From Best to Worst – Hidden Identity

He has been hiding his identity his whole teenage and adult life to the point where his own wife and daughter knows nothing about him. He does have help from a few people, but the amount of time he spent pretending to be someone he is not speaks for itself. Possibly the best hidden identity drama out there.

Healer hides his identity because it's his job. Only a couple of people are aware of his true identity, and they actually know more about him than he himself does. He also hides his identity as Park Bongsu, when chasing after our heroine. He has many aliases and frequently changes his identity whilst working, so it's safe to say that Healer takes a high ranking position on this list.

The murderer is so good at hiding his identity (spoiler) to the point where if he hadn't been in that accident and gotten amnesia, I'm 99% certain that he would never have been caught. His identity were well hidden from the viewers yet the drama cleverly dropped hints as the story progressed, leaving viewers confused and doubtful even if their original guess was correct. 

(Spoilers) Every main character in Forgotten has a hidden identity, only our lead remains unaware throughout the majority of the movie, even though he himself also carries a hidden identity. 

Our male lead robot Nam Shin 3 has to hide his identity as a robot and temporarily replace the bedridden human Nam Shin. He has to hide his identity from everyone except for a select few. Being a robot; hiding his identity proves to be both harder and easier in different ways compared to being a human. 

Almost every time travel drama comes with some kind of hidden identity. Our female lead doesn't actively try to hide her identity. In fact, she tries to expose herself multiple times in order to gain understanding from others. Our male lead, on the other hand, (spoiler) hides his identity from our female lead multiple times as two different people. He is very skilled at hiding his identity, his only weakness being his strong love for our female lead, whom he has to hide his identity from the most. His love for the female lead is both a motivator and a weakness in hiding his identity. 

Our male lead in 18 Again has to involuntarily hide his identity from his own family (and later on his classmates) as he has miraculously transformed into an 18 year old. It's a very hard task for him as he did not intend for it to actually happen (wishing for something doesn't always mean that you want it to come true). Being forced into this situation, he is torn on what to do. Being inexperienced in hiding his identity from others, he can't help but to make mistakes that hints towards his real identity along the way. He ends up (spoiler) getting caught by a few. But maybe because all the characters find it so unlikely to occur, even though lots of people see the similarities with his 18 year old self and his adult self, most of the characters doesn't connect the dots and he ends up succeeding in hiding his identity from the mass.

Had he wanted to hide his identity forever, he definitely could've. Park Junmo infiltrated Gichul's gang amazingly, hiding his true identity as a police officer. Although he turned different shades of grey; hidden idintity 10/10.

Our male lead, Tian, has to hide a very painful fact from his loved ones. His secret is that his heart isn't his own. Exposing this will cause a lot of pain to everyone he is involved with as the original owner of the heart was someone who was loved by everyone. He has gained a new identity with the new heart beating inside of him. But seeing as he doesn't hide his own personality and his own name, this secret is easier to keep hidden. Would it not have been for his kind soul (spoiler) he could've gotten away with hiding this forever, would it not have been for the fact that he came clean about his secret himself. 

Putting personal opinions aside, Parasite carries the hidden identity trope really well since the whole movie is about the family infiltrating another family through lies and fake kindness.

The hidden identity of the male lead in this drama is very thrilling as a high schooler owning a protective service for prostitutes isn't very common lol. School is for youths, so it is viewed as pure when looking at the surface. On the other hand, just hearing the word "prostitute" will awaken thoughts of impurity. So seeing two polar opposite identities within the male lead, it becomes very addictive to watch everything unfold. If it wasn't for the annoying female lead, (spoiler) our male lead's hidden identity would've at least lasted longer.

Going undercover pretty much requires one to hide their true identity. Our heroine is verry good at hiding her identity whilst still looking cool. 

