Overview of Celebrity
‘Celebrity’ is a 2023 South Korean thriller television series released on Netflix on June 30, 2023. The drama is written by Kim Yi-young and directed by Kim Cheol-kyu. Featuring Park Gyu-young, Kang Min-hyuk, Lee Chung-ah, Lee Dong-gun, and Jun Hyo-seong in lead roles. The series depicts the desires and mysteries of people who become social media influencers and delve into the world of people who envy them.
A humble door-to-door saleswoman, Seo Ah-ri (Park Gyu-young), puts all her efforts into her job. Her life takes a turn when Seo Ah-ri enters the world of celebrities and influencers in South Korea.
Profile
- Drama: Celebrity
- Director: Kim Cheol-kyu
- Writer: Kim Yi-young
- Network: Netflix
- Episodes: 12
- Release Date: June 30, 2023
- Language: Korean
- Country: South Korea
Cast
- Park Gyu-young as Seo Ah-ri
- Kang Min-hyuk as Han Jun-kyung
- Lee Chung-ah as Yoon Si-hyeon
- Lee Dong-gun as Jin Tae-jeon
- Jun Hyo-seong as Oh Min-hye
Supporting
- Jeong Yu-mi as Hwang Yu-ri
- Han Jae-in as Jin Chae-hee
- Jung Wook-jin as Kwon Myeong-ho
- Jung Yoo-min as Han Yu-rang
- Park Ye-ni as Yoon Jeong-sun
- Han Eun-jung as Wang Ro-la
- Nam Gi-ae as Lee Hyeon-ok
- Seo Hyun-woo as Detective Jang Hyun-soo
- Um Hyo-sup as Park Gyeong-bae
- Choi Young-woo as Hwang Yong-tae
- Jin So-yeon as Beanie mom (Ep. 1-2, 9)
- Lee Jun-ho as cleaning crew staff (Ep. 12)
- Lee Sang-yoon as celebrity (Ep. 2, 7)
- David Lee McInnis as celebrity (Ep. 7)
- Song Kyung-ah as a celebrity (Ep. 7)
- Seol In-ah as Song Yeon-woo (Ep. 4)
- Jung Yoo-jin as Choi Bom (Ep. 7–8)
- Kim Hyun-jung as Kim Hyeon-jeong (Ep. 11)
Synopsis
Seo Ah-ri (Park Gyu-young) is born into an affluent family, and her father was a rich businessman. Ah-ri had a dream of attending an Ivy League school; however, she had to give up on her dreams when her father lost his business. After her father’s death and the company’s bankruptcy, the family was left penniless.
Her mother runs a dry-cleaning business. Eventually, Seo Ah-ri dropped out of college, and she had to find another job to provide her brother with his higher education. She starts working as a door-to-door salesperson for a cosmetic company. She has knowledge about beauty products and her fashion sense helps her communicate with her customers.
Seo Ah-ri’s mother is obsessed with wealth and always wishes to go back to their wealthy lifestyle. Ah-ri has a best friend, Yoon Jeong-sun (Park Ye-ni), who supports her in all her dreams. Yoon Jeong-sun spends a lot of time on social media, whereas Ah-ri is not into social media.
Ah-ri goes to meet Jin Tae-jeon (Lee Dong-gun), who is the CEO of the biggest law firm, Taegang. While she is demonstrating her products to the domestic helpers working there, Tae-jeon’s wife, Yoon Si-hyeon (Lee Chung-ah), comes.
As Si-hyeon arrives, Ah-ri hides as she is dazzled by the luxury clothes and accessories. Ah-ri figured out that Si-hyeon can afford a lavish lifestyle as she is rich and well-connected with social media influencers. Ah-ri becomes curious to find out how the influencers could afford such a lavish lifestyle.
One day, Ah-ri meets her childhood friend Oh Min-hye (Jun Hyo-seong), who is an influencer. Min-hye invites Ah-ri to a celebrity party as she thinks Ah-ri is still wealthy. After returning home, Ah-ri decides to find out what the craze is about becoming a celebrity, as she too wanted to earn enough to afford luxury brands.
During that party, Min-hye introduced Ah-ri to the Gabin Society influencer group and her paths crossed with the CEO of a beauty company Han Jun-kyung (Kang Min-hyuk). He is mesmerised by Ah-ri and wishes to spend quality time with her. Min-hye introduces Ah-ri to her influencer friends at the party.
How Did Seo Ah-ri Become Famous?
