Korean TV Stars Get Hollywood-Level Acting Fees
By wchung | 22 Mar, 2026

Well-Paid: Overseas popularity has raised fees for Korean TV stars to some of the world's highest.

Top Korean TV actress Song Ye-jin was expelled from drama school after one year. She has become a major star in Japan.

Korean TV star Lee Byung-hun reportedly earns 100 million won ($845,000) per episode for Iris after incentives, according to Chosun Ilbo. Park Shin-yang made $423,000 per episode and female stars Son Ye-jin, Kim Tae-hee and Ko Hyun-jung earned a guaranteed $220,000 per episode. Additional incentives tied to overseas sales and reruns would double their total earnings.

Those rates compare favorably to those earned by top stars of hit U.S. TV series. Zach Braff of Scrubs and Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men reportedly earn $350,000 per episode.

Korea’s highest-paid TV star on record is Bae Yong-joon who was guaranteed a record 100 million won ($845,000) per episode for the MBC series Taewangsasingi (The Four Guardian Gods of the King) in 2007. His contract called for $1,268,000 more per episode based on ratings and overseas sales.

The fee scale shot up rapidly after Winter Sonata (2002) ignited a global craze for Korean TV dramas and pop music. Bae Yong-joon had earned a mere 4 million ($3,400) per episode for his starring role in that series.

Acting fees now make up 60% of the cost of a TV dramas, about the same as for Hollywood drama series. By comparison, they make up only 20% of Japanese budgets. This is attributed to Korean broadcasters’ fixation on big-name stars when buying new series.