Hwang Jungmin, born in 1970, majored in theater in high school and went on with a degree in drama from the Seoul Institute of the Arts. It was while attending the latter that he managed to land his first role, playing a bar owner in Im Kwontaek’s <The General’s Son> (1990). He started his career in earnest four years later when he joined Hakchon Theater and took part in many of the musicals that would make its fame, such as the original creation <Subway Line No. ...More

Hwang Jungmin, born in 1970, majored in theater in high school and went on with a degree in drama from the Seoul Institute of the Arts. It was while attending the latter that he managed to land his first role, playing a bar owner in Im Kwontaek’s <The General’s Son> (1990). He started his career in earnest four years later when he joined Hakchon Theater and took part in many of the musicals that would make its fame, such as the original creation <Subway Line No. 1> and the Korean productions of <Jesus Christ Superstar> and <Cats>. After another bit role in film in <Shiri>, he finally received a meatier role after an audition for Yim Sunrye’s critically acclaimed drama <Waikiki Brothers>. Following a series of memorable performances in <Road Movie>, <Y.M.C.A. Baseball Team>, <A Bittersweet Life> and <A Good Lawyer’s Wife>, the public and the critics started to see in him one of the most promising up-and-coming actors. <You Are My Sunshine> and Happiness> displayed a different side of his acting, as both proved that he had what it takes to assume the position of male lead in a melodrama, a far cry from what we had come to expect after his early tough guy roles. He didn’t rest on his laurels as he played a blind swordsman in <Blades of Blood> and a corrupt detective who frames an innocent man to make up for a struggling investigation in <The Unjust>. The year 2011 saw Hwang star as a reporter with strong sense of righteousness in <Moby Dick>. He then played a man who accidentally becomes a mayoral candidate in <Dancing Queen> in 2012. Despite his successes in cinema, he never totally left the theater and even became stage director in 2012 with the musical <Assassins>. 2013 saw him take on the role of a gangster in <New World> and Kang Woosuk’s <Fists of Legend>. He returned to the romantic melodrama genre for his next film, the mid-level hit <Man in Love> in 2014, before he saw his fame rise to a new level with the release of the 2014 blockbuster biopic <Ode to My Father>, which became at the time the second highest-grossing Korean film in history with more than 14 million admissions. This wouldn’t remain a one-time event as his follow-up, Ryoo Seungwan’s action thriller <Veteran>, drew in 13 million people. Almost all his movies since then have posted impressive numbers, like the mountaineering drama <The Himalayas>, the prison thriller <A Violent Prosecutor> and the historical drama <The Battleship Island>, from Ryoo Seungwan again. His turn as an enigmatic shaman in Na Hongjin’s dark thriller <The Wailing> allowed him to gain international recognition, the film becoming the talk of the town upon its premiere at Cannes Film Festival. Hwang then more to espionage fare with the critically acclaimed <The Spy Gone North> (2017), before headlining one of the rare successes of the Covid-19 pandemic era, the action film <DELIVER US FROM EVIL> (2019). In 2022, he reunited with <The Spy Gone North> director Yoon Jongbin in the Netflix Original limited series <Narco-Saints> (2022), in which he plays a legendary drug lord.Less