Despite experiencing explosive popularity after “Reply 1988”, Ryu Hye Young did not manage to score any major hits after.
“Reply 1988” is a legendary series, which managed to create waves all around the world despite being a simple and villain-free series about friendships, familial love, and romance. Contributing to the series’ success is also its cast of young actors and actresses, who pulled off super natural and convincing acting performances.
Among the characters of “Reply 1988”, the “scariest” of Ssangmun Dong would be the female lead’s sister Bo Ra (played by Ryu Hye Young). At first, she appeared as a grumpy and harsh character that treated her sister poorly, but later evolved to an emotional and caring character who had difficulty showing her love.
Before “Reply 1988”, Ryu Hye Young, the actress behind Bo Ra, was a rookie face on the small screen, having mostly starred in movies and independent projects. However, through this series, Ryu Hye Young managed to sway the hearts of the audiences, and earned huge popularity via her soulful and complex portrayal of Bo Ra.
The actress’ skills were also proven via tearful scenes of “Reply 1988”, like the time Bo Ra bidded goodbye to her father before moving to the city, or the time she choked seeing that her gift to her father didn’t fit him.
While Ryu Hye Young is not praised for fitting Korean beauty standards, her visuals bring an unique charm, making her memorable to many eyes. She is also compared to the famous actress and “romcom queen” Gong Hyo Jin, and even earned the nickname “the 2nd Gong Hyo Jin”.
After “Reply 1988”, Ryu Hye Young has starred in a total of 4 projects, including 2 series and 2 movies. Among those, “Law School”, where she starred alongside famous actor Kim Bum, seemed to have drawn the most attention. However, it still fell short when compared to “Reply 1988”, and Ryu Hye Young’s character in this series was also rather simple.
So far, other projects of Ryu Hye Young also see the same fate, and fell far behind the anticipations that were expected of the actress when she was fresh out of “Reply 1988”. Hopefully, this situation will be turned around in the future.
Nevertheless, Ryu Hye Young’s visuals seem to be improving, as she’s getting younger over time. It has been ages since the conclusion of “Reply 1988”, yet the actress is boasting a youthful and model-like appearance, that can easily go from soft and dream to chic and girl boss.