Commenting on this too much will spoil the entire movie, so I'm just gonna say that the hidden identity is done really really well. This movie makes me feel very uncomfortable and I don't like it. But I can't deny that I kept doubting over and over again about the hidden identity in this movie. 

Ahhh, I love these types of hidden identities <3 When they have to hide their supernatural powers from the muggles (Harry Potter reference) lol. I especially like it in the case of So Moon because he has a permanently injured leg, but then when he gets his powers (spoiler) it heals With help from Chu Maeok. So now he not only have to hide his supernatural powers, but he also need to pretend that his leg isn't perfectly fine and that he can't walk without a limp. And of course; I'm a sucker for when the weak becomes strong and puts the bad guys in their place ^^

This was an amazing identity swap drama! Yeo Jingoo's acting was incredible! The identity swap in this drama reminded me of Are You Human Too? since Seo Kangjoon played both the kindhearted robot Nam Shin III as well as the hot tempered human Nam Shin. Although both actors did an amazing job portraying the polar opposite characters in the two dramas, Yeo Jingoo's acting might just have been a tiny bit better than Seo Kangjoon's when comparing these two dramas. Yeo Jingoo was just amazing at acting as the original king and I cannot overlook it. But my reasoning for putting The Crowned Clown quite low on this list compared to Are You Human Too? is because Are You Human Too?'s identity swap is more interesting than in this drama. Are You Human Too? is a sci–fi romcom, which already makes me favour it over the serious politically focused The Crowned Clown. But I think that the main reason I favour Are You Human Too? is because our male lead is more bold and stands in center stage a lot more. And not only that; (spoiler) the original king in The Crowned Clown dies in episode 8, which removes a lot of the thrill it previously delivered. Are You Human Too? never looses that thrill throughout the whole drama. This is a list where I compare hidden identities (including identity swaps), I do not compare the acting when ranking the titles. 

In Crash Landing on You our heroine has to pretend to be a North Korean in order to survive until she can go back to South Korea. Her life depends on her hidden identity. But her identity isn't hidden from everyone, even right from the start. 

Our Mr. Queen wasn't exactly actively trying to hide his identity. In fact he straight out told the king that he's a man lol but (insignificant spoiler) he didn't believe her of course, hahaha ^^ So technically his hidden identity remained hidden (spoiler) until the very end. This fact makes it hard to judge how significant the hidden identity trope is in this drama, since he isn't trying to hide it on purpose. 

Being an alien with supernatural strength on Earth requires a hidden identity. But I don't think that Do Minjoon does an especially good job at hiding his identity from our female lead. Like it's a tiny bit less effort than mediocre, if that makes sense. But he's good at hiding his identity from the rest of the world, for the most part... Anyway, it doesn't stand out enough and therefore doesn't make the top 15.

The Dude in Me is a really funny movie about a body swap. But similar to Mr. Queen, they aren't actively trying to hide their identities. Especially since both Mr. Queen's and The Dude in Me's body swaps aren't intentional. So it's more like a personality change to those around them. 18 Again is similar to both of them, but what 18 Again does is that, although clumsily, our male lead is still actively trying to hide his identity from his loved ones. But The Dude in Me is a movie one shouldn't miss out on, because it's really funny ^^

Hiding your pet boy dancer from people sure is a fun concept. Pretending to be a dog and bark in a deep voice in order to make your crush's crush scram is a power move. 

It doesn't matter which Kimi wa Petto is placed first or 2nd. Both of them have the same rank and reasoning. 

Our main lead's identities are even hidden from the viewers. We never find out what Sachi's real name is, and we only see Onii–san's name once. Moreover he doesn't take off his mask ever until the very last scene in the drama. On top of this, they have to hide their identities from the public whilst they're on the run. But my reasoning for putting it this low on the list is because the reveal isn't exciting enough. There isn't a secret behind Sachi's real name, nor the male lead's for that matter. Onii–san's face isn't that interesting lol. The police are so useless and slow that it isn't exciting to watch those particular scenes. The biggest merits of the drama doesn't lie in the hidden identity aspect. 

