The Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha cast has this undeniable chemistry between them and people are taking notice. We’re not just talking about the lead love team, but the rest of the ensemble as well.
On the face of it, there’s nothing riveting about the plot of this show: a dentist from a big city sets up shop in a quiet fishing village. That’s it. No murder mystery, no supernatural element. And yet the series has garnered high ratings and continues to do so with each episode.
What makes this seemingly standard fish-out-of-the-water story stand out is none other than the talented Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha cast who were able to bring to life the endearing characters living in the fictional town of Gongjin.
While you wait for the next episode to drop, check out these fun facts about the stars of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.
Shin Min-A got her start in the modelling industry
Shin Min-A is now a K-drama household name, but did you know that she was already a successful model prior to transitioning to acting? The 37-year-old Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha star started modelling at a young age. She was just 14 when she posed for KiKi teen magazine. From there, she was able to land more projects and a decade into her career as a model, she landed a high-profile project with Hyun Bin for LG Xnote. Later on, Shin Min-A would share in an interview that she regrets starting a career so early because she didn’t get to have a normal school life and felt that she was “deprived of something”.
Aside from appearing in advertisements and magazine covers as a young model, Shin Min-A also did some acting gigs on the side and starred in music videos including Lee Seung Hwan’s award-winning MV A Request. It wasn’t until 2011, when she landed the lead role in My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho opposite Lee Seung Gi, that Shin Min-A gained attention as an up-and-coming actress. From there, she continued to make a name for herself in acting and now stars in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha as a charming dentist from the city who is clueless about how to interact with the tight-knit community in a provincial seaside town.
Kim Seon Ho is a total theatre geek
Before he blessed us with his swoon-worthy good boy roles on the small screen, Kim Seon Ho was a stage darling. He appeared in various local productions in Daehakro, a lively artsy area in Seoul that’s dubbed the country’s Broadway. Some of the popular plays he starred in include edgy productions like Kiss of the Spider Woman, a story about a young rebel and a middle-aged woman who share the same jail cell.
Becoming a theatre actor isn’t just a spur of the moment decision for the Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha leading man. In fact, he shared with Marie Claire Korea that his love for stagecraft started way back when he was in high school where he began taking acting classes. He later chose to go to the Seoul Institute Of The Arts and became part of a theatre group. Kim Seon Ho shared in the same interview that during this time he wore a lot of hats and did some screenplay writing, producing and even personally invited his friends from middle school and high school to watch their group’s production. No wonder he plays the multihyphenate “Chief” Hong in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha who works as a spa attendant, real estate agent and car mechanic so well — and that’s just in the first episode.
Lee Sang Yi’s college buddies are now stars as well
Newcomer Lee Sang Yi is quickly becoming a recognisable face. It’s safe to say that the catalyst for this up-and-coming actor’s surge in popularity is his supporting role in the 2020 family drama Once Again in which he played the love interest and eventual husband of the main family’s youngest child. Because of this role, he caught the attention of many and got the adorable nickname “National Son-in-Law”. With his Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha character Ji Seong Hyun getting a lot of adoration from fans despite being the third party in the show’s main love triangle, we can only expect more from this budding artiste.
However, it’s not just Lee Sang Yi who’s making waves right now. His college buddies from when he attended Korea National University of Arts are also now stars in their own right, from Hospital Playlist’s Ahn Eun Jin and Vincenzo’s Kim Seong Cheol. If you want to see what they were like before the fame though, you can even watch their old hanging-out videos on YouTube.
Byun Seong Tae was a former Kpop idol trainee
Newbie Byun Seong Tae has a supporting role in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha but even with only a few scenes he has already caught the fancy of netizens, many of whom are now crushing hard on this fresh-faced actor. His acting as June, the handsome K-pop idol from the fictional boy band D.O.S., is so real that you may have wondered if he is indeed a performer who’s about to debut.
In real life, Byun Seong Tae was actually close to becoming an idol but eventually quit. He shared in an interview with Korean news outlet Sports Today that he was scouted by an SM Entertainment agent in the streets when he was still in high school. He passed the auditions but felt like being an idol “didn’t fit” and so he pursued his first love, acting, instead. How fitting is it that now he plays a character who’s a K-pop idol?
Which fun fact about these Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha stars surprised you the most?
(Cover photo from: @illusomina)
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