Dream High () is a 2011 South Korean television series starring Bae Suzy, Kim Soo-hyun, Ok Taec-yeon, Hahm Eun-jung, Jang Wooyoung and Lee Ji-eun. It aired on KBS2 from January 3 to February 28, 2011, every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST).
The drama was popular among teenagers, bringing in average viewership ratings of 15.7% during its two-month run. A special episode, in which the cast of the show performed the Dream High Special Concert on a stage near Seoul on February 24, 2011, was aired on March 1, 2011, the day after the series ended. The show was successful internationally and helped the proliferation of the Korean Wave.
A sequel, Dream High 2, aired one year later with a new cast. The drama was later adapted into a stage musical in both Japan and South Korea.
Synopsis Six students at Kirin High School share dreams of becoming K-pop idols, among others. During their school years, they learn how to develop their singing, songwriting and dancing skills while undergoing personal growth. They also start to develop feelings for one another. Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses, but they strive to debut with the support and guidance of one another.
Cast Main Bae Suzy as Go Hye-mi Lee Joo-yeon as young Go Hye-mi (Ep. 2 & 5) She originally wanted to become an opera singer but is forced to take up mainstream pop to pay off her father's debt to a gangster.
Kim Soo-hyun as Song Sam-dong A country bumpkin who is a music prodigy with a rare disease. He develops a one-sided crush on Hye-mi.
Ok Taec-yeon as Jin-guk / Hyun Shi-hyuk Kang Yi-seok as young Jin-guk (Ep. 2, 5 & 10) An aspiring dancer who plans on making his entertainment debut due to the contentious relationship with his father, the mayor, who hasn't acknowledged him as his son. Hye-mi's Love Interest.
Hahm Eun-jung as Yoon Baek-hee Formerly best friends with Hye-mi, the two become bitter enemies when Hye-mi betrays Baek-hee during an audition.
Jang Wooyoung as Jason An American-born dancer who plans on making his entertainment debut in Korea.
Lee Ji-eun (IU) as Kim Pil-sook She was discouraged from pursuing music because she was shy and overweight. She also has the gift of perfect pitch.
Supporting Ahn Gil-kang as Ma Doo-shik Ahn Sun-young as Kang Oh-sun (Oh-hyuk's older sister) Ahn Seo-hyun as Go Hye-sung (Hye-mi's younger sister) Park Eun-bin as 16-year-old Hye-sung (Ep. 16) Lee Hye-sook as Song Nam-boon (Sam-dong's mother) Choi Il-hwa as Hyun Moo-jin (Jin-guk's father) Park Hyuk-kwon as Go Byung-jik (Hye-mi's father) Jang Hee-soo as Kang Hee-seon (Baek-hee's mother) Park Hwi-soon as Jin-gook's roommate (Ep. 1–2, 5)
Teachers in Kirin High School Um Ki-joon as Kang Oh-hyuk Lee Yoon-ji as Shi Kyung-jin Park Jin-young as Yang Jin-man Lee Byung-joon as Principal Shi Bum-soo Lee Yoon-mi as Maeng Seung-hee Baek Won-kil as Gong Min-chul Bae Yong-joon as President Jung Ha-myung (Ep. 1–4) Joo Young-hoon as the composing teacher (Ep. 11)
Students in Kirin High School Jeon Ah-min as Jo In-sung (Jin-gook's friend) Joo as Jung Ah-jung Han Ji-hoo as Park Do-joon Yoon Young-ah as Lee Ri-ah Park Jin-sang as Jun Tae-san Han Bo-reum as Ha So-hyun Bae Noo-ri as Han So-ri (Ep. 6, 9, 12–13)
Special appearances Sumi Jo as Sumi Jo (Ep. 1) Kim Hyun-joong as Kim Hyun-joong (Ep. 1) Song Hae as variety show host (Ep. 2, 3) Jay B as Jason's back up dancer (Ep. 3) Young K as Jason's back up dancer (Ep. 3) Shownu as Jason's back up dancer (Ep. 3) Nichkhun as Lee Ri-ah's CF partner (Ep. 8) Koo Jun-yup as Koo Jun-yup (Ep. 9, 10) Hwang Chan-sung as Oh-sun's imaginary boyfriend (Ep. 12) Leeteuk as Leeteuk (Ep. 13) Eunhyuk as Eunhyuk (Ep. 13) miss A as flash mob dancers (Ep. 16) 2AM as flash mob dancers (Ep. 16) Dal Shabet as Baek-hee's students (Ep. 16)
Production In January 2009, media outlets reported that Bae Yong-joon, hallyu actor and chairman of KeyEast, would co-produce a television drama with Park Jin-young's entertainment company JYP. A television drama production company, Holym, was established as a joint venture between KeyEast and JYP Entertainment. In April 2010, CJ Media signed a MoU with Holym becoming the part of production team. Bae being the creative producer of the drama, he provided overall concept, goals and ideas while Park composed the music and choreographed the dance for the series. The screenplay was written by Park Hye-ryun and the series was directed by Lee Eung-bok.
