Joo Sang-wook - South Korean Men, Timeline and Childhood

Joo Sang-wook was born on July 18, 1978 in Seoul, South Korea into a middle class family. He was brought up in Seoul by his parents.

From early childhood, Joo wanted to become an actor and took active part in cultural activities at school. After high school he joined Namseoul University and completed a degree in Visual Design with the aim of entering show business.

He did not have many contacts in the industry that made his entry much more difficult. It was only after his compulsory military service that he really got noticed at the age of 30.

Though he got noticed quite late, he had started acting at the age of 21 with minor roles in television dramas like ‘Docu X’ and ‘New Generation Report: Adults Don’t Know’.

It took some time for him to gain experience and diversify into movies as well. In 2006, he appeared in the movie ‘Arang’ that was followed by a role in the serial ‘Air City’.

His big break came with the SBS television serial ‘Giant’ in 2010, where he played the bad guy. He was honoured with the Best New Star Award at the SBS Drama Awards for his performance in the serial. He has often joked about his late recognition by saying that he is still young and has many more years to go in the industry.

Got a break, he followed up with a superb performance in the serial ‘The Thorn Birds’ on KBS2 network the next year. He did full justice to his part of a tragic character, who is an illegitimate child and has to face the hardships of life on his own.

He soon became a family name with his appearance on prime time television serials like ‘Good Doctor’ in 2013 and ‘Birth of a Beauty’ in 2014. His latest serials are ‘Glamorous Temptations’ and ‘Fantastic TV Series’ that are high on the popularity charts of his country.

Joo Sang-wook was always keen to appear on the big screen. After his first movie in 2006 he appeared in a cameo role in ‘The Perfect Couple’ the following year. He soon proved himself to be a versatile actor with varied roles in the films ‘My Wife Got Married’, ‘No Mercy’ and ‘The Scent’.

Recently, he played the lead role in ‘Days of Wrath’ and an important supporting role in ‘The Huntresses’. Fans will see more of him as Jae-gu in his latest movie, ‘Trot’.

With his celebrity status, he began to get invitations for guest appearances on various variety shows that included ‘Happy Together’, ‘Running Man’, ‘Healing Camp, Aren’t You Happy’, and ‘Showbiz Korea – Star Lounge’.

He also appeared as a regular cast member in the variety show ‘Qualifications of Men’ in 2012-2013, for which he was awarded the Best Male Newcomer Award, Actor in a Variety Show.

Besides films and television, he has appeared on music videos and discography of a few South Korean songs.

His hard working attitude has won him the respect of his colleagues as well as senior directors and producers in the industry. His ultimate aim is to go in to directing and producing shows as the days go by.

He has appeared in the television dramas ‘New Generation Report: Adults Don’t Know’ (1998), ‘Air City’ (2007), ‘One Mom and Three Dads’ (2008), ‘The Accidental Couple’ (2009), ‘Giant’ (2010), ‘The Thorn Birds’ (2011), ‘Feats of the Gods’ (2012), ‘Good Doctor’ (2013), ‘Birth of a Beauty’ (2014) , ‘Glamorous Temptation’ (2015) and ‘Fantastic TV Series’ (2016).

His major films are ‘Arang’ (2006), ‘The Perfect Couple’ (2007), ‘My Wife Got Married’ (2008), ‘No Mercy’ (2010), ‘The Scent’ (2012), ‘Days of Wrath’ (2013), ‘The Huntresses’ (2014) and ‘Trot’ (2015).

He has appeared as a cast member in the variety show ‘Qualifications of Men’ (2012-2013) and appeared as a guest in ‘Taxi’, Happy Together’, ‘Win Win’, ‘Running Man’, ‘Invincible Youth’, ‘Healing Camp – Aren’t You Happy’, and ‘Showbiz Korea – Star lounge’.

He has appeared in the music videos ‘Stay the Night’ by Jeong Seung-won, ‘Be With You’ by The See-ya and ‘Venus’ by the group Hello Venus.

In 2010, he won the New Star Award and Best Couple Award (with Hwang Jung-eun) at the SBS Drama Awards ceremony for his role in ‘Giant’.

The following year he won the Model Star Award at the 6th Asian Model Festival, Diamond Award (Actor) at the 5th Asian Jewellery Awards and Best Supporting Actor at the 4th Korean Drama Awards for his performance in ‘Giant’ and ‘The Thorn Birds’.

He won the Best Male Newcomer in a Variety Show for his performance in ‘Qualifications of Men’ at the KBS Entertainment Awards in 2012.

In 2013, he won the Best Dress Award at the Herald Donga TV Lifestyle Awards and the Excellence Award (Actor in a Mid-length Drama) for ‘Good Doctor’ at the KBS Drama Awards.

His performance in ‘Birth of a Beauty’ got him the Top 10 Stars Award and Best Couple Award (with Han Ye-seul) at the SBS Drama Awards in 2014.

Joo officially confirmed in March 2016 that he was dating actress Cha Ye-ryun. They had met while shooting for the television serial ‘Glamorous Temptation’. The couple tied the knot on 25 May 2017 at a function hosted at the Grand Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul and went to Hawaii for their honeymoon.

He was nicknamed ‘The CEO King’ by his fans because he repeatedly played the role of a CEO in a number of serials.