Kang Ha-neul

The name change and the settings

Kang Ha-neul wasn't born with that name. His real name is Kim Ha-neul, but he changed it to avoid confusion with a veteran actress who has exactly the same name. It was a practical decision made before the South Korean entertainment industry set its sights on him.

His first steps were not in front of a film camera. He started in musical theater, taking part in productions such as Thrill Me or Spring Awakening. In those formative years, he learned to project his voice and command the stage without relying on close-ups.

His mass recognition came through television. In 2013, he played a model student in The Heirs. But it was his role as a by-the-book intern in Misaeng during 2014 that set him apart from the crowd of handsome faces and established him as a character actor.

And the gamble paid off.

The Risk of Black and White

In 2016, he took on the challenge of shooting Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet. The film was shot entirely in black and white on a very tight budget. To play the poet Yun Dong-ju, he had to shave his head on camera and lose a dramatic amount of weight in just a few weeks.

That project showed he was more interested in the script than the glitz of big-budget productions. A year later, in 2017, he switched gears with Midnight Runners, an action comedy that sold more than 5.6 million tickets in South Korea.

Before enlisting for mandatory military service in September 2017, he shot Forgotten. It's a psychological thriller where the pace depends almost entirely on his ability to convey paranoia. For nearly two years, he served as a military police officer at the Capital Defense Command.

Many actors lose their rhythm after military service.

Awards and multimillion-dollar budgets

In 2019, he starred in When the Camellia Blooms. He won the Best Actor award at the Baeksang Arts Awards, beating out names that had led the industry for decades. The series reached viewership ratings above 23 percent in its final episode.

In 2022, he led the cast of Curtain Call, playing a stage actor who must pretend to be the grandson of a dying woman. That same year, he appeared in The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure, a production that demanded intense physical training for its sword-fighting scenes.

In 2023, she returned to comedy with 30 Days. The film passed the two-million-viewer mark at a time when domestic cinema was struggling to fill theaters.

He was a breath of fresh air at the box office.

In 2024, his casting in the second season of Squid Game was confirmed. The estimated budget for this phase of production was set at 100,000 million won.