Dream High

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.

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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] The screenplay was written by Park Hye-ryun and the series was directed by Lee Eung-bok.[9]

Bae Yong-joon was also part of the cast for four episodes making his first small screen appearance in three years.[10] While Park Jin-young marked his acting debut with the series.[11] 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.[8] Kim was the only non-idol among the cast; but had studied music and dance at JYP Entertainment for 3 months in order to portray his role.[12]

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.[26] On October 24, 2011, Dream High was given the Special Award for Foreign Drama at the 5th International Drama Festival held in Tokyo.[27] 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.[28][29][30]

In 2012, Philippines network ABS-CBN dubbed the show as "The most successful Korean series of 2011".[31]

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).[32]

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

• The drama was adapted into a Japanese stage musical,[42] 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 "Dream High: Musical Production Committee" (ミュージカル「ドリームハイ」製作委員会), composed of TBS, Avex Live Creative, Nelke Planning and Lawson HMV Entertainment.[43][44][45]
• 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.[46]
• 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.[47][48]
• On November 13, 2022, it was announced Dream High would be adapted into a Korean stage musical which will be opened in May 2023,[49] the plot focusing on the lives of main characters 10 years after the series. On January 26, 2023, it was confirmed that Dream High will be adapted into a Korean stage musical.[50] 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.[51] 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.[52] 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.

The sequel Dream High 2 aired a year later with a different cast, starring Kang So-ra, GOT7's JB and Jinyoung, 2AM's Jinwoon, T-ara's Jiyeon, SISTAR's Hyolyn, Ailee, and Park Seo-joon.[4]

In Japan, the series received a 2-Box Set DVD release on September 28, 2011 by Avex Japan, which were only available for purchase in the country.[53] Due to the show's popularity and the success of the previous releases, Additional 2 Box-Sets were released on August 3, 2012 under the same distributor.[54]

Another DVD Box set featuring behind-the-scenes videos and interviews with the cast and staff was released on December 7 of the same year in Japan under Pony Canyon.[55]

Dream High is one of the best selling Korean dramas internationally, being licensed to over 35 channels in approximately 60 different countries.[56][57][31][58] It received a worldwide broadcast on KBS World on April 27, 2021. It was also aired on MENA's largest network group MBC starting 25 August 2013 and received multiple re-runs since due to its popularity.[59] In Europe, it premiered in Italy on September 2, 2013 on MTV and in 2017 on Lifetyle TV in Romania.[60] The show was sold to various Latin American countries including Peru (2012), Ecaudor (2012),[61] Chile (2012, 2013, 2017),[62] Panama (2013), Colombia (2013), Dominican Republic (2013), El Salvador (2013) and Bolivia (2014). It premired in Indonesia on NET TV for the third time on January 17, 2022.[63]

• Official website (in Korean)
• Dream High on KBS World

• Dream High at HanCinema
• Dream High at IMDb