Choi Daniel

Choi Daniel came up through the Korean sitcom, which is a harder apprenticeship than it sounds: fast shooting, large ensembles and no room to be precious. High Kick Through The Roof made him recognisable, and the persona it built, a tall, slightly stiff professional who is easily flustered, has followed him ever since.

He is better in the awkward register than the heroic one. Cyrano Agency uses him as a client rather than a romantic lead, and the comedy comes from how badly his character wants to be smoother than he is. School 2013 pushed him somewhere colder, a teacher brought in to raise results who has no particular interest in the children attached to them, and it remains the sharpest thing on his resume.

Since then he has worked across genres without settling into one: the lead of the supernatural procedural The Ghost Detective, a demanding boss in Jugglers, a boyfriend in Yumi's Cells, a webtoon editor in Today's Webtoon, a small unpleasant part in Mask Girl. Off screen he has been a radio fixture since 2011, anchoring for KBS World Radio and DJing on KBS 2FM from 2013, which counts for more in his Korean profile than the filmography suggests.