SEOUL - South Korean actress Lee Yoo-mi says she is lucky to have landed roles in two of the biggest K-drama hits globally.

In Squid Game, which was released in September 2021 and became Netflix's biggest hit, she was a self-sacrificing player in a series of deadly childhood games. For All Of Us Are Dead, which recently topped Netflix's global charts, she took on the role of a selfish teenager stuck in a school during a zombie outbreak.

"I think I'm very fortunate to show myself in extremely different genres in a short period of time," she said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency published on Tuesday (Feb 15).

The 27-year-old actress was juggling the two roles - one a fan favourite and the other a detested character - in the summer of 2020.

"I studied my characters in the car while moving from one location to another," she said, adding it was hard to separate the two characters.

Even though she was not the lead actress in either of the shows, her popularity has skyrocketed around the world. The number of followers on her Instagram account went from 40,000 to 7.7 million in a matter of months.

After more than a decade as an actress, starting as an extra in 2009, she said that the success of the two Netflix series will help her land bigger roles.

She added: "I've got some offers for characters that live longer and never die. They are happier than any previous characters of mine."

Lee is one of the leads in the upcoming sports K-drama Mental Coach Je Gal-gil.