I love Kim Soo Hyun cameos. I am still sad there is no Hotel Del Luna with a sexy Kim Soo Hyun swirling whiskey in a cup. That being said, two of my favorite cameos are in Squid Games. I was so excited when I saw Gong Yoo, lol. Lee Byung Hun's cameo was great too. This is an awesome write up.

This was delightful to read but reminded me of how generally ignorant I am of many of the inside jokes that make these cameos work so well. I'm just proud of myself when I'm like "Hey, isn't that the guy who played that character in that other drama I watched?"

I did, however, get very excited the moment I realized the guy from "The Crowned Clown" (I didn't know his actual name at the time) was doing an extended voice and then in-person cameo in "Start-Up." Or when the couple in "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" did a cute cameo at the start of "Abyss" and that literally became the best part of that drama for me.

In "My husband got a family" starring Kim Nam-joo and Yoo Jun-sang there are two interesting cameos. Kim Seung-woo who is Kim Nam-joo's husband and Hong Eun-hee who is Yoo Jun-sang's wife.

Great write-up! I love every one of these cameos and find myself rewinding a lot of these scenes just to enjoy them all over again. You're right that shows set in the entertainment industry lead to great cameos - still remember and laugh over Lee Seung-gi's cameo in The Greatest Love for instance.

I like that cameos often feel like a reward for my years of drama-watching - where you watch it and immediately get the joke/reference/character or actor relationship and it makes you giggle in delight 😊.

Kim Soo-hyun's cameo as young version of the old man who has a crush on the main character granny in Miss Granny was such a wonderful surprise! Love how he rode away with Na Moon-hee on his motorcycle.

The Choi Ji Woo cameo in CLOY was probably the best I've seen with it being meta upon meta. It was such a love letter to Choi Ji Woo, Stairway to Heaven, and power of Hallyu. Kdramas really bring people together. And it was such a touching display of friendship that Seri arranged the meeting for the kdrama-fan soldier.

The Producers - IU and Go Ara as rival celebrities who pretended to be BFFs for an interview was really funny. Makes me wonder how many of these celebrity friendships are fake.

The Shooting Stars cameos were really enjoyable by how quirky they were. Lee Ki-woo as the method actor was probably my favorite! And talking about actors playing actors, Park Sung-woong in Woohoo Waikiki *point point* LOL! His cameo came with his own theme music.

Na PD's cameo on Reply 1994 was as the college student who annoys the eff out of the dad with his 2N1D-esque games that he gets kicked out of the boarding house.

Kang Dong-yeon and Jung Soo-young's cameos as the cheating couple (KDY was the FL's cowardly bf and JSY was the much older woman he impregnates) in Fight My Away was hilarious. I later realized that they were also homeroom teacher and student in a different drama.

My very favorite cameo was when Chae Soo-bin appeared as "Wang Mon-shil" in the final episode of SHOPPING KING LOUIE. It is a vignette that lasts less than two minutes but was nearly perfect in telling us the future story of what will happen after the drama is over.

My all time favorite cameo is at the very end of LIFE (2018) (Netflix US) when Lee Joon-hyuk (1984) steps out of a car as the new President of Sangkook University Hospital. He doesn’t say a word.
There was a lot going on there. LIFE’s writer Lee Soo-yeon also wrote STRANGER (2017) (Netflix US). There were a number of actors who appeared in both dramas. Then there was the reference to LJH’s character of Dr. Ye in APAD because LIFE’s Dr. Ye (Lee Dong-wook) was off to the side watching the whole thing. I guess you had to be there but it was something else.

If Kim Soo-hyun is the King of Cameos than one of the Princes of Cameos has to be Lee Joon-hyuk (1972). (I always put dates to differentiate the two LJHs). He has made a slew of cameos and short appearances in dramas.

I've only just gotten to the point, after a year of drama-watching, where I recognize some actors doing cameos and very occasionally even a reference to another drama. I'm sure I miss 90% of them - thank goodness for DB recaps! Im Chul-soo in Unlock the Boss was the first one where I completely got it (and was absurdly pleased with myself).

Jung Gun-joo and Lee Jae-wook, who both played main characters in Extraordinary You, did cameos in Kiss Sixth Sense, which was written and directed by the same team. JGJ was the FL's frustrated, kiss-starved ex-boyfriend and LJW was the stand-in for another ex-boyfriend in his autobiographical movie-within-the-show, "Haru" - which was also the name of a main character in EY.

This is from the first two Hong Sisters dramas the cameo made no sense but I didn’t care. My Girl’s main story was about finding a lost cousin. In the end the real cousin turned out to be the FL from their first drama Delightful Girl Chun-hyang.
It legitimately felt like the Hong Sisters televisionatic universe

Kim Soo Hyun is like the king of cameos, but my favorite is Jung Somin and Lee Minki as Miso's parents in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. Not only was it great to see them together again after Because It's My First Life, it was a very touching scene as well.

