Netflix’s Start-Up star Nam Joo-hyuk is K-drama’s hottest actor of the moment, appearing alongside Bae Suzy and in upcoming Korean movie Josée – how much do you know about him?

Dec 1 , 2020

From Start-Up to new movies Josée and Here, K-drama star Nam Joo-hyuk has plenty on his plate right now. Photo: @skawngur/Instagram

It’s only been five years since his TV debut, but Nam Joo-hyuk has already starred in several hit K-dramas alongside Korea’s top actresses, including Bae Suzy in Start-Up and Jung Yu-mi in The School Nurse Files. He’ll also appear opposite Han Ji-min in the movie Josée to be released in December. The duo will reunite in drama Here set to premiere in 2021, which will also star Shin Min-ah.

So what’s with all the buzz surrounding Nam, and how does he have the time and energy for all these projects? Here are a few things we know about him.

#BoycottSM: why are K-pop fans calling out SM Entertainment?

He loves working out

On Netflix K-drama interview show The Swoon, the actor once revealed that he prefers to follow rather than to lead. But if he ever was a CEO, he and Suzy joked that he’d be the CEO of a gym – as he’s quite the avid gym-goer and works out regularly. According to Channel Korea, he does four-minute push-ups before going to bed.

He originally wanted to be a basketball star

Nam Joo-hyuk on the runway. Photo: @bignam_china/Twitter

Fun fact: Nam and Stephanie Lee, who plays the role of a designer in Start-Up, are good friends in real life as they are both models. Actress Lee Sung-kyung, who Nam dated after starring in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo, was also first scouted as a model.

From handbags to guitars: how Blackpink’s Rosé spends her fortune

But he didn’t want to be either an actor or model when he was young. On the talk show Radio Star, he recalled that he dreamt of becoming a basketball star, playing point and shooting guard on his middle school basketball league. He’s still a big fan of basketball today, even meeting and playing against his idol, NBA player Stephen Curry, on an episode of MBC’s Infinite Challenge.

He’s already won plenty of awards

Nam has already won best new actor accolades three times. He first claimed the title through his first-ever TV drama, Who Are You: School 2015. He won the title again in 2016 for Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo, his claim to fame, and again in 2018 for the film The Great Battle.

5 adorable Korean child actors who became K-drama A-listers as adults

He falls in love hard

Nam once admitted that he’s crushed on his fellow actresses and felt hurt when they got married – just like certain K-drama fans.

“Since I had liked [Park Soo-jin and Yoon Seung-ah] so much since I was young, as a fan, I was hurt [when they got married]. I don’t want to be hurt like that again,” he was quoted by Soompi.

Nam also talked about a childhood crush that last almost six years! The 26-year-old actor is the type who has marriage on the brain, and thinks that 32 is a good age to settle down. He also revealed that his ideal type is a girl who looks intimidating but cute, too.

He once made coffee for charity

In 2019, Nam worked a shift at a coffee shop for charity on the reality show Coffee Friends.

From doing the dishes to making tangerine juice, Nam proved to be a speedy worker. He was also very diligent, frequently asking others if there was anything he could help with. He got plenty of compliments from his colleagues. After its run, the show donated the proceeds from the coffee shop – a total of about US$10,800 – to benefit disabled children.

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .

Asian cinema: Korean films

He was originally scouted as a model, like Stephanie Lee and ex-girlfriend Lee Sung-kyung, and Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo was his first claim to fame – but he originally wanted to be a basketball star like NBA’s Stephen Curry