the ugly duckling story characters

In a devastating fire, a stepmother and her stepdaughter become trapped in an elevator, and Evelyn sacrifices her life in a desperate attempt to save Heidi. Unbeknownst to her husband, Vincent Clarke, Evelyn's tragic death occurs while he stands by the side of Heidi's biological mother, Fiona Lawson. Grief-stricken, Heidi cries out, "I only have one mother, her name is Evelyn Glover!"

Addison Rowe is the true heiress who is reunited with her family 12 years ago. Upon her return, Addison falls in love with Jensen Lott at first sight and eagerly pursues him. However, Jensen looks down on Addison for her country origins and rejects her advances.

Hugh sacrificed his chance at the National Medical Research Council to save his wife Quinn, who had late-stage liver cancer. He sold family heirlooms to fund her treatment, but Quinn used the money to buy a car for her first love, James. She became obsessed with their past together, ignoring her son Luke's feelings. Hugh and Luke gave her three chances to change, but she refused. Finally, Hugh joined the National Physician Program and left with Luke. After he departed, Quinn regretted her actions, but it was too late to make amends.

On the day of Valeria Castle's engagement, her mother, Marilyn Castle, arrives at the banquet disguised as a cleaner, only to face humiliation from the Hardy family. A wealthy woman fights her over a parking spot, her future mother-in-law enforces strict household rules, and her fiancé demands an outrageous betrothal gift. But Marilyn soon reveals her true identity. Wayne Cuddy, Aaron Shaw, and Basil Brady step in with a billion-dollar dowry, instantly turning the tide. From that moment on, she proves her strength time and again, expertly resolving the crisis at Price Corp. In the end, as foreign capital threatens their empire, she takes Valeria abroad—ready for the next battle.

As the only daughter of the Merrick family, Kirsty Merrick bears the responsibility of marrying into the prestigious Bartley family to lead the Merrick family to new heights, as carefully orchestrated by her mother Evanna Taylor. Kirsty successfully secures a betrothal with Morgan Bartley, the playboy son of the Bartley family's second heir. Unknown to Kirsty, Morgan has been secretly involved with Jess Merrick, Kirsty's only friend who grew up with her in an orphanage. Years later, when brought back to the Merrick family, the kindhearted Kirsty could not bear to abandon Jess, and thus pleaded with her parents to take Jess in as well. Now, Jess has begun an affair with Kirsty's fiance Morgan. To get back at Morgan, Kirsty designs a plan to seduce and intoxicate Nicolai Bartley, the young CEO of the Bartley Group, leading to the start of a dangerous "underground affair."

On the day of Valeria Castle's engagement, her mother, Marilyn Castle, arrives at the banquet disguised as a cleaner, only to face humiliation from the Hardy family. A wealthy woman fights her over a parking spot, her future mother-in-law enforces strict household rules, and her fiancé demands an outrageous betrothal gift. But Marilyn soon reveals her true identity. Wayne Cuddy, Aaron Shaw, and Basil Brady step in with a billion-dollar dowry, instantly turning the tide. From that moment on, she proves her strength time and again, expertly resolving the crisis at Price Corp. In the end, as foreign capital threatens their empire, she takes Valeria abroad—ready for the next battle.

At seven, Hailey left her mother Claire to avoid burdening her during cancer. Years later, now a billionaire, Claire eventually finds Hailey—betrayed by her fiancé and about to be harmed by his mistress, Claire, furious, pulled out a gun…

Sue went missing in her childhood but was later brought back by her biological parents to the Spears family, where she was bullied to death by the family's adopted daughter, Ruby. After being reborn, Sue used her memories from her past life to accumulate wealth by buying property and gold, winning a competition with her original songs, and successfully creating a short video platform. Subsequently, she fought back against the Spears family's malicious targeting, exposing Ruby's schemes, and severed ties with the Spears family, leaving them filled with regret.

Emma is a single mother who's relied on her wits and guts to raise three wonderful sons. On her father's 70th birthday, Emma's mother invites her home... but Emma is greeted with nothing but harassment and bullying from her two jealous sisters and money-grubbing father. Even her eldest son's fiancee humiliates her at a party, and her long-divorced ex-husband and best friend treat her like trash! But Emma ultimately overcomes all the prejudice, finding true love and happiness anew.

