In latest research on actors’ reputation, Gong Yoo emerged top, with Zo In-sung and Yoo Hae-jin coming in at second and third place, respectively.

Research institute rekorea.net amassed big data on 25 of the most talked-about Korean actors between Jan. 16 and Friday.

The result showed the “Guardian” actor received the highest consumer participation rate, meaning the most number of people talked about him online. Key words related to Gong Yoo’s name included “smile” and “like.”

Gong Yoo in Dubai (Online Community)

The consumer participation rate for Gong Yoo was over 2.6 million, more than quadruple that for Zo, who played the lead role in the film “The King” (2016) and garnered a consumer participation rate of more than 400,000.

Yoo, who played the main role in the comedy film “Luck-Key” (2016), took the third spot with over 200,000 in participation.

Actors Kim Soo-hyun, Jun Ji-hyun and Jung Woo-sung followed behind the top three.

Rekorea.net’s Director Gu Chang-hwan said, “Public attention for Gong Yoo is heating up, as can be seen through the increased consumption of the past films the actor played in.”

Gong Yoo is currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for a commercial shoot.

He will return to Korea for a fan event Friday at 5 p.m. at Time Square in Seoul.

Gong Yoo’s agency said the actor will take a short break from March to explore the options for his next work, which is more likely to be a film than a TV series.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)

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