Issue No. 1 · August 2026
    iFAMOUSby iFANN

    The monthly record of fame.

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    Issue No. 1 · August 2026

    The Most Famous Drama Stars in the World

    Top 37 of 37 ranked · August 2026 · See today's live standing

    Everyone, living or dead, on one scale: 35 of the 37 listed are living.

    First issue under methodology v5.62. Movement begins with the next issue frozen under the same version.

    Zhang Ziyi tops a drama list where South Korea has numbers, not the summit

    iFAMOUS Editorial Desk · 1 min read

    Eleven of the 37 names measured in the August 2026 Dramas list are South Korean, but a Chinese film star, a Korean actor and a Canadian hold the top three.

    Zhang Ziyi is the most famous name in television drama for August 2026, with a score of 11.4. The Chinese actress and dancer, known for strong-willed women in Chinese and international cinema, holds the top of a sector whose numbers lean elsewhere. South Korea supplies eleven of the 37 names measured, more than any other country, but its highest entry is Kim Soo-hyun, second at 10.8, whose range runs from romantic leads to brooding antiheroes.

    Anna Paquin, the Canadian-New Zealand actress who has been on screen since childhood, is third at 10.4, and Joel Kinnaman, the Swedish-American who specialises in morally complicated men, is fourth at 9.5. Then come two more figures from East Asian cinema, Andy Lau, the Hong Kong actor and singer with a career past four decades, at 9.4, and Shu Qi, the Taiwanese actress and filmmaker, at 9.2. The sector gathers adjacent figures, and several of the leaders are better known for film than for series.

    Australia is the second most represented country with six names, and four of them sit in the top fifteen: Joel Edgerton at 9.2, Elizabeth Debicki at 8.8, and Jesse Spencer and Phoebe Tonkin tied at 8. Ken Watanabe of Japan is tenth at 8.5, Aidan Gillen of Ireland eleventh, and Han So-hee, whose role in The World of the Married in 2020 made her, and Jung So-min are tied at 8.2.

    Thirty-five of the 37 are living, and neither of the two dead names reaches the top fifteen. Fourteen countries appear in a list with no single centre, which is the point of a sector described as every tradition and one obsession.

    RankNameScore
    1
    Zhang Ziyi
    CNcelebrityAlive
    11.4
    2
    Kim Soo-hyun
    KRcelebrityAlive
    10.8
    3
    Anna Paquin
    CAcelebrityAlive
    10.4
    4
    Joel Kinnaman
    SEcelebrityAlive
    9.5
    5
    Andy Lau
    CNpublic figureAlive
    9.4
    6
    Shu Qi
    TWcelebrityAlive
    9.2
    7
    Joel Edgerton
    AUcelebrityAlive
    9.2
    8
    Elizabeth Debicki
    AUcelebrityAlive
    8.8
    9
    Emily VanCamp
    CAcelebrityAlive
    8.7
    10
    Ken Watanabe
    JPcelebrityAlive
    8.5
    11
    Aidan Gillen
    IEcelebrityAlive
    8.4
    12
    Han So-hee
    KRcelebrityAlive
    8.2
    13
    Jung So-min
    KRcelebrityAlive
    8.2
    14
    Jesse Spencer
    AUcelebrityAlive
    8.0
    15
    Phoebe Tonkin
    AUcelebrityAlive
    8.0
    16
    Claire Holt
    AUcelebrityAlive
    7.9
    17
    Ha Ji-won
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.7
    18
    Carice van Houten
    NLcelebrityAlive
    7.7
    19
    Kim So-hyun
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.7
    20
    Cory Monteith
    CAcelebrity
    7.7
    21
    Sarah Michelle Gellar
    celebrityAlive
    7.6
    22
    Cho Yeo-jeong
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.5
    23
    Jiang Qing
    CNpolitician
    7.5
    24
    Daniela Melchior
    PTcelebrityAlive
    7.4
    25
    Gabriel Byrne
    IEcelebrityAlive
    7.4
    26
    Jo Jung-suk
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.4
    27
    Ryu Jun-yeol
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.2
    28
    John Noble
    AUcelebrityAlive
    7.1
    29
    Bai Lu
    CNcelebrityAlive
    7.1
    30
    Lee Young-ae
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.1
    31
    Goran Višnjić
    HRcelebrityAlive
    7.1
    32
    Billy Campbell
    UScelebrityAlive
    7.0
    33
    Choi Woo-shik
    KRcelebrityAlive
    7.0
    34
    Gong Hyo-jin
    KRcelebrityAlive
    6.9
    35
    Alba Flores
    EScelebrityAlive
    6.9
    36
    A. J. Cook
    CAcelebrityAlive
    6.9
    37
    Halit Ergenç
    TRcelebrityAlive
    6.8

    About this list

    This list ranks the most famous drama stars in the world as of August 2026, by overall global fame rather than one month's attention. It is the top 37 of 37 names the rankings measured in this sector, frozen as the permanent record of that edition. This is the standard reading: everyone, living or dead, on one scale. 35 of the 37 listed are living; the Alive reading restricts the same ranking to living people.

    Zhang Ziyi is No. 1 on this list for August 2026. Behind Zhang Ziyi come Kim Soo-hyun and Anna Paquin.

    What famous means here

    Fame, in iFAMOUS, is how widely the world knows a name: how recognisable a person's name, face or work is, and how well people know who they are. It is assessed from extensive historical and current public data, some of it reaching back more than twenty years, and it is not merit, talent, importance or popularity on iFANN. The rankings model real-world global fame, not internet fame; the data is the instrument, not the subject. Activity on iFANN itself is excluded.

    The month in the title is the date of this edition, not the period measured. The list is a snapshot of overall fame as it stood when the issue was frozen: a name does not lose its place because one month was quiet, and a trending moment alone does not put a name here. Trending attention is published separately on ifann.net.

    How the list was ranked

    The iFANN Global Fame Rankings combine worldwide Wikipedia readership across languages, worldwide news coverage and search interest anchored against stable reference names, with search history reaching back to 2004. A twelve-month baseline sits behind the current reading and short-lived surges are capped, so the list reflects durable recognition rather than one week of headlines. Rankings are computed daily on ifann.net and frozen on the second day of the following month as that month's issue; a published issue never changes.

    About Dramas

    Dramas is one of the sectors the journal ranks every month, alongside every country, origin and region list in this issue. Sector lists use the same rankings and the same scale as The 100, so a name can be compared across sectors and against the world. Television dramas from around the world: every tradition, one obsession.

    Powered by iFANN

    iFAMOUS is published by iFANN and powered by the iFANN Global Fame Rankings v5.62. Today's live standing for this list is on ifann.net; the journal freezes it once a month so it can be cited permanently.

    Related searches: most famous drama stars in the world 2026, top drama stars August 2026, drama stars fame ranking, most famous drama stars alive.

    Cite as
    "Zhang Ziyi, No. 1 on The Most Famous Drama Stars in the World", iFAMOUS No. 1 (August 2026), ifamous.org

    This scope in the journal

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