Bae Yong Joon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bae Yong Joon
배용준

Born August 29, 1972 (age 34)
Flag of South Korea Seoul, South Korea
Years active 1995 - present
Bae Yong Joon
Hangul:
배용준
Hanja:
裵勇俊
Revised Romanization: Bae Yong-jun
McCune-Reischauer: Pae Yongjun

Bae Yong Joon (born August 29, 1972 in Seoul, South Korea), is a South Korean actor best known for his roles in numerous television dramas. He is also known as the abbreviated BYJ to many of his fans, or as Yon-sama (ヨン様), with the "sama" being an honorific suffix.

Contents

[edit] Early and private life

Born in Mapo-gu, Seoul, he was educated in Il-mun Preschool and Myung-il Elementary School. In his school days, Bae was a very quiet boy with few friends. He eventually went to study in PaiChai Middle School and Hanyoung High School. [1]

Bae acknowledged that he had a girlfriend named Lee Sa Gang (aka Sagan Lee, Sagang Lee) , and a photograph of her has since been distributed on the Internet.[2] However, according to a 2005 edition of the I-weekly, a MediaCorp owned magazine in Singapore, Bae has since separated from Lee, citing personal reasons. He has since decided to keep his marital status private.[3] Sources, notably HanCinema, maintain that Bae is still single.[4]

Bae's agency, BOF, reported that Bae's apartment at Samseong-dong, Seoul caught fire on May 7 around 8:00 p.m., due to a short circuit. The house was empty when the fire broke out, thus causing no injuries. However, the fire caused damages costing up to 10 million won.[2]

[edit] Acting career

After graduating from the FTM (Film, TV & Multimedia) department in the school of arts in the Sungkyunkwan University, Bae later went onto his film debut in PpilKu in 1994. He later went on to star in dramas like "Salut D'Amour" and "Six Steps to Separation" in late 1994 and 1995 respectively.

He first garnered critical acclaim after appearing in a supporting role on Sunny Place of the Young, where he played the role of the heir to a cosmetics company and best friend of the leading actor, played by Lee Jong Won. Through this role, Bae first gained his now-famous 'regal' image. His next acclaimed role was in First Love, where he played the role of Chan-woo, a smart, young man with checkered past, who drops out of law school to join a gang to seek revenge for his family's misfortunes.

After 1999, Bae decided to step away from acting to focus on his education at Sung Kyun Kwan University, where he majored in film studies.

In 2001, he returned to the small screen, appearing in Hotelier. At this time, Bae decided to let his hair grow long, as evidenced from photographs posted in fan sites.

Bae became world-famous as his next dramatic role, "Winter Sonata," despite the fact that it was a TV drama and not a movie, razed all of Japan with as much as 20% of the country watching it. This popularity gave both Bae and his co-star Choi Ji-woo a chance to shift their main stage from Korea to Japan. Other Korean movies and dramas also became quite popular following the Winter Sonata craze. Bae's role as Kang Jun-sang in Winter Sonata made him the main spotlight of the Korean Wave.

Bae also managed to get a deeper foothold into the Japanese and Southeast Asian market after he starred in the movie Untold Scandal as Jo Won Cho. However, because of several strong sexual scenes in the movie, it did not appeal to the public nearly as much as "Winter Sonata".

[edit] Fan craze

According to the May 3, 2005 issue of Newsweek (Asian International Edition), Bae's fan base covers a wide range of Asian female demographics, including middle aged and married women who mob him when he pays a visit to a particular Asian country. Newsweek also notes that "Japanese women are taking up the study of Korean language and history" because of Bae.

[edit] November 2004 Japan visit

In 2004, Bae released a photo book The Image: Volume 1 during a four and 1/2-day tour in Japan to commemorate the tenth year of his acting career. After touring Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Phuket, Bae arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on November 25, where an estimated 5,000 fans awaited him, with some fans having camped out at the airport terminal awaiting his arrival. 350 police officers and 70 anti-riot agents were also on hand to control the crowd. During his public appearances thousands of fans showed up to greet him, and in some cases mob scenes ensued as they swarmed the car he rode in, which even resulted in one fan suffering an injury which required medical attention from paramedics.

