What if Lee Seung-gi, Jung Hae-in and So Ji-sub never became actors? These K-drama stars could have had very different career paths

While you don’t necessarily need a theatre or music degree to make it in showbiz, many K-pop and K-drama idols studied their passion at school before signing with an agency. But others majored in completely different fields, putting in plenty of effort to get academic or scientific degrees – even if their careers eventually took them in another direction entirely.

After gaining popularity with breakout roles in While You Were Sleeping and Something in the Rain, Jung Hae-in is making our hearts flutter this year in A Piece of Your Mind. He initially planned to study biotechnology, but then an agency scout spotted him outside an ice cream store and he decided to give acting a try.

Diehard K-drama fans will remember Won Bin’s claim to fame when he starred in Autumn in My Heart alongside Song Hye-kyo. He was last seen in the movie The Man From Nowhere in 2010.