First things first, using LMH's face for this Drama Chat is truly 👩‍🍳's 😘!

I agree that typecasting isn't always bad. In fact with character actors it gives me a sense of comfort. If I see Kim Won-hae or Ahn Nae-sang in a drama, I know exactly what I'm going to get and it's going to be GOOD.

But there are also those with whom typecasting seems frustrating. You watch a City Hunter and you can't understand why LMH persists in the chaebol roles (technically he was chaebol-ish even in CH with all the illegal money but we'll ignore that for a moment). The only reason I finished BOF was because young LMH had a great deal of personal charm that translated well onscreen. But I wish he'd do things that went beyond just being charming all the time.

Then there are those who seem to have been typecasted for more shallow reasons, possibly looks? I wish I could see a Kang Ki-young or a Park Jin-joo in a lead role instead of being always relegated to the 'funny friend' role.

Really really want to see lee kwang soo in a typical leading role

Type casting isn't always a bad thing, some actors are talented enough to deliver memorable performances across multiple projects while playing similar characters Kim Mi-kyung is the perfect example of this.

Some actors are typecast due to their limited range and ability however,and with each drama or film it becomes evident that the performer is a one trick pony.

Some actors are typecast simply due to success, they consistently find success and acclaim with a certain types of role and their agents convince them to stick to a formula that works

Song Hye-gyo for being pretty and mello (Can she back to Full House era?)

Nam Joo-hyuk should be typecasted as a cute and nerdy character for the better. Underlined the nerdy part. 😅 He is just sold it like no other.

Kim Hye-soo and Kim Sunnah as Female Fatale.

I think there are different reasons for typecasting :
- Production that doesn't have imagination and wants to cast someone who already did great in this kind of role ;
- Actors who always get scripts with the same kind of role and need to eat ;
- Actors who can't do another role.

Now, is it a bad or good thing?

I think it depends. I grew up watching Jacky Chan's movies and I couldn't imagine him in a new genre honestly. Action movies request actors who can do their own stunts. But I need time between their movies to not be bored by their characters.

For some actors, it's frustrating to see them typecasted in some role when you know they're talented like Kim Seul-Gi who often plays the typical best friend.

Of recent I've been wishing to see fav Ahjumma Kim Mi Kyung in a villainous role. I've seen Kim Hae-sook in one already, now I need to see Kim Mi Kyung's.

Typecasting is annoying when you know an actor has more potential than what they get to play regularly. However, that too maybe beneficial for them. They need to find a niche to survive in this industry. A role type that would instantly make casting directors think of them. Typecasting gets them work.
It's sad when it becomes the comfort zone of actors who can definitely get meatier roles. But it's also good when it brings us the best out of an actor who has excelled in that kind of roles.

I feel like Park Min-young is typecast as pretty office lady with great clothes. I like her a lot but it doesn’t make me want to rush out and watch another similar looking character (even if the character is actually quite different I would never know because I don’t end up watching).

There can be advantages to being able to play against type though - I wouldn’t suggest that Lee Seung Gi has been typecast at all (except in being the good guy) but he does have a nice guy image which I think made his casting in Mouse quite effective.

To me, being type-casted spells early death knell for an actor's development. Yes, there are some actors who can't help but be type-casted due to their look, limited acting abilities, and limited options. The more frustrating case is when actors have many options, have the looks, have okay acting abilities, and still choose to take on the same roles over and over again (LMH and PMY immediately come to mind). Aren't they bored? Don't they want to be challenged?

I think all young, rising actors should push to take on a variety of roles early in their careers. It's a good way to prolong career longevity. Go for breadth first, and then depth, else you'll find yourself pigeonholed too early and it's hard to break out of a box once you've been put in one (this goes applies to general career development, not just acting).

One of the reasons I started liking Han Sohee (despite her acting skills being so-so), is because she's doing her best to avoid being type-casted early on by taking on a variety of roles. It's harder to root for actors who are blase about their own career development.

The thing is, typecasting is fine until you get a taste of the actor doing something different - if they do it well, then you lament that you never saw it before!
I never thought twice about Kang Ki-young playing bumbling hapless comedic sidekicks, until he played a bone-chilling cat-killing psychopath for like two episodes of While You Were Sleeping and I lost my mind. The same applies to Lee Kwang-soo - he's always been charming, but he transcended to a higher state of being in Live, and I mourn the fact that he hasn't had a lead role of the same caliber since. It's hard to go backwards after that.

Even though she's only done a grand total of two dramas, I think Kim Da-mi will always be typecast as bitchy characters because of her looks and girl crush vibe.

Jung Hae-in was getting typecast in romance melos after Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food, but my favorite roles of his are rom-com While You Were Sleeping and action D.P. and Snowdrop.

Woo Dohwan isn't typecast, but it blew my mind to see him playing a bubbly character in The King because until then I'd only seen him playing brooding action roles. Later I watched him playing ML in romance Tempted, but the less said about that drama, the better 😂. Anyway, WDH is brilliant at comedy and should be more of those roles

Hwang Inyeop typecast as a student 😂Let dude play a grown-up, he's 31

Another interesting case to consider: Namgoong Min!
The man played DEEPLY boring second leads for a long time because he was hesistant to step outside of his comfort zone, and then he played the villain in The Girl Who Sees Smells and the floodgates opened for a bunch of new, diverse roles. He's done a lot of political dramas and thrillers recently, though. Was he typecasted then, and is he being typecasted now?