Bae Yong-joon was also part of the cast for four episodes making his first small screen appearance in three years. While Park Jin-young marked his acting debut with the series. Ok Taec-yeon and Jang Wooyoung from 2PM, Bae Suzy from Miss A, Hahm Eun-jung from T-ara, singer IU and Kim Soo-hyun were selected for the main cast. Kim was the only non-idol among the cast, but he had studied music and dance at JYP Entertainment for 3 months in order to portray his role.
Original soundtrack
Chart performance Title Year Peakpositions Remarks Ref. KOR "Dream High" 2011 41 Part 1 "Someday" 1 "Maybe" 10 Part 2 "Someone's Dream" 48 Part 3 "Winter Child" 12 Part 4 "If" 3 Part 5 "May I Love You" 5 Part 6 "Don't Leave Me" 60 "My Valentine" 16 "Dreaming" 4
Plagiarism allegation While "Someday" fared well commercially and reached number one on the Gaon Digital Chart, it was embroiled in controversy after the song's writer and composer, Park Jin-young, was accused of plagiarizing the song, "To My Man". Songwriter Kim Shin-il won his plagiarism lawsuit against Park Jin-young in 2013, however, an appeal to the Supreme Court of Korea led to an eventual High Court retrial in 2015.
Reception On October 5, 2011, Japan's daily paper Sankei Sports reported that Dream High was handed the Grand Prize and Hallyu award at the SKY PerfecTV! awards which took place in Tokyo. On October 24, 2011, Dream High was given the Special Award for Foreign Drama at the 5th International Drama Festival held in Tokyo. On December 31, 2011, Dream High won the following at the KBS Drama Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Lee Yoon-ji; Best New Actor and Popularity Award for Kim Soo-hyun; Best New Actress for Bae Suzy; and Best Couple Award for Kim Soo-hyun and Bae Suzy. On May 10, 2012, Dream High was honored at the Rose d'Or, the global entertainment television festival ceremony which took place at Lucerne, Switzerland. It won the Golden Rose under the Youth category, the first ever Korean production to do so.
In 2012, Philippines network ABS-CBN dubbed the show as "The most successful Korean series of 2011".
Dream High is one of the most watched South Korean dramas on Chinese video streaming platform Youku with over 26,300,000 views and an average of 2,000,000 views per episode (As of July 2016).
Ratings In the table below, the represent the lowest ratings and the represent the highest ratings.
