2025 spent as a chef for tyrants..Im Yoon-ah, I want to act that gives a nod. (Roundup)

By Jiyoun, Moon

Oct 10, 2025

2025 spent as a chef for tyrants..Im Yoon-ah, I want to act that gives a nod. (Roundup)
photo courtesy of SM Entertainment



Actor Lim Yoon-ah (35) has taken a step closer to an actor who gives a nod.

tvN's Saturday-Sunday drama `The Tyrant's Chef' (directed by Jang Tae-yu) is a fantasy survival romance that has exceeded 500 years as a time-slip French chef meets the king, the worst tyrant and the best gourmet. Im Yoon-ah showed amazing cooking skills by playing Yeon Ji-young in the play, increasing viewers' immersion. "The Tyrant's Chef" recorded 17.1% of viewers in the final episode and broke the highest ratings among all channel miniseries aired this year, as well as ranked first in the TV-OTT overall performers' top-notch category for five consecutive weeks (based on Good Data Corporation Fundex) and No. 1 in the Netflix Global TOP10 TV (based on Netflix's official ranking aggregation site, To Doom), captivating viewers around the world.

Lim Yoon-ah recently met with Sports Chosun at a hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, and spent the year in Yeon Ji-young," he said with a smile. Im Yoon-ah started filming 'The Tyrant's Chef' earlier this year and finished filming in August, and actually spent most of this year with 'The Tyrant's Chef' when the final episode aired last month. Im Yoon-ah said "More than any other work, I think it's the biggest work that I prepare for a long time and show you a variety of images, and I get emotional when I think about it again. Since it's a 12-episode series, I feel like it's over quickly, but I don't want to let it go quickly. I keep getting emotional, and I feel emotional, but I'm coming back with the idea of organizing my mind well like a feeling of trying to 'I have to adapt to reality' and putting Yeon Ji-young well in my heart", he expressed his feelings.




"Chef of a Tyrant" became a hot topic drama with the highest ratings every day. In response, Im Yoon-ah "I set the alarm and woke up to watch it when the ratings were up in the morning, but now I don't think ratings are my domain. That's why I check the ratings when I open my eyes comfortably. Sometimes I don't go into the page where the ratings come out, but I also find that my family and managers around me tell me that the ratings came out at a certain percentage, and I'm always surprised every time I see them. I'm so happy to be able to feel the joy of being ranked No. 1 in the non-English language on Netflix after "King the Land", and I'm so happy to be loved by so many people as much as I worked hard. I was also surprised to see that people around the world liked Korean dramas and enjoyed watching them," he said with a smile.

2025 spent as a chef for tyrants..Im Yoon-ah, I want to act that gives a nod. (Roundup)
photo courtesy of SM Entertainment
"The Tyrant's Chef" earlier appointed Park Sung-hoon as the main character and was preparing to film, but Park Sung-hoon's Instagram post immediately after the release of "Squid Game 2" became a problem and faced a crisis of dropping out. In the meantime, Lee Chae-min joined as the main character, completing Lee Heon of 『The Tyrant's Chef" and receiving favorable reviews from viewers. Lim Yoon-ah, who has been through all these crises together, praised Lee Chae-min's acting and thought it was great to appear with Lee Heon, and I think I'm grateful. Thank you for doing Lee Heon well and making the chemistry with Yeon Ji-young, and I am grateful for the chemistry. I've said a few times, "It's Lee Heon himself," and I think he's a big person who prepares so hard that he wants to do it perfectly.

The reason why Lee Chae-min, who had been urgently deployed, was able to perform his acting with confidence was because Lim Yoon-ah, who had been trying to transform into Yeon Ji-young for a long time, was firmly guarding it. Lim Yoon-ah built up her basic skills by learning Korean and French cuisine for three months to express the talented chef Yeon Ji-young, who won the French cooking competition in the play. As a result, it is said that viewers were able to increase their immersion by cooking themselves without using hand bands even in actual filming.




2025 spent as a chef for tyrants..Im Yoon-ah, I want to act that gives a nod. (Roundup)
photo courtesy of SM Entertainment
Lim Yoon-ah gradually became possessed by Yeon Ji-young while learning to cook from Chef Shin Jong-chul. Lim Yoon-ah went to a cooking academy for about 3 months before going into filming, and was trained on Western-oriented menus that she could show as a French chef to Chef Shin Jong-chul. In addition, I also went to the advisors and had a time to demonstrate the food in the drama once in a while. I gathered with the director and food stylists to demonstrate what the shape of the plating would look like and figure out how to take it. I'm thinking about cooking little by little in the future, but I'll cook when I have time and tell the director 'Isn't it like a colonel's master?' I wanted to give it to you. '

Im Yoon-ah, who was given a special title by viewers thanks to this effort, is now realizing her popularity by being called 'Daeryeong Sooksu' at Girls' Generation Center Im Yoon-ah. Lim Yoon-ah said, "I felt that so many people were watching 'The Tyrant's Chef' or 'Yoon-ah' instead of 'Yoon-ah' or 'Yoon-ah'Yoon-ah', 'Yeon Ji-young' and 'Daeryeong Sook-su'. I think I've come to feel that the number one topic is really something that so many people are watching."

This perfect success even earned the modifier 'Trusting Actor'. Im Yoon-ah said "Thank you for saying that I'm a trusted actor, but since this is not a grade I achieved alone, I found that meeting good works with good people is the biggest part of my grades. A few days ago, I wanted to act like a nodding actorI said ', but I'm happy because I want to approach the nod."








lunamoon@sportschosun.com