[edit] August 2005 Taiwan visit

During an August 2005 visit to Taiwan, Bae went to the hospital to see a cancer-stricken fan, who is a mother and who has drawn hundreds of Bae's portraits (China Times (Chinese language), August 20, 2005 and China Post, August 20, 2005).

[edit] Endorsements and Financial Holdings

Since 2004, he has been the spokesman for the Japanese pizza chain Pizza-La.

In 2006, Bae owned 37.5% of the shares of Ottowintech, topping his stakes at 110 billion won.[3]

[edit] Wikipedia controversy

In 2006, Koh Gyudhae of Hankooki, along with a segment of Bae's fans criticized wikipedia's article on Bae, citing privacy reasons. Koh went further by voicing his view that "unnecessary" information should be removed. Following the publication of the newspaper, edits included the removal of incorrect information.[4] [5]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Films

[edit] Drama

  • 2007: Hotelier - Japanese version(TV Asahi) - Shin Dong Hyuk, Frank
  • 2006: The Story of the First King's Four Gods (MBC)
  • 2002: Winter Sonata (Winter Love Story, KBS) - Kang Jun-sang/Lee Min-hyung
  • 2001: Hotelier (MBC) - Shin Dong Hyuk, Frank
  • 1999: Did We Really Love (True To Love MBC) - Gang Jae-ho
  • 1998: The Barefooted Youth (KBS)
  • 1997: First Love (KBS) - Sung Chan-woo
  • 1996: Papa (KBS) - Choi Hyun-jun
  • 1995: A Sunny Place of The Young (KBS)
  • 1995: Sea Breeze (PSB) Jang Moo-hyung
  • 1995: Six Steps to Separation (KBS)
  • 1994: Salut D'Amour (Love Greeting) (KBS) - Kim Yong-min

[edit] Television commercials

  • 1995: Kwail Nara, LOTTE (chewing gum), nongshim ZEC, MAYPLE
  • 1996: Kwail Nara, LG group
  • 1997: LG group, HITE beer, Kwail Nara
  • 1998: Kwail Nara, LG group
  • 1999: FRJ
  • 2001: JM Global Water Purifier, Kye-Mong-Sa (Press), Old & New, LoReal (Perfume)
  • 2002: LG Telecom, LG Home Shopping, LG Card, Korea Investment Trust, Kolon ManStar, Old & New, Halla Millate
  • 2003: Ray Ban Glasses, Taster's Choice, LG Whisen, LG Telecom, LG Card, Kolon ManStar, Old & New
  • 2004: Taster's Choice, Oronamin C, LOTTE Flavono, Sony handycam, Lotte Almond, Sony Cybershot, AU by KDDI, Daihatsu Mira, LG La La La (films available online at http://byj.co.kr )
  • 2005: Taster's Choice, Lotte Rummy and Bacchus chocolates, Keangnam (builders), Coca-Cola 7-Flavor Tea, Lotte Almond
  • 2006: Hyundai Sonata, Eastern Home Shopping Network, Secom Security Systems, Keangnam
  • 2007: Secom

[edit] Awards

  • 2004: 40th Baeksang: Rookie Award
  • 2003: Blue Dragon: Best Newcomer & Popular Star award
  • 2002: KBS Drama: Popular Actor Award & Best Actor Award
  • 2002: 38th Bak Sang: Popularity award
  • 1997: 33rd Bak Sang: Popularity award
  • 1996: KBS Drama: The Excellent Actor Award & The Popular Actor Award
  • 1995: KBS Drama: Rookie Award & Photogenic Award

[edit] Books

[edit] Profile

Date of Birth: August 29, 1972, Seoul, Korea
Family: Eldest of a son and a daughter
Height: 180cm
Weight: Varies depending upon role
Blood Type: O
Hobbies: Golf, Computer Gaming, Photography, Weightlifting, Fishing
Favorite Sports: Geomdo, Hapkido (martial arts)
Debut: Salut D'Amour (Love Greeting), 1994, KBS

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Profile of BYJ's quilt
  2. ^ Fire Breaks Out at Actor Bae Yong-joon’s House
  3. ^ Actor Becomes Stock Billionaire
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Article about Bae Yong Joon and Wikipedia factuality concerns BYJ "Oops! My privacy...", affronted with exposure

[edit] External links