Unintentionally time traveling to the future bodes to developing a hidden identity. I love the time travel trope because it puts our character in an unfamiliar situation that they have to adapt to (often whilst making many mistakes). Initially I thought that Tunnel shouldn't be this high up on the list. But that was when I was only thinking of the male lead. When in fact more characters than the male lead have hidden identities. Like the original Park Kwangho from the future. 

Our male lead gives us good entertainment when his seemingly clumsy persona turns into a cool and handsome undercover North Korean spy. He works out in secret and goes out to investigate in secret. So it's a good hidden identity movie. My reasoning for giving it a relatively low ranking on this list is just my personal preference as I'm not a fan of his fake persona. Others might've put it higher since it's a lot about him being underestimated (spoiler: kind of like when So Moon pretends to have a leg injury in The Uncanny Counter). 

It's relatively easy to hide your mermaid identity from the people around you even if you have a weakness for water. Because our female lead in The Legend of the Blue Sea is able to erase the memories of other people without much effort. Seeing her try to adapt to human society in her clumsy ways does raise suspicion, but more so that she might be immature or have lived in seclusion/a mental hospital until recently. Seeing her adapt to society is more enjoyable than the thought of her true identity being revealed because it's so easy for her to make people forget. 

Revealing Vincenzo's hidden identity to the other main characters around him proved to be more underwhelming than expected. He isn't very good at hiding his true identity at all, both from the main characters and villains, but also from the mafia people he fled from in Italy. He literally goes viral on sns. His mafia methods on handling the case are so obviously pointing towards him being in the mafia. The other characters just simply ignores the signs because it seems way too ridiculous to be true to them. But as a viewer one can't help but to feel a tiny bit frustrated at how he fails to properly hide his identity. 

An identity swap drama that takes place in a school where our female lead/s are played by the same actor and our heroine has memory loss? And there is romance and school problems? Yes please! It provides a lot of entertainment. My reasoning for putting it relatively low on this list, even though it is my cup of tea, is because there are a lot of other cool hidden identity dramas on this list that all deserve their respective spots. 

It doesn't matter which Who Are You drama is placed first or 2nd. Both of them have the same rank and reasoning.

In my opinion Queen of the Ring is more focused on the comedic yet sad parts of the story. The hidden identity part is so obvious that you kind of ignore it at times and just simply see the supernatural aspect of how it came to be like this. But it's not supposed to be a perfect hidden identity in the case of Queen of the Ring. Because everyone except for our shitty male lead see her for how she is. It's more focused on seeing the male lead being deceived by her than her actually hiding her identity from him (if that makes sense). Because her personality is completely seethrough. 

Having an identical twin comes with many merits and demerits. In Defendant our villain character kills his twin brother and steals his identity. But erasing your own personality is hard, especially when it comes to irresponsible people like our villain. I wouldn't say that our villain in this drama is especially skilled at hiding his own identity.

I liked seeing a male crossdress as a female for a change. It brought great entertainment with a lot of comedic scenes and many misunderstandings. He also has his personal investigation going on and on top of that he falls for a woman who thinks he's female. When she (spoiler) finds out that he's a man it doesn't take long before he comes to her and asks her to call him her adoptive mother. So now they become partners in crime. Although he was pretty good at acting as a woman, it didn't last for long enough I felt like. I had wished for a big reveal closer to the end instead. 

Time travel/time leap hidden identities are always fun. As for Go Back Couple; besides having to hide their identities from each other, they don't really need to put in too much effort with others since their situation is very unbelievable. Both of them confessed their identities separately to their friends, but they didn't believe them. (spoiler) There are a couple of people who kind of catches them, but not really at the same time. But those two are special cases. So I would classify Go Back Couple's hidden identity trope as okay. After all, they are no professionals.  

