The official plot summary of the Korean drama reads: “Han Ji Yool is a prickly man from Seoul who does everything by the book, and a veterinarian who gives up his city job to be with his grandfather. He finds country life in Heedong Village to be more difficult than expected, though things change when he meets the village’s most reliable policewoman.” And now that the show’s release date is getting closer, let’s dive into the Once Upon a Small Town cast and look at where you might have seen them before.
Choo Yeong Woo
First up, we’ve got Choo Yeong Woo who stars as Han Ji-Yool, a veterinarian based in Seoul. In the show, he receives an urgent phone call from his grandfather to come home. He decides to return to Heedong Village, where his grandfather resides and operates a clinic for animals. Choo Yeoung Woo isn’t a big actor yet, but has already been nominated for the Best New Actor award during the 2021 KBS Drama Awards. This is for his roles as Park Min-Kyu in Police University and as Jung Young-Joo in School 2021. He made his debut in You Make Me Dance, a BL web series in 2021. Apart from Once Upon a Small Town, Choo is set to star in the upcoming drama series Oasis as Choi Cheol-Woong. He is also currently studying at Korea National University of Arts.
Joy
Once Han Ji-Yool arrives in Heedong Village, he meets An Ja-Young (played by Joy), a police officer who grew up in the village. She is known throughout their community for being helpful towards the residents and Han Ji-Yool. The two later develop a romantic relationship. Joy is no stranger to the entertainment industry in Korea. In fact, she is best known as a member of K-pop group, Red Velvet. She was part of the fourth season of hit the reality show, We Got Married, where she was linked to BTOB member, Yook Sung Jae. The stint earned both of them the Best Couple award at the MBC Entertainment Awards. Joy also won the New Star of the Year award in 2015. As an actress, she made her debut in The Liar and His Lover in 2017. She was also the lead of Tempted, The Boy Next Door, The One and Only, and many others. She also appeared as herself in Descendants of the Sun.
Baek Sung-Chul
Upon this writing, we don’t know much about Baek Sung-Chul’s role in the show Lee Sang-Hyun. But it’s possible that he will be vying for An Ja-Young’s heart. Baek Sung-Chul first appeared as a model before becoming an actor. His first drama was Not Yet 30 in 2021. Since then, he has been part of The Witch’s Diner and Inspector Koo.
Jung Suk-Yong
Actor Jung Suk-Yong will likely be Choo Yeong Woo’s grandfather in the show, Hwang Man-Sung. The veteran actor has been part of several Korean shows in the past. But you may have recognized him as Dong Dong-Sam in Extraordinary Attorney Woo. His other shows include Inspector Koo, Move to Heaven, Avengers Social Club, and many others.
Baek Ji-Won
Baek Ji-Won stars as Jang Se-Ryeon in Once Upon a Small Town. Since making her acting debut in 2013, she has been part of many films and TV dramas such as Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Encounter, Once Again, and many others.
Park Ji-A
Park Ji-A is another South Korean actress that we can expect to see in Once Upon a Small Town. The actress stars as Cha Yeon-Hong in the show. She has also been part of Our Blues, Beyond Evil, and Link: Eat, Love, Kill.
Yoo Yeon
Yoo Yeon stars as Kyung-Ok in Once Upon a Small Town. But she is no stranger to Korean films and TV shows. Some of her other films/shows include #Alive, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Vincenzo, SKY Castle, and many more.
Ha Yul-Ri
Ha Yul-Ri plays Choi Min in the show. She is a relatively new actress with shows like Soul Mechanic, The Red Sleeve, Today’s Webtoon, and a few others. Catch Once Upon a Time on Netflix and KakaoTV when it airs starting September 5th. There will be a total of 12 episodes, which will get a weekly release by sets of three. Each episode will last around 30 minutes so it’s a very light show to watch.
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