Unfortunately, one of the people that immediately comes to mind for me is Cha Eun Woo, a lovely young man that the universe is aggressively trying to convince me can act. It doesn't help that they keep throwing him into cold, stoic roles with tragic backstories. I think the logic behind this is that you don't have to express as much facially if your character is perpetually 😑, but in reality, it just shows how important microexpressions are when playing those kinds of characters. A skill that Cha Eun Woo has yet to hone, imo.

I think typecasting hurts secondary and support actors more than main leads or second leads. If someone gets labeled an office worker, secretary, gangster thug, it seems to stick to their work.

Many top actors fall into expected genres because producers want to bank on a proven track record. Actors claim they want to challenge themselves in different roles, but very few actually take risky roles.

I view the whole issue of typecasting through a different lens.

Basically, I think all television and film actors, from any country, fit into one of the two following categories.

CHARACTER ACTORS: These are actors who typically have had some kind of classical or theatrical training, and they may also be very method. They're known for getting into character by inhabiting a role, sometimes even to the point where they or their loved ones report that they're difficult to live with while filming. These actors are also gifted at transforming their physical bodies--what they look like, how they move, what they sound like--to fit their vision and interpretation of a particular character. Their own looks tend to be more like the rest of us than not--i.e. attractive but not overly so and with more of an interesting face than a conventionally beautiful one. Best example I can think of at this moment is the late, great American actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman or British actress Olivia Coleman or Korean actor Lee Jung-Jae.

These types of actors can certainly end up typecast as, for example, the loveable oddball or awkward wingman or scheming villainess. But because they're more likely to play a variety of roles in all types of genres, character actors tend to escape being pigeonholed.

CELEBRITY ACTORS: These are actors who broke into the business largely due to their beauty, charm, and charisma, and all of those things are present in the roles they play. They may also be talented at line reading, physical comedy, or other aspects of the job, and they might end up winning major accolades for playing against type (see: Charlize Theron in "Monster"), but viewers are primarily drawn to their visuals and ability to command attention by their charismatic intensity.

Sometimes, there are actors who start out in the business as celebrity actors, but if they're really talented, they can transition to being seen as a character actor (here, I'm thinking of the likes of Julia Roberts, Junho, Namkoong Min, Ryu Jun-yeol, and Leonardo DiCaprio). But if that doesn't happen, then I think many of these actors end up being typecast. For instance, this is where I'd put LMH, Suzy, Hyeri, Park Bo-gum, and Kim Yoo-jung. One could also say it's not so much that they're typecast, but that they themselves know their abilities and limits and are (mostly) content to stay within that box.

There are also actors--and here I'm thinking of the likes of Seo In-guk, Lee Joon, and Song Joong-ki--who appear to drift between the two categories depending on the roles they take. Their backgrounds and looks may mean they came into acting as a celebrity, but over time, they've shown either the talent or the work ethic that's led them to be able to play certain roles usually reserved for character actors. But sometimes it's hard for these types of actors to stay in the character realm--that's when they may complain that they're being typecast--because fans are so...

My nominee for the Typecast Division of the KDrama Hall of Fame is: Heo Sung-tae.
I have watched HST play one ‘bad guy’ after another.
Apparently his performance in SQUID GAMES (which I passed on) has given him quite a boost in popularity.
If you want a contrast in performance however, watch the two dramas he made with Yoon Shi-yoon: YOUR HONOR (2018) and PSYCHOPATH DIARY (2019/20) (Both available on Viki US).
In YH he plays a particularly nasty, corrupt prosecutor. In PD he is cast as a ‘hood’ but he plays it anything but. (Cast against type in a way). I was shocked at Heo Sung-tae’s comedic chops.

In a strange way he has become one of my favorites.

I don't know if the problem is the dramas I chose to watch from these actors or the really are always doing (or not doing) these roles:

Cha Tae Hyun: Cha Tae Hyun (I think I've seen him in six projects and he always gives me the same vibe/style).

Kim Min Seok: Boyfriend material. He's always on a multiple-couple kind of drama and he's always my favorite boyfriend lol.

Lee Min Jung: divorce woman that lost a baby. Aka. Choose better your partners, woman.

Lee Jong Suk: male lead with a dramatic past he can't leave behind.

Jang Hyuk: can't do bright/dorky characters. Not a criticism, I just can't visualize him in that kind of characters.

Lee Sang Woo: someone's husband in a family drama. I can't visualize him poor or single, tbh. Well, maybe single with a kid and in the process of getting a new wife.

Park Joon Geum: Before 'Be My Dream Family', she was my number 1 mean mother in law.

Park Shin Hye: Stairway to Heaven, Tree of Heaven, Heirs, Memories of the Alhambra, Pinocchio... yeah.

Yoon Park: THE second lead.

Has it worked in their favor? Depends. I see Kim Min Seok, I click without thinking lol. With Lee Sang Woo... I would read what the drama is about tbh.

Has it limited their pick of projects?
I know Ki Young oppa wanted that role in While You Were Sleeping (I guess the same with INAR) to change his "funny guy" typecast. I really liked him in that role and I also liked him in a slice of life like At Eighteen, but I never had a problem with him always being "the funny" guy. I literally finished Let's Fight, Ghost because of him and David, the were my main leads. So that's on the actor imo.

I would love to see him doing any kind of role he wants, but I would also feel a little bad not seeing him in a comic role for a long time. Same with Kim Won Hae, Lee Yi Kyung, Seul Gi, Jin Joo, etc.

Does it make a drama more predictable, or does it open up the door to inverting our expectations?
Well, it can predict that I'm going to love the show (for example, I love most of Cha Tae Hyun's projects) or that it's going to be the same old same old (Park Joon Geum treating bad her DIL).