I decided not to put Twinkling Watermelon too high on this list because the hidden identity aspect of the drama took less importance in the story. Yes, Eungyeol hid the fact that he is Yichan's son who came from 2023 to 1995, but it's not like he tried super hard and even when he said that he was his son of course Yichan didn't take it seriously. But we as viewers knew that the time travel situation wouldn't last forever, so there was no purpose to the story for Eungyeol to get "caught". But (spoiler) I liked that in the end it was hinted that Yichan understood that Eungyeol was his bandmate.

Maybe I'm being a bit biased by putting True Beauty this high on the list. It's simply because I like the hidden identity trope that True Beauty has; hiding behind makeup. She's also hiding from her bullies and this drama has a school setting which I really like. If you've seen one of my favourite Cdramas: A Little Thing Called First Love (or the Thai movie), then you might understand why I like these tropes ^^; 

When I watched The Beauty Inside, I have to admit that I wasn't too crazy about it. It's a pity because the concept is really good. Changing into an entirely new person on a regular basis and trying to fall in love at the same time must be exhausting. I'm sure she wants to scream to the world that it's her on the inside. But what can you do, right? 

It's been a while since I saw this drama and I would probably need to rewatch it to give this a more accurate spot on the list. But according to my memories of the drama, this is where I'm gonna put it for now.

It doesn't matter which The Beauty Inside is placed first or 2nd. Both of them have the same rank and reasoning.

A student who hides their identity whilst pulling pranks to improve the school. It is pretty fun to watch this person hide their identity. Although it falls short on many things, it's still a relatively solid hidden identity. Being seen as an antihero by the students whilst being chased by the teachers, police and their loved one. 

I still have 4 episodes left on Love in the Moonlight but I think that this spot is accurate for this drama. For some reason it feels underwhelming, her hidden identity. 

I don't remember much of the drama, but Hana Kimi is one of my favourite mangas so I can't bear to put it at a lower rank. I do remember thinking that I liked the manga more than the drama. 

I have sadly forgotten a lot of Kaitou Yamaneko, but I do remember being surprised when I found out who the villain was. So I suppose the hidden identity part didn't disappoint me :) MaybeI should rewatch it sometime.

My memories of Black have very much faded, but I do remember liking this drama a lot despite the relatively low score that it has. Most of the main characters are supernatural beings that have to hide their identities in order to blend into the crowd as humans. Also our male lead is occupying the body of a dead man, whom the female lead had previously interacted with.

To be honest, I'm not a very big fan of this drama. The main reason is because I don't like the male lead. But this isn't about him! lol It's about our female lead who ends up having to hide her human identity and instead go to a rich boy's house to pretend to be a robot, because her ex made a robot who looks exactly like her. Cutting her some slack, she is unaware of many things and has little to no options besides taking this "job", pretending to be the robot. She is also a kind person. But he must be so dense because she is too human to be a robot. She sucks at acting as the robot (not the actress, I'm talking about her character). I just– no, this is not a favourite of mine.

Kazoku Game is a really good drama. But I found myself more interested in the family matters in the drama rather than our main character's hidden identity.

I never finished this drama because I wasn't a big fan of the main couple. His true identity is revealed to our female lead in the first or 2nd episode so already a big thrill factor has been removed. I know that a lot of people like this drama, but I just don't. It didn't meet my nonexistent expectations.

...gosh. I almost forgot that this gross drama existed... Judging it from the hidden identity trope perspective; it's stupid. If True Beauty became disgusting and removed the mental health aspect to it, THIS gross mess would be the result...

Tbh I've forgotten almost everything that happened in this drama, so I'm afraid I'll have to dump it to the bottom of the list for now, until a potential rewatch in the future.

I watched Big a loooong time ago. It was one of the first dramas I ever saw. It was before I created my MDL profile, so I don't remember it almost at all! So I can't give it a rank and am forced to dump it down here, since I can't remove it from the list as it has the body swap concept.