One of the most popular romantic K-dramas of recent years in Korea, True Beauty follows the social rise of a young woman who, as a child, suffered terrible bullying because of her looks and, as a result, learned how to cover her real face with flawless makeup, eventually becoming the classic “pretty girl” – and a makeup tutorial star on YouTube. The heavy makeup and her newfound celebrity open the doors of popularity for her, but force her to live by one strict rule: never let anyone see her as she really is. In a world that adores her, every gaze becomes a threat, and the carefully built image is her only line of defense.
Here’s everything you need to know about True Beauty: from the plot to the cast, from reviews to the release date. The trailer is at the bottom of the article.
Don’t miss our calendar with all the new releases of the week – What’s new on Netflix this week
True Beauty: all the key information
- Title: True Beauty
- Original title: Yeosin-gangnim
- Format: Series
- Episodes: 16
- Genre: Romantic drama, coming-of-age
- Country of production: South Korea
- Original language: Korean
- Director / Creators: Kim Sang-hyeob, Lee Si-eun
- Main cast: Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo, Hwang In-youp
- Production: Studio Dragon
- Release year: 2020
What True Beauty is about
The Korean teen drama series centers on Lim Ju-kyung, a high school student who has long been riddled with insecurities and bullied because of her looks. To hide her face, she starts using heavy makeup, gradually perfecting the art of makeup, which allows her to look unrecognizable and convince everyone around her that her beauty is natural. Transferring to a new high school marks a turning point: Ju-kyung quickly climbs the school’s social ladder after becoming a makeup tutorial star on YouTube.
Adored and worshiped by the other students, she lives with a constant obsession: never letting anyone see her without makeup. For her, that would mean instantly going back to being a target. The image she has built is both her most effective shield and her tightest prison.
The only person who knows her real face is Lee Su-ho (Cha Eun-woo), the only boy who has seen her without makeup. Behind his cold and distant demeanor, Su-ho turns out to be attentive and protective. After realizing her double life, Lee Su-ho continually encourages Lim Ju-kyung to embrace her natural face, reaffirming to her that he finds her beautiful regardless of her makeup.
Alongside him appears Han Seo-jun (Hwang In-youp), magnetic and impulsive, unable to hide his own wounds, who adds extra tension and unsettles the emotional balance Ju-kyung has built.
You might also like ► Forget superheroes: this K-drama turns broken powers into a haunting love story
Main cast and characters
Moon Ga-young plays Lim Ju-kyung, a young girl stifled by the contrast between her public image and private fragility. Still not very present on Netflix, the actress is known to K-drama audiences for roles in series such as In the Interest of Love, My Dearest Nemesis, Link: Eat, Love, Kill, and Welcome to Waikiki. She is also expected to make a cameo appearance in the upcoming Netflix series Cashero.
Cha Eun-woo plays Lee Su-ho: handsome, distant, emotionally closed off, as if every interaction were a risk, he becomes a key presence precisely because he is the only one who knows Ju-kyung’s real face. A quiet character, marked by a trauma that doesn’t easily heal. Before True Beauty, Eun-woo stood out in K-dramas such as Wonderful World and Island, combining his acting career with his work as a K-pop idol and soloist with the group ASTRO.
Hwang In-youp plays Han Seo-jun, a more impulsive and unpredictable character who brings a different, less controlled kind of tension to the story. After catching viewers’ attention in The Sound of Magic, he brings to True Beauty a rough physicality that disrupts the emotional balance between the characters and further complicates the heroine’s journey.
Read also our selection of the best K-dramas on Netflix ► K-dramas taking over Netflix: the must-watch stories you can’t miss
Is it based on a true story?
No. True Beauty is based on the South Korean webtoon of the same name created by Kim Na-young, known under the pseudonym Yaongyi. The live-action series is the second television adaptation of the work: there is also an animated adaptation that has just confirmed a second season.
Review of True Beauty
True Beauty is considered by many fans as one of the best K-dramas of the last decade. What might initially look like a classic teen rom-com actually turns into a much deeper story. Lim Ju-kyung is a complex heroine, forced to confront her sense of identity and to constantly choose between authenticity and social acceptance. Her passion for makeup doesn’t stem from vanity, but from the pain built up over years of mockery and humiliation, turning aesthetics into a defense mechanism.
Lee Su-ho also escapes the role of the simple “pretty boy”: he is a character marked by trauma that makes him initially distant, and he falls in love precisely with the Ju-kyung without makeup, going so far as to reject her perfect, public version. Their relationship goes beyond young love and becomes a journey of mutual growth, in which he learns to forgive himself, and she learns to recognize her own worth regardless of other people’s gaze. Around them, True Beauty tackles heavy themes such as bullying, suicidal ideation, self-esteem, and exploitation in the music industry, without ever forcing conflicts or slipping into melodrama. This balance is what makes the series a dynamic, layered, and surprisingly mature teen drama.
When it’s coming to Netflix
The Korean teen series True Beauty (Yeosin-gangnim) originally aired in South Korea in 2020. It’s been recently released in the United States, where it arrived on December 11.
Trailer
Here’s the official trailer to give you a feel for the vibe.
