Asian dramas that portrays an actor/actress cross-dressing.

Gender-bender Dramas

Mi Nyeo has a twin brother, Mi Nam. They grew together at an orphanage. Mi Nam has been chosen to be a member of a boy band, but he can't work as a singer due to an accident. So Mi Nyeo pretends to be her brother and starts to live as Mi Nam, the idol singer. The boy band has three other members: Shin Woo, Tae Kyung, and Jeremy. Shin Woo is a musical genius and the most popular member. Unlike the artistic and sensitive Shin Woo, Tae Kyung is more like a businessman and is hardly moved by anything. And Jeremy is an optimistic person who gets along with everyone. Mi Nyeo, living as Mi Nam, has to work with them. However, she is not sociable as she has lived all her life cut off from the world. So living as an idol singer is hard for her.

You're Beautiful

The A.N.JELL Team

All the youth in the world is beautiful because they do not fear facing the scorching sun, starting something new, calling others' names, or falling in love with someone. Jae Hee transfers to a boys' high school from the States to help Tae Joon regain his own feet as Tae Joon was there for her when she was at her lowest. Although Tae Joon announces his retirement as a high jumper, he slowly opens his heart thanks to Jae Hee. Eun Gyeol feels confused about his gender identity because of Jae Hee, who is disguised as a boy. But the boys here enjoy training and exercising regardless of their records and beyond competition and form beautiful bonds and show what real youth is like. Check out how the boys grow as humans and as athletes.

To the Beautiful You

The Beautiful Team

KBS2

During the Joseon Dynasty when women were not expected to be smart or allowed to be educated, Kim Yoon Hee (Park Min Young) was both. 

After her father passes away and her brother becomes ill, Yoon Hee disguises herself as a boy and takes on her brother’s identity to get odd jobs and help support her struggling family. When she realizes that there is good money to be made, Yoon Hee begins to take the entrance exams in the place of other students who want to get into the prestigious Sungkyunkwan University. 

During one such test, Yoon Hee is discovered to be perpetrating the illegal activity by the morally upright Lee Sun Joon (Park Yoochun), who threatens to turn her in. 

But believing that Yoon Hee is a boy, Sun Joon encourages her to take the test herself (with her brother’s identity). Both pass the exam and get into the university and become roommates. As Yoon Hee is now enjoying the glories of getting a higher education, she befriends the playboy Goo Yong Ha (Song Joong Ki) and the rebellious Moon Jae Shin (Yoo Ah In) and starts to develop feelings for Sun Joon – all the while trying to keep her true gender a secret from her new friends and the other male students. 

Can she keep up the charade long enough to get the education she desires and keep her emotions at bay? 

“Sungkyunkwan Scandal” is a 2010 South Korean drama series directed by Kim Won Suk and Hwang In Hyuk. It is based on the bestselling novel The Lives of SungKyunKwan Confucian Scholars by Jung Eon Gweol. The series won numerous drama awards, and Park Min Young and Park Yoochun received numerous Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Couple awards.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Eun Chan is a licensed taekwondo instructor who works part-time as a delivery driver. One day, a delivery order leads her to Han Gyeol, the heir to a large conglomerate. Her boyish appearance tricks everyone into thinking that she's a strong man with a slight figure. Han Gyeol is relatively close to men, a fact that leads his grandmother to think he's gay. Eun Chan and Han Gyeol's interaction leads to them both working in a cafe, and love begins to brew between them. They face problems along the way, bringing them closer together – and making their love stronger than ever. Han Gyeol's cousin Han Sung and his ex Yoo Joo throw other obstacles in their way. Love triangles begin to form, testing the bonds between friends and family.

Coffee Prince

Channel A

Ji Seung Yeon dreams of becoming a Korean pop idol and will do anything to achieve her goal. When a popular K-pop group holds open auditions to recruit new members, Seung Yeon decides it’s her best shot at breaking into the industry. The hitch is that it’s a boy band, and she would need to dress up like a guy to try out. Just how far will Seung Yeon go to get what she wants – and will she make the cut?

“K-POP Extreme Survival,” also known as “The Strongest K-POP Survival,” is a 2012 South Korean drama series.

K-POP Extreme Survival

The Ultimate Audition Team

MBC, KOCOWA

There has been a prophecy throughout the Silla era that the royal blood won't have male descendants once twins are born in the royal family. When the twin daughters, Cheonmyeong and Deokman, are born, King Jinpyeong hides Deokman away from Silla and makes her live in the Taklamakan Desert in China, making it impossible for Mishil to trace her. Deokman starts to wonder about her origin and birth, so she disguises herself as a man and enters Silla. Princess Cheonmyeong believes Deokman is a man, so she has Deokman be a member of Hwarang. At Hwarang, Deokman meets Yusin, who contributes to the unification of the three countries afterward, and cooperates with him to drag Mishil down. Amidst the conflict with Mishil, Deokman's identity as a princess of Silla is revealed. When Deokman escapes to live, she meets Bidam, the son Mishil has abandoned. Deokman joins hands with Yusin and Bidam to topple Mishil. Check out if Deokman succeeds in becoming a clever leader to rebuild Silla.

