"You're Beautiful" (Korean: 미남이시네요) is a 2009 South Korean television series. It stars Jang Keun-suk, Park Shin-hye, Jung Yong-hwa of CNBLUE, and Lee Hong-gi of F.T. Island. The story follows a made-up music group called A.N.JELL (Korean: 에이앤젤). The band's relationships change when a girl pretends to be her twin brother to join them. The show was broadcast on SBS from October 7 to November 26, 2009, and had 16 episodes.
Synopsis
Ko Mi-nyeo, played by Park Shin-hye, has lived in an orphanage with her twin brother, Ko Mi-nam, since childhood after their father passed away. Years later, Mi-nam becomes a music idol. Mi-nyeo lives in a junior nun dorm to become a nun. One day, Mi-nam wins a vocal audition with A.N Entertainment to join the band A.N.Jell. However, he must leave for the United States to fix his plastic surgery. Mi-nam's manager, Ma Hoon-yi, played by Kim In-kwon, asks Mi-nyeo to pretend to be Mi-nam for a month until he recovers. At first, Mi-nyeo refuses, but she agrees because she hopes fame will help her and her brother find their mother. Mi-nyeo pretends to be her brother and joins A.N.Jell. She meets the band's members: Hwang Tae-kyung, who is arrogant, Kang Shin-woo, who is kind, and Jeremy, who is cheerful. At first, Tae-kyung is not happy with Mi-nyeo joining and makes her life difficult. Shin-woo and Jeremy are kind to her. Later, Tae-kyung finds out Mi-nyeo is a girl and threatens to tell others. Mi-nyeo convinces him not to. As they spend time together, Tae-kyung starts to care for Mi-nyeo. Shin-woo and Jeremy also start to like her, even though Jeremy thought she was a boy. While trying to keep her secret from the media, Mi-nyeo learns about her mother's past, which is linked to Tae-kyung.
Cast
- Jang Keun-suk plays the role of Hwang Tae-kyung
- Park Shin-hye plays Ko Mi-nyeo, also known as Gemma (female), and Ko Mi-nam (male). In episode 15, Oh Hee-joon portrays Mi-nam's body double.
- Jung Yong-hwa plays Kang Shin-woo
- Lee Hong-gi plays Jeremy
- Uee plays Yoo He-yi
- Kim In-kwon plays Ma Hoon-yi
- Kim Sung-ryung plays Mo Hwa-ran
- Jung Chan plays Ahn Seong-chang
- Choi Soo-eun plays "Coordi" Wang
- Bae Geu-rin plays Sa Yu-ri
- Choi Ran plays Go Mi-ja
- Jang Won-young plays Kim Young-ho
- Kim Dong-yeon plays Kim Dong-jun
- Tae Hwang plays an assistant
- Kim Min-chan plays a backup dancer
- Seong Byeong-suk plays the head nun
- Jeon Hye-yeong plays a member of the A.N.JELL fanclub
- Kim Min-young plays a member of the A.N.JELL fanclub
- Kim Young-hoon plays a character
- Lee Joo-yeon and Yoo So-young play members of the girl group "Before School"
- Yoo Seung-ho plays a convenience store customer in episode 9
- Oh Hee-joon plays Ko Mi-nam in episode 15
Production
Jang Keun-suk and Park Shin-hye were chosen first for the roles. Director Hong Sung-chang said the two actors were a good fit for the idea of fresh idol stars he wanted to show. Lee Hong-gi, a singer in the idol group F.T. Island, had been a child actor. This was his return to acting after a five-year break, with his last acting role being Kkangsoon in 2005. Jung Yong-hwa made his acting debut with this role. He auditioned for the part while preparing to debut with his band CNBLUE in Japan.
Reception
During the drama's broadcast, several car companies allowed their vehicles to be used in the show for advertising. Audi, a German carmaker, introduced their Audi S4 in the miniseries, with actor Jang Keun-suk driving it.
Although the drama had not very high ratings on television, it gained a group of fans who watched it online.
Because of the show's popularity, the music album from the miniseries sold 20,000 copies in the first seven days after its release. The album became a top-selling item on music websites like MelOn, Dosirak, and Mnet. By the end of 2011, the album sold a total of 57,000 copies in South Korea. The album was created by Han Sung-ho, who also worked on the dramas Lovers, On Air, and Brilliant Legacy.
The drama included concert footage of the group A.N.JELL. As a result, the cast performed a short concert, where it was reported that up to 25,000 fans attended. The group performed the songs "Promise" and "Still." Jang Keun-suk also sang "Good Bye" and "What Should I Do," the latter of which is a song Tae-kyung sings for his mother in the drama. Park Shin-hye performed "Lovely Day," which is the theme song for her character.
The series was shown in many countries across Asia. It aired on channels such as Fuji TV in Japan, CCTV in China, BBTV in Thailand, 8TV in Malaysia in 2010, Channel U in Singapore, Indosiar in Indonesia, MBC 4 in the UAE, and ABS-CBN in the Philippines. When the series was broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV, it received very high ratings, outperforming other shows in its time slot. The series became so popular in Japan that it is believed to have become more popular than Winter Sonata, another well-known Korean drama in Japan.
Source: TNmS Media Korea, AGB Nielsen Korea (Archived February 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine)
Remake
A new version of this drama was shown in Japan in 2011. It was called He is Beautiful and included a brief appearance by Jang Keun-suk in episode 8. A different version of the drama, titled Fabulous Boys, was broadcast in Taiwan in 2013. This version featured a short appearance by Park Shin-hye in the first episode, where she played the character Go Mi-nyeo.