Original broadcast date Average audience share Nielsen Korea TNmS Nationwide Seoul Nationwide Seoul 1 January 3, 2011 14.2% 2 January 4, 2011 10.8% 11.4% 11.5% 13.9% 3 January 10, 2011 13.1% 13.3% 11.7% 4 January 11, 2011 13.8% 14.3% 13.4% 15.4% 5 January 17, 2011 15.5% 17.0% 13.7% 15.8% 6 January 18, 2011 15.8% 17.1% 13.1% 15.9% 7 January 24, 2011 15.9% 17.2% 15.3% 17.5% 8 January 31, 2011 16.3% 17.7% 14.9% 17.4% 9 February 1, 2011 16.7% 18.3% 14.9% 16.9% 10 February 7, 2011 17.6% 19.3% 16.7% 19.2% 11 February 8, 2011 19.3% 16.6% 19.3% 12 February 14, 2011 16.7% 18.9% 15.8% 17.8% 13 February 15, 2011 17.2% 20.1% 14 February 21, 2011 17.6% 19.3% 16.4% 18.9% 15 February 22, 2011 19.5% 17.2% 19.7% 16 February 28, 2011 17.2% 18.6% Average Special March 1, 2011 12.2% 13.6% 12.1% 14.4%
Accolades Awards and nominations Year Award Category Recipient Result Ref. 2011 47th Baeksang Arts Awards Best New Director (TV) Lee Eung-bok Best New Actor (TV) Kim Soo-hyun Park Jin-young Best New Actress (TV) Suzy Popularity Award, Actor (TV) Kim Soo-hyun Park Jin-young Popularity Award, Actress (TV) Suzy IU Eunjung 4th Korea Drama Awards Best Writer Park Hye-ryun Best Supporting Actor Um Ki-joon Best Supporting Actress Lee Yoon-ji Best New Actor Kim Soo-hyun Best New Actress Suzy Popularity Award Kim Soo-hyun 6th Naver Awards Most-popular PC search ㅡ Monthly Dream High Most-popular Mobile search ㅡ Monthly Most-popular PC search ㅡ Yealy 6th Seoul International Drama Awards Best Miniseries 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards Best OST "Someday" – IU SKY PerfecTV! Awards Grand Prize Dream High Hallyu Award Kim Soo-hyun 5th Tokyo International Drama Festival Special Award for Foreign Drama Dream High 3rd Bugs Music Awards OST of the Year "My Valentine" – Taecyeon & Nichkhun feat. Park Jin-young KBS Drama Awards Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries Suzy Best New Actor Kim Soo-hyun Park Jin-young Best New Actress Suzy IU Best Supporting Actress Lee Yoon-ji Best Young Actress Ahn Seo-hyun Popularity Award Kim Soo-hyun Suzy Best Couple Award Kim Soo-hyun and Suzy Taecyeon and Suzy Wooyoung and IU Cyworld Digital Music Awards Song of the Month (February) "Dreaming" – Kim Soo-hyun 7th Innolife Japan Entertainment Awards Next Generation Female Star Eunjung Suzy Kang So-ra Next Generation Male Star Kim Soo-hyun Best Drama Dream High DramaBeans Awards Favourite Comedic Drama Best Kiss Suzy & Kim Soo-hyun Favourite character Kim Soo-hyun Best Posse Suzy & Eunjung Funniest Noraebang scene IU & Wooyoung Best Use of an Idol Star Eunjung Suzy The Fact Awards Best acting idol Eunjung Best Drama Dream High 2012 Rose d'Or Awards Golden Rose (Children & Youth) Award 7th Seoul International Drama Awards Outstanding Korean Drama Outstanding Korean Actress Suzy 2013 USTv Student's Choice Award Best Foreign Soap Opera Dream High
Listicles Publisher Year List Rank Ref.YesAsia2011Best TV Dramas of 20113rd Nate 2012 Best Dramas of the Year 2nd Buzzfeed 2021 24 K-Dramas That Are Made Even Better By Their Fantastic Soundtracks 8th CBR 2022 10 Best K-Dramas About The K-Pop Industry 2nd FilmFare 2023 10 K-Dramas That Get Real About The Entertainment Industry Placed Lifestyle Byte Top 20 Best Singing Shows 11th
Adaptations The drama was adapted into a Japanese stage musical, with Yuya Matsushita and Bright's Nanaka playing the roles of Song Sam-dong and Go Hye-mi, respectively. It had runs at the New National Theatre Tokyo from July 3 to July 20, 2012 and was produced by the , composed of TBS, Avex Live Creative, Nelke Planning and Lawson HMV Entertainment. After the publication of Dream High Special Making Book in February 2011 which contained behind-the-scene stories and photos as well as special interviews with the show's cast, a two-volume "image novel" was also released featuring still cuts from the drama. In episode 17 of My Love from the Star, Bae Suzy makes a special guest appearance as Go Hye-mi, the main protagonist (and the same character she plays in) of Dream High. On November 13, 2022, it was announced Dream High would be adapted into a Korean stage musical which will be opened in May 2023, the plot focusing on the lives of main characters 10 years after the series. On February 10, it was confirmed that choreographers Choi Young-jun from 1Million and Kim Hyo-jin from Artone (also the producing house of the musical) will be participating as choreography directors on the choreograph-heavy stage work. On February 28, it was confirmed that Eum Moon-suk, Winner's Lee Seung-hoon and SF9's Yoo Tae-yang will be playing the male lead, adult Song Sam-dong. Most of the main characters from the original series are reprised as adulthood characters in the adaptation, however only childhood and adolescent casts have been revealed for Go Hye-mi, the female lead in the series.