Under his disguise as an ordinary odd-job worker, Hugh Lane suffered unending humiliation and witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly of mankind. Now that he had been restored to his former formidable identity, he vowed to make everyone who once humiliated him grovel at his feet!

Jana had an ugly birthmark on her face, causing her biological parents to reject her. In a stroke of luck, she saved Willard from being drugged, and miraculously, her birthmark disappeared. Grateful, Willard offered her a lavish gift worth billions, intending to marry her...

In this episode of GoodChat: Adult Questions with Little Kid Logic, actors Faith Orta, Volodymyr Pielikh, and Sophie Leflèche share their acting journeys, reflect on their experiences working on our vertical dramas, and give a behind-the-scenes look at bringing their characters to life. The conversation mixes heartfelt insights with playful energy as the trio answers grown-up questions using little-kid logic, making for a fun, fast, and entertaining episode you won’t want to miss.

An office worker, Nancy Sanson, lives by one motto: "Money solves everything." But when she overworks herself to exhaustion, she suddenly transmigrates into a novel and becomes an evil supporting character who shares her name. In the original story, this character covets the female lead's luck, lusts after the male lead, and ultimately meets a gruesome end. Now, with the plot's deadly countdown ticking, Nancy is armed with knowledge of the story but faces a dilemma: Can her moneyloving,survival-driven instincts rewrite her fate and maybe even find a way back home?

Seungyoon, a freshman who enters college filled with dreams of a sweet, drama-like romance, falls in love at first sight the moment he meets Jihui, a girl from the same department. However, to Jihui, Seungyoon is practically invisible—so insignificant that she can’t even remember his name. The only men Jihui finds attractive exist inside BL webtoons. Real-life men don’t interest her at all, and she feels no romantic spark toward them. As the campus sweetheart, she has already rejected countless confessions from male students. Like the others, Seungyoon can only admire her from afar—until one day, he unexpectedly runs into Jihui in the department lounge. Watching her excitedly chat with BL characters on her laptop rather than acknowledging his presence, Seungyoon feels deeply hurt and makes an impulsive, drastic decision. “I… actually… I’m gay!” At that very moment, the classroom door swings open, and his words echo loudly— “Gay~~~!” Seungyoon accidentally comes out in front of everyone. Realizing there’s no turning back, Seungyoon quickly understands one thing: If you can’t avoid it, act it out—survival depends on it. With his childhood best friend Chanyoung, he ends up pretending to be a gay couple. Ironically, this makes Seungyoon the very type that catches Jihui’s attention. As they spend more time together, the once-invisible Seungyoon slowly begins to win her heart. But as Chanyoung continues the fake relationship to support Seungyoon’s love life, an unintended love triangle begins to form. With a lie that can no longer be undone, emotions intertwine, misunderstandings pile up, and deception breeds deception. How will this absurd and complicated triangle of lies and feelings finally come to an end?

A strange marital misunderstanding lands her into marrying a man in wheelchair, sweeping her up into a whirlwind of scandals of the elite as a story of love, hate and revenge unfolds between a cold CEO and a stand-in wife! Love has met its match, and their love will certainly be a turbulent one!

Hongland in the 1990s was a lawless underworld. A brilliant but calculating female doctor—charming yet ruthless—crossed paths with a tragic, devoted, and ruthless gangster heir. What began as a game of seduction and deception gradually evolved into a deadly partnership, ultimately leading them to join forces for vengeance. Together, they crafted a story of love, betrayal, and revenge.

Rihanna injures Gael, CEO of Doyle Group, and mistakenly believes she has caused him to lose his ability to have children. Out of responsibility, she chooses to marry him. But Gael has secretly loved her for many years. He decides to conceal his "medical condition," seizing the opportunity to be close to her, and begins a sweet love story with Rihanna where marriage comes before love.

The story follows Katya Jagger’s quadruplets who secretly sneak out to find their daddy. During their search, the eldest brother and the younger sister discover that the billionaire CEO, Gael Wilde, in the luxury car by the roadside is the daddy they've been looking for. The younger sister stops the CEO's car and immediately calls him "Daddy," even pulling out a strand of his hair for a paternity test.