The Great Queen Seondeok

Ra Im dreamed of becoming a firefighter like her father, but she gave up on that dream after losing her father in a fire. Instead, she got to see Jong Soo, the action director, at a filming site while working part-time there. Since then, she has worked as a stuntwoman, aspiring to be the first female action director. Ju Won is a cranky and hysterical man who owns a department store. He is not keen on dating and thinks a marriage of convenience is the best romance. One day, their souls are switched, causing many unexpected incidents to happen. It's only when their souls are switched that they begin a journey to look for their true selves. While they struggle to take their bodies back, they mature, and their romance blooms.

Secret Garden

SG Team

SETTV

Could anyone be more excited to reach her 26th birthday? Pi Ya Nuo (Megan Lai) had an inauspicious start to her life. When she was born 25 years ago, her parents and extended family – along with their fortuneteller – eagerly awaited her arrival in the delivery room so that they could bless the beginning of the Pi family’s heir. Upon hearing her first cry, the fortuneteller predicted on the spot that the baby boy would be a great success and a natural-born leader. But when the nurses announce that the baby is a girl, the stunned fortuneteller immediately announces that the girl would not survive her childhood unless she lives as a boy for the first 25 years of her life. Only then can Ya Nuo change her bad fate and bring prosperity to her family. On her 26th birthday, Ya Nuo can go back to her true gender without any repercussions. Doomed to live her life as a boy, Ya Nuo is shy and always tries to keep her distance to people to hide her true identity, and the mysterious aloofness makes her irresistible to the girls around her. One day, she accidentally helps out Du Zi Feng (Baron Chen), who happens to be a triad leader, and his sister, Du Zi Han (Mandy Tao). While Zi Han falls in love with Ya Nuo, Zi Feng becomes Ya Nuo’s “sworn brother” and best friend. With her 26th birthday fast approaching, will Ya Nuo find her much-anticipated return to being a female will be as easy as she had hoped? “Bromance” is a 2015 Taiwanese drama series directed by Chen Rong Hui.

Bromance

The B-romantic Triad

Dan Bi, a senior in high school who gave up on mathematics, runs away to the Joseon era on the day of SAT. And the very day that determines her whole life, when her life is at stake, someone enters her life with love. In Joseon, she witnesses and experiences that the agony she feels has been continued throughout history, and it isn\u2019t just hers but that of everyone. In that process, she feels comforted and consoled. This story is here to cheer up and comfort those who are striving hard to survive in the hectic and competitive modern day.

Splash Splash Love

The Splashers

KBS02

Ra On will do anything for money. Disguised as a man, she earns money by consulting and giving pieces of advice on love and dating. One day, one of her customers comes up to her with a pale face. It turns out that a lady who Ra On has been ghostwriting for the customer wants to meet a sender of love letters. She feels reluctant at first, but she'd do anything for money, so she decides to pretend to be her customer. However, instead of a pretty lady, Yeong, the handsome-looking man, comes to meet her. Yeong is the last hope of falling Joseon and the crown prince. The unpredictable romance between Ra On and Yeong unfolds at the royal palace.

Love in the Moonlight

The Moonlight Lovers

A Crown Prince Jung Hyeon is close to the noble scholar Sung Yeol. Unfortunately, their relationship had been cursed by the evil of Gwi, a vampire that quenches his thirst for lust through the consumption of royal ladies' blood. Centuries later, Sung Yeol bumps into a traitor that dresses up as a man and turns her into his very own bookseller. This time, he's out to find the unfinished business of his closest ally against the wrath of Gwi. He is joined by Ho Jin, Soo Hyang, and Yang Sun in his fight. They face heartbreaks, betrayals, and a lot of bloodsheds.

The Scholar Who Walks the Night

The Hot BloodSuckers Team

What would you do if you had to choose between becoming a nun or becoming a vocalist in a popular boy band? Gao Mei Nu (Cheng Yu Xi) is suddenly faced with that decision when her brother needs her help. Gao Mei Nan (also played by Cheng Yu Xi) is chosen to join the popular boy band A.N.JELL as its newest member, but he is forced to go to the United States to fix a botched eye plastic surgery after being signed. Mei Nan’s agent comes up with the brilliant idea to have Mei Nu, who is in training to become a nun, to stand in for her brother and pretend to a be a male idol singer. Can she keep her true identity from the other band members, lead vocalist Huang Tai Jing (Jiro Wang), guitarist Jiang Xin Yu (Hwang In Deok) and rapper Jeremy (Evan Yo)? “Fabulous Boys” is a 2013 Taiwanese drama series. It is a remake of the popular 2009 Korean drama “You’re Beautiful.”

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