They actually do that? Wow... That explains why I've never seen one in kdrama. Even The Lover and Prince's Prince never crossed into that territority and I'd been wondering why (since they otherwise weren't afraid to show two guys together/falling in love), but now it suddenly all makes sense. No one would risk a law suit...

Huh, but in Come Back Ahjussi Oh Yeon-Seo and Honey Lee kissed. (With Han Ki-tak's soul so he's 'male', but still.)

Me too! She seems like such as fun, nice, genuine person. She's one of my favorite idols, which is saying a lot since I don't really follow K-pop. I'm really curious to she how she'll do. I hope she can pull it off. I think compared to other idol actresses she'd be less worried about looking pretty and hopefully deliver some humor and expression to this role. I've seen her joke and be goofy for skits, variety, etc, which is over-exaggerated on purpose, but I'm not sure what that'll mean for her acting. Hopefully she doesn't over act. I guess another worry is that her Korean isn't perfect so it might be more difficult for her to deliver her lines. I really hope she does a good job.

Same here. I feel she's a good fit for the role, and she's super funny and talented. I hope that her personality translates well into her character's portrayal.

I never saw the original Entourage, so I have nothing to go by, and I personally like it that way. I'm mostly watching for Lee Kwang Soo and Jo Jin Woong (and maybe a little bit for Lee Dong Hwi) because I really love their acting and superficially, I love their height. Two handsome towers of strength, hehe.

Here's hoping the show will be a success!

She does well in variety and that has some acting involved in it. I am sure she'll do fine acting in a small role.

Interesting idea about strong personalities, but I don't think it's a general thing. With all the best actors I feel like there's a little bit of themselves in there - if there isn't you can't captivate audiences, because it doesn't feel real. Big personalities often have many different sides to them, so if they're good enough actors to actually dip into whatever part of them is useful for a specific role, they often tend to do an amazing job with many different kinds of characters.

Even someone with as strong a personality as Hong Ki managed to portray a completely different type of person in BotC and even in You're Beautiful (because honestly, all those people saying they miss the cute Jeremy-like Hong Ki live in a dream world. He was never cute and innocent like that lol.)

I think it all depends on acting skills rather than your personality. Also, most celebrities have an on-screen personality they show the world and an off-sceen one they only show to people they know, so judging anything based on their personality is going to be pretty much impossible (:

do companies encourage their idols to take up acting as the next step?

In my opinion, Idol life is quite short if you are not able to make your individual name out of it, so they need to find another work inside the entertainment business.
A young group with new energy come every month and they can replace your place within a year so just being idol will not gonna be last longer except you really excel in that department and has super loyal fandom.

As a performer, there actually quite a limited occupation they can try outside the singing and become the producer. They can be MC in talks show, doing a variety show and acting.

Why many Idol try acting? It just like why they try to be MC and cast in variety, it's to make them alive in the entertainment business when their Idol status can't hold them anymore.
Even now, many actor/actress in abundant in variety show like Real Man or in talk show panel as regular or nor, do vacation reality show, appear in the show they don't usually came when they think they can't just act forever.

TL;DR : imo it bc entertainment industry always find a way to replace the entertainer, so people who fit better and always usable will last longer.

+1
particularly when she appears to be very different from said bandmates in all other aspects

Agree with both you and Wag_a_Muffin.

Also, Amber is very confident in front of the camera. She has her own YouTube show called 'What the Pineapple', and she's been on numerous Korean variety shows. Granted, that is very different from what she'd be doing in this drama, but I don't think there's any basis to predict that she will be *awful*.

I am excited for Amber's acting debut. I really love what I know of her personality, and I think it would be great to see an actress with her presentation in K-dramas. Women express and present themselves in so many different ways, and if Amber turns out to be a good actress, I'd love for women like her to have representation in dramas.