Despite only being 26 years old, the Korean actor is no stranger to hard work, since he started his showbiz life as an idol before making a successful transition to acting.

Here’s everything you need to know about the rising heartthrob.

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1. He lived in Canada for 10 years and speaks fluent English

When he was seven years old, Ahn’s family relocated to Toronto, Canada, where he lived until he was 17 before moving back to South Korea. According to Soompi, Ahn said that he was a quiet boy “who didn’t stand out” as a student and that he “liked it that way”.

However, he added that his low key personality didn’t stop him being popular with the ladies. Due to his upbringing overseas, Ahn also speaks fluent English and also goes by the name Paul.

2. He almost debuted with Got7 and is besties with Jackson Wang

While he was still a student, Ahn received a call from JYP Entertainment (the mega agency behind K-pop groups Twice, Itzy and Stray Kids) who asked to meet to see if he was interested in pursuing a singing career. As a result, he trained under the agency for three years, but couldn’t make his planned debut with Got7 because he still lacked the necessary skills at the time and, hilariously, was also told he was too tall.

“When the group was being put together, I was practising with them. But I wasn’t able to join the project team,” he told the hosts on KBS talk show Happy Together.

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Ahn did join another three-member group, called One O One, for a while back in 2015 (alongside Chicago Typewriter’s Kwak Si-yang), but they disbanded four years later.

3. His parents were against his acting at first

When asked what got him into acting, Ahn credits his father for the career switch, though not directly. “My father liked films. I remember watching them with him ever since I was little,” he said, according to Soompi, adding that after three years at JYP he realised he didn’t want to pursue music any more. “I loved music, but I didn’t have enough skills, which stressed me out,” he said. “So I thought it would be better to leave that as a hobby.”

While acting may have turned out to be his true calling in life, his parents didn’t exactly agree with the move at first, preferring him to focus on his studies. “My parents didn’t like the idea. In fact, they were very against it. My older sister and brother are an accountant and pharmacist. They [his parents] wanted me to academically succeed as well.”

Ahn even confessed that there was a time when he returned to Canada as life in Korea wasn’t very easy for him. “After about three days in Canada though, I regretted giving it all up. I moved back to Korea afterwards.”

4. He has been nominated for awards over 14 times

In 2015, Ahn got his acting debut in Splash Splash Love, but it was three years before he got his big break with Still 17. He wowed fans further in Abyss (2019) and the second season of hit television series Dr Romantic 2 in 2020 alongside Lee Sung-kyung. Then last year, he enjoyed immense success with Lovers of the Red Sky.

While he has only been in 11 K-dramas to date, Ahn has been nominated for more than 14 awards (winning eight of them) including prestigious gongs at the Baeksang Arts Awards, Korea Drama Awards and Asia Artist Awards, among others. He was named best actor in a miniseries at the SBS Drama Awards last year too.

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5. He has 3.5 million Instagram followers … and is quite philosophical

Thanks to his success, Ahn has amassed 3.5 million followers on Instagram. He often shares handsome selfies and sneak peeks of new projects with his eager fans. But his most favourite thing to post? His American Shorthair cat, Ba-ul (aka Paul, just like his own English name).

During a fan Q&A with The Swoon in 2019, a fan asked him how he stayed motivated and his first reaction was to say that his cat was good for his “healing”. After a long and thoughtful pause, he added that he tries not to dwell on the mistakes of the past and to instead focus on “making things right going forward”, living in the moment and taking things one day at a time.

6. He is a skincare brand ambassador

In 2020, he was snapped up by Innisfree to be a brand ambassador for fan-favourite, the Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask 2x.

The accompanying advert saw Ahn donning a crisp white shirt and cowboy hat in a fantasy desert-style backdrop. The ad was aired in countries from the Philippines to Indonesia.