Jang Keun-suk

When he is not busy with his work, Jang likes to spend a considerable amount of his time doing social and charitable work. He has donated millions of dollars to the needy. In 2011, he donated 10 million Yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society for the tsunami victims. He has also donated 1.2 billion Yen (roughly 1.1 million USD) to his alma mater.

His work in the social sector has not gone unnoticed. In 2010, Jang created history when he became the youngest PR Ambassador for Seoul. He was also appointed as the promotional ambassador for the 2011 Nuclear Safety Summit.

In another testimony of Jang’s commitment to social cause, his fan clubs make frequent donations to various social causes. They often visit establishments for the less fortunate along with their favourite star.

Jang Keun-Suk was born in Danyang County, North Chungcheongbuk Province, South Korea on August 4, 1987 in a middle class family. He is the only child of his parents, Maya Lee and Jung Keun-suk. Their family belongs to the white ethnicity and practise Buddihism.

His family witnessed a terrible financial low when Jang was very young and they had to resettle after selling their house.

The property agent who was looking after their house issue noticed the young and handsome Jang. Impressed by his looks at such a tender age, he advised Jang’s parents to explore opportunities for the kid in the modelling world. Soon he became a child model when at the age of 5.

While in middle school, Jang was greatly inspired by the Japanese pop singer Ken Hirai and the Japanese rock band ‘L'Arc-en-Ciel’. So much so that he instantly decided to pursue his career as a singer and joined a music class from the very next day. Not just that, he started learning the Japanese language all by himself.

For junior high school, Jang went to New Zealand at the Nelson College to learn both Japanese and English in the year 2003. Having gained full command over these two languages, he came back to his homeland and got himself trained at the Hanyang University in Theater and Films. There he learned about the various skill sets related to acting, fighting as well as dancing.

Although Jang became a popular model, but after a point he felt trapped in that domain thinking that his career has attained saturation. Around this time, he made his acting debut in a television sit com named ‘Selling Happiness’ in 1997.

While staying in New Zealand, Jang got an offer to act in a popular MBC sitcom named ‘Nonstop 4’. The success and popularity of the previous three seasons was an extra burden on Jang to perform this challenging role convincingly. However, he sulked himself in to believing that he is a terrible actor and his trust on himself went down the drain. Thereafter, he devoted himself to becoming a better actor.

In 2005, Jang was seen portraying the role of the president's son in the SBS drama called ‘Lovers in Prague’. It became an instant hit and received good response from the drama lovers.

Jang took a great leap in 2006 and made his big screen debut. He worked in a Japanese horror film named ‘One Missed Call Final’. As he was fluent in Japanese, he could communicate with his co-stars with ease. He also took up sign language classes for three months to play the role of a deaf boy in the movie.

His performance in the historical drama ‘Hwang Jin-yi’ with the KBS2 gave him a notable female fan following. In 2007, he was seen in a rock music themed movie called ‘The Happy Life’. His portrayal of Hyeon-ju gave him the scope to explore his masculine charms and showcase his talent as a singer. He further acted in similar themed projects in 2008 in a feature film named ‘Doremifasolasido’ and in the MBC TV drama ‘Beethoven Virus’.

With sheer hard work and talent, Jang has received many prestigious awards throughout his career. He received the award for the Best New Actor for the film ‘The Royal Gambler’ in 2016.

He won the Ten Star Award for his long length drama ‘The Royal Gambler’ in the same year.

He received the 46th BaekSang Arts Awards in the Most Popular Actor category for ‘Where the Truth Lies’ in 2010.

He was also honoured with the ‘Most Popular Actor’ award at the 48thPaekSang Arts Awards for ‘You’re +My Pet’ in 2012.