Reading through this gives off excitement, especially when you're one of the many few who can connect the dots in the cameos.
I've come across two drama character cameos - Lee Min-ki and Kim Ji-Won cameoing as Kim Mi-so's parents in WWWSK and, Lee Joo-ryong and Heo Sung-tae in Behind Every Star. I didn't watch Squid Game so I couldn't link it together. Once I read the recaps, everything connected and my own late bout of laughter at the awkward greeting scene began.

Of course, my very own cameo king is Lee Joon-hyuk(1972) and Kim Myung-soo(the older one) coming close second. There's this man who cameoed for like 5-10 secs in the last episode of Life(2018) and that's one hella impression.

KSH's cameo in Miss Granny made me fall out of my chair while screaming. No, really. And I wouldn't even call myself his fan - casual appreciator is more like it - but it was so perfect and unexpected at that moment so I was in embarrassingly great shock))) There were few more, ofc, but nothing else actually send me to the floor... Kind of disappointing if you think about it. Esp since now nearly all "surprise" cameos are spoiled by news. Meh. I love me some spoilers, but this ruins all the fun!

I love me a cameo. I think the one I love the most was Lee Kyu Hyung's appearance in Racket Boys.

IYKYK :D

Thanks @unit for this post such a great topic.
‘The best crossover, though, still remains Kim Soo-hyun’s appearance in Crash Landing on You as his character in the movie Secretly, Greatly. And it has to be something in the water in Seoul, because those productions are seven years apart, yet he didn’t age a day!’👈 I loved this one too.

True Beauty had a lot of cameos, there were 5 actors of Extraordinary You!

Find Me in Your Memory : there were Kim Seo-Ho who acted with Moon Ga-Young in Waikiki 2

Squid Game : Gong Yoo's scenes were my favourite ones.

Kim Soo-Hyun : his cameo scenes are so impactful! I would have prefered a Blue Moon sequel than AoS...

Sh**ting Stars : Kim Seul-Gi was so funny! I miss her!

The Legend of the Blue Sea : Jo Jung-Suk as a mermaid crying to make pearls was really funny. Fortunelaty, it was at the beginning before I dropped it :p

It was so funny watching Crash Landing On You for the first time (my first drama) and seeing this bizarre character in a green track suit pop out of nowhere with advice for our beloved soldiers - and I had no idea who he was. He just popped in, popped back out again, and I had to look up why everyone on the internet seemed to have lost their minds at that part. Cut to a few months later when I saw him at the end of Hotel del Luna and absolutely lost my mind hahaha!

I think the first meta reference I got on my own was in my third drama, Vincenzo. Yang Kyung-won is arguing with someone (as usual) and someone tells him he looks like a North Korean soldier, which he vehemently denies. I remember stopping the show and just thinking, "there's no way this is an accident, right? No, it must have been on purpose - they must actually be referencing Pyo Chi-su!" and from then on, I have been absolutely hooked on cameos and meta references. It's such a thrill to see beloved actors or characters unexpectedly, and makes me feel like such an insider when I get the references!

My favorite recent cameo was Jo Yeo Jeong in BEHIND EVERY STAR because it was the best episode of the entire series.

How about Jang Hyuk's cameo in Love Cells? So unnecessary, absolutely delightful! And Kim Woo Bin was there, too!

Miss Granny is now on my to-watch list, thank you, @Unit.
All of these you mentioned are some of my favorites too. Cameos are so rewarding and fun little winks for those who know.

Seo In-Guk had a hilarious cameo as the sexy, arrogant new sous-chef in Oh My Ghostess, turning on the charm with the ladies and infuriating the male chefs with his condescending criticisms.

A very delightful read, @unit.
I couldn't stop smiling and laughing while remembering some of the scenes you referred to. When being done right, cameos are so fun to watch, especially, as you said, when they went all meta on us (and I happened to understand the tidbit they were referencing).

To add example to your extensive list of memorable cameos:

- Jang Ki-young as Yoo Inna's character's co-star in Touch Your Heart, parodying the famous helicopter scene from Descendant of the Sun. That was, like, double-meta and I just freaking love it. It didn't hurt that he was so dreamy in that blink-and-you-miss-it appearance.

- Park Hoon's surprise appearance in historical drama Nokdu Flower as a very famous lead resistance figure that embodied the hope for the future. It was rare to get a cameo be something this serious, important, and also true to life.

This is another reason I prefer Viki over Netflix; many times their subtitles will explain the meta-references to song titles, dramas, or characters, including some of the cameo appearances. It has helped me feel less “out of the loop” as I get better at spotting them on my own.

Agree with beanie bunnylita: One of my favorite cameos is the couple from Because This Is My First Life (Lee Min-Ki & Jeung So Min) as Secretary Kim's parents in What's Wrong With Secretary Kim.