
Lee is one of the richest stars by net worth among Korean celebrities, despite the fact that she took a long break from acting for around 12 years.
She has been internationally famous since the early years of her career with renowned films such as Joint Security Area (2000), One Fine Spring Day (2001) and Park Chan-wook’s acclaimed thriller Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), for which she won a Grand Bell Award and a Blue Dragon Film Award among other accolades.
Her 2003 drama Jewel in the Palace is considered the show that triggered interest in Korean dramas across Asia.
Hyun Bin
One of the highest-paid Korean actors, Hyun Bin is counted among the best performers of his generation. No wonder Crash Landing on You (2019-20), in which he played the leading role, is one of the highest-rated Korean dramas in South Korean cable television history.
From playing small roles in his early career, Hyun shot to fame with the 2005 romantic-comedy drama My Lovely Sam-Soon (also known as My Name Is Kim Sam-soon). Two of his other acclaimed K-dramas include Secret Garden (2010-11) and Memories of the Alhambra (2018-19).
So how much does the 38-year-old earn? According to estimates, he commands upwards of USD 113,000 per episode. This is indeed a rapid rise from the USD 27,000 per episode he earned for Secret Garden.
Hyun Bin, who is married to his Crash Landing on You co-star Son Ye-jin, has also established his name as a major star in the Korean entertainment industry, with hits such as A Millionaire’s First Love (2006), Late Autumn (2010), Confidential Assignment (2017) and its sequel Confidential Assignment 2: International (2022).
He has not acted in a TV series since Crash Landing on You but played one of the two main roles, alongside Hwang Jung-min, in the movie Point Men (2023), which is one of the 10 highest-grossing Korean films of 2023.
Go Hyun-jung
After setting a rating record with the drama Sandglass (1995), Go Hyun-jung, a former Miss Korea runner-up, quit acting to marry into a rich business family. Following a messy divorce, she came out of retirement in 2003 and quickly climbed to the top of Korean entertainment.
Her most notable works after resuming her acting career include the dramas Queen Seondeok (2009) and Daemul (2010).
In 2021, Go starred in Reflection of You alongside actress Shin Hyun-bin. She is believed to have been paid around USD 85,000 per episode for the 16-episode series. The figure is almost double of what she received for Dear My Friends (2016). Go’s most recent show was the seven-episode Netflix drama Mask Girl (2023), in a role that The Korea Times said allowed her to break out of her “sophisticated, classy image.”
Lee Min-ho
Playing the lead role of Gu Jun-pyo, a young chaebol heir, in the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers (2009), Lee Min-ho became a heartthrob of millions across Asia.
The South Korean actor is one of the most notable contributors to the cementing of the Hallyu wave, or Korean cultural wave, around the world. With over 31 million followers (as of 6 December 2022), Lee is the most followed Korean actor on Instagram.
His best-known Korean dramas include City Hunter (2011), Faith (2012), The Heir (2013), Legend of the Blue Sea (2016) and The King: Eternal Monarch (2020). Lee’s film appearances are scarce, but he won the Grand Bell Award for Best New Actor for his excellent portrayal of a rising gangster in 1970s South Korea in Gangnam Blues (2015).
In 2022, he made waves internationally for his leading role in the Apple TV+ web series Pachinko, which is based on the novel of the same name by acclaimed Korean-American novelist Min Jin Lee.
Before the release of Pachinko, Lee’s per-episode salary was reportedly around USD 80,000. It is not clear how much he was paid for the Apple TV+ series, which, as per a 2018 report by The Hollywood Reporter, had a budget as high as that of Netflix’s The Crown (2016–2023) — one of the most expensive TV shows in history.
(Main image: Kim Soo Hyun/@soohyun_k216/Instagram; Featured image: Song hyekyo/@kyo1122/Instagram)
This article first appeared here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Kim Soo-hyun, Song Hye-kyo, Song Joong-ki, Lee Jung-jae, Hyun Bin, Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Young-ae, Go Hyun-jung, and Lee Min-ho are the highest-paid Korean actors in television.
Among the most popular K-drama actors are Song Hye-kyo, Song Joong-ki and Lee Min-ho. Each of them are better known for their television appearances than big screen performances.
Kim Soo-hyun, Song Hye-kyo, Song Joong-ki, Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho would be counted among the richest K-drama actors when earnings from endorsements are also taken into account.
