welp it looks like I had it wrong for almost 4 years now, I could have sworn read somewhere that he was a singer....

and Kim Hyun Joong isn't nearly as expressionless in Playful Kiss as he was in BBF, but I will not buy it that his characters are that way and that is what makes him look wooden - especially after watching Joo Ji Hoon play icy repressed prince in two dramas before him and deliver without needing the excuse that it's ok to not emote because his character has trouble with showing feelings.