| Jung Woo-sung | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 March 1973 South Korea |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1994 – present |
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 정우성 |
| Hanja | 鄭宇成/鄭雨盛 |
| Revised Romanization | Jeong U-seong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chǒng U-sǒng |
Jung Woo-sung (Korean: 정우성, March 20, 1973) is a South Korean actor.
Contents |
Jung Woo-sung was born in Seoul on March 20(lunar calendar), 1973. After first finding work as a model, he made his film debut in the 1994 movie The Fox with Nine Tails, together with Ko So-young. He and Ko would go on to act in two more films together.[1]
Jung found widespread fame in Kim Sung-soo's 1997 film Beat, in which he played a high school student who becomes caught up in gang life against his will. Since this film, he became known as one of Korea's top commercial stars. In the subsequent years he portrayed a young boxer in City of the Rising Sun, a naval lieutenant in Phantom: The Submarine, and a marathoner in Love.[1]
In 2001, Jung took on one of his most high-profile roles in Kim Sung-soo's epic blockbuster Musa. Playing a long-haired slave, he acted opposite Chinese superstar Zhang Ziyi and received wide exposure abroad as well as in Korea. After spending time in 2002 directing a series of music videos and appearing in a large number of commercials, Jung took on the eccentric lead role in Mutt Boy, the fifth film by director Kwak Kyung-taek (Friend, Champion).[1]
Jung's next roles would be in highly romantic roles that played off his established screen image. In the box office hit A Moment to Remember he plays an architect whose wife (played by Son Ye-jin) is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and in the Netherlands-set Daisy, he plays a hired assassin who falls in love with a street artist played by Jeon Ji-hyun.[1] Jung plays a happily married fireman in Sad Movie, and falls in love with an old friend in A Good Rain Knows. His big-budget martial arts films The Restless and Reign of Assassins would also have romantic elements.
Kim Ji-woon's "kimchi western" The Good, the Bad, the Weird would give Jung one of his most iconic roles, using his physicality to great effect as the Clint Eastwood counterpart in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Shortly after he would work again with the director in a short for W Magazine Korea.
Given the hype regarding his return to the small screen after 15 years, Jung's spy genre drama Athena: Goddess of War (spin-off to 2009's IRIS)[2] was a disappointment, failing to duplicate its predecessor's ratings. He made his Japanese drama debut with a guest appearance in episodes 6 and 7 of Good Life ~Arigatou, Papa. Sayonara~.[3]
Jung next stars in the English-language 3D remake of John Woo's The Killer.[4] The film will be shot in Los Angeles, and reunites him with A Moment to Remember director John H. Lee and Reign of Assassins director John Woo who will be producing.[5]
He has been cast as the male lead in the upcoming TV series Padam Padam...The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats which will mark the establishment of new broadcasting station jTBC. Written by acclaimed drama writer Noh Hee-kyung, Jung said he "decided on this drama because I was drawn to the way Noh Hee-kyung writes 'family drama.' Whether mother-son or father-son, the love and pain experienced by families is something I’d like to try portraying in a realistic way."[6][7] He plays a man released from 16 years of imprisonment on false charges of murder.[8]
Jung gave up studying to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, dropping out of high school after one year. It was controversial at the time that he did not conceal this fact but rather claimed that he did not regret his decision.[9]
Jung is best friends with fellow actor Lee Jung-jae; they are co-owners and co-investors of several businesses.
After they were photographed on a date in Paris,[10] Jung confirmed in March 2011 that he was dating Athena co-star Lee Ji-ah.[11][12] But after Lee's married and divorced past with top Korean rocker Seo Taiji became exposed to the public the following month, the Korean press reported in June that Jung and Lee had broken up.[13][14]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The Fox with Nine Tails | Hyuk |
| 1996 | Born to Kill | Kil |
| Shanghai Grand | Ryu So-hwang | |
| 1997 | Beat | Min |
| Motel Cactus | Lee Mi-ku | |
| 1998 | City of the Rising Sun | Do-chul |
| 1999 | Phantom: The Submarine | Number 431 |
| Love | Myung-soo | |
| 2001 | Musa | Yeo-sol |
| 2003 | Mutt Boy | Cha Cheol-min |
| 2004 | A Moment to Remember | Cheol-su |
| 2005 | Sad Movie | Jin-woo |
| 2006 | Daisy | Park Yi |
| The Restless | Yi-gwak | |
| 2008 | The Good, the Bad, the Weird | Park Do-won, the Good |
| 2009 | Present (short) | |
| A Good Rain Knows | Park Dong-ha | |
| 2010 | Reign of Assassins | Jiang Ah-sheng |
| 2012 | The Killer |
| Year | Title | Role | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Asphalt Man | Kang Dong-suk | SBS |
| 1996 | 1.5 | MBC | |
| 2010 | Athena: Goddess of War | Lee Jung-woo | SBS |
| 2011 | Good Life ~Arigatou, Papa. Sayonara~ | Dr. Lee (ep. 6-7) | Fuji TV |
| Padam Padam...The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats | Yang Kang-chil | jTBC |
He directed (but did not star in) the following g.o.d. music videos:
|
|||||