Ah-ri is now famous and has followers as she has Min-hye and many influencer friends. Min-hye invited her to her store to promote the beauty products that Ah-ri sold. Ah-ri receives sponsorship requests and she decides to consult a talent agency to find out the best way to earn money through social media. As per her manager’s advice, Ah-ri tries to mend a relationship with Min-hye only on social media so that they both can take advantage of each other.
Later, Ah-ri uploads a post on social media insulting her followers and questioning their intelligence. That post decreases her follower count. An account named bbbfamous helps her regain popularity. There is a rumour going on that Ah-ri has a secret relationship with beauty company CEO Han Jun-kyung, though Ah-ri did not develop any romantic affection for him.
Her rumoured relationship with Jun-kyung helped her stay in the limelight, though Ah-ri does not have any feelings for him.
Unfortunate Fall in Seo Ah-ri’s New Business
Ah-ri launches her new clothing business inspired by one of her father’s employees. The Gabin Society could not tolerate Ah-ri’s success and tries to find ways to destroy her.
Gabin Society uses the same account that used to worship Ah-ri to destroy her. They work with the account BBBFamous to take down Ah-ri by fabricating fake chats and uploading them online to demean her. While Ah-ri is facing the brunt of the forged pictures, Jin Tae-jeon’s team finds out that Min-hye is the hand behind the post.
Ah-ri’s business is affected by Min-hye’s accusation and the forged images of her chats. Her company is suffering immense losses as customers start to return their products.
Ah-ri’s Mental Breakdown and a Livestream
Han Jun-kyung, who always supports Ah-ri, met with an accident and Ah-ri gradually lost all her control over this incident. Meanwhile, Ah-ri also finds out that her friend, Yoon Jeong-sun (Park Ye-ni) is also part of the hateful trolls going all over online and this news shatters her.
Ah-ri’s world collapses and she gradually starts to question everyone and everything in her life.
On a fateful afternoon, Ah-ri’s car veered off the road and plunged into the depths of the river below. Despite extensive search efforts by emergency responders, Ah-ri’s body remained elusive amidst the turbulent waters.
Despite the absence of physical evidence, the police were compelled to declare Ah-ri deceased, based on the circumstances surrounding the accident and the overwhelming probability of her tragic demise.
After months, Ah-ri reappears through a live stream to seek revenge on all those who had wronged her. She publically shares everything about Gabin society and all that had happened after she joined social media. The police force soon figures out Ah-ri’s location and finds out that Yoon Jeong-sun and Ah-ri’s brother were recording the live stream. It is Jeong-sun who looks like Ah-ri in the live stream with the help of AI technology.
It is revealed that Tae-jeon is the one behind Jun-kyung’s accident and Ah-ri is currently focused on finding out who was behind the BBBFamous account.
Ending Explained
Theme
Netflix drama ‘Celebrity’ tells the story of what it takes to rise to fame and a position of power, and wealth. The story narrates a woman’s journey to becoming a top celebrity among other influencers and wealthy people in Korea.
The drama lets you indulge in the reality of the virtual world showing both the positive and negative aspects of social media. By diving into the cutthroat world of influencers, the drama sheds light on the good and bad sides of being an influencer with cameos by real stars.
Awards
- Korea Drama Awards 2023
Hot Star Award, Jung Yoo-min
Interesting Facts about Celebrity
- Filming of the drama began in December 2021.
- The director Kim Cheol-kyu cast 30 Instagram and YouTube users with millions of followers who have cameos in the series.
- The drama has a lot of Korean celebrity cameos: K-drama Business Proposal‘s Seol In-ah made a special appearance as actress Song Yeon-woo in Episode 4.
- Celebrity K-drama combines heart-fluttering moments and social issues like education gaps, power dynamics, and wealth gaps.
- The lead characters have amazing chemistry and the drama portrays romantic moments as heartwarming refreshers.
FAQs
- Who are the writer and director of ‘Celebrity’?
The drama is written by Kim Yi-young and directed by Kim Cheol-kyu.
- What is the genre of ‘Celebrity’?
The drama falls into the mystery genre.
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How many episodes are in ‘Celebrity’?
The drama has concluded a successful 12-episode run. - Is the K-drama ‘Celebrity’ worth watching?
If you are looking for comedy, and romance in one package, ‘Touch Your Heart’ is worth watching with outstanding acting by the lead protagonists. - What is the Instagram ID of Park Gyu-young?
lavieenbluu is the Instagram ID of Park Gyu-young. - What is the Instagram ID of Kang Min-hyuk?
mr_kanggun is the Instagram ID of Kang Min-hyuk.
