Bae made his acting debut in 1994 in the
Korean drama ''
Salut D'Amour (lit. "Love Greeting"). The rookie actor quickly gained popularity, and a year later he won Best New Actor at the 1995 KBS Drama Awards for Our Sunny Days of Youth
. Throughout the 1990s, Bae continued playing leading roles on television, in Papa (1996), First Love (1996) which reached a peak viewership rating of 65.8%, The Barefooted Youth
(1998), and the Noh Hee-kyung-penned Did We Really Love? (1999). In Hotelier (2001), he played a mergers and acquisitions specialist about to takeover a hotel, but has a change of heart after falling in love with one of its employees (Bae would later reprise his role in a cameo in the 2007 Japanese remake of Hotelier''). But it was
Yoon Seok-ho's
Winter Sonata in 2002 that would transform Bae's career, and consequently the face of Korean dramas abroad. A
melodrama about first love, lost memory and unknown family ties,
Winter Sonata became an unprecedented success in Asia and more than 20 countries, particularly in Japan. Bae gained a tremendous fan base among Japanese middle-aged women, who dubbed him with the honorific nickname
Yon-sama (; cf. "Emperor Yon") and brought in in tourism and
Winter Sonata merchandise sales. In 2003, Bae was cast in his first major big-screen role in
Untold Scandal (he had previously appeared in
bit parts in two films in the 1990s). His performance received Best New Actor accolades from the
Blue Dragon Film Awards and the
Baeksang Arts Awards. He next published a photo book
The Image: Volume 1 in 2004, which sold 10,000 copies. Afterwards he worked with director
Hur Jin-ho in
April Snow (2005), about a stage lighting director who discovers his wife's infidelity when she becomes comatose after a near-fatal car accident with her lover. The film had a weak domestic run but due to Bae's star power, it set a new box office record for a Korean film in Japan with . Bae then entered the restaurant business, by establishing restaurants and cafes that capitalize on the
well-being trend. He owns health food restaurant Gorilla in the Kitchen and high-end traditional Korean restaurant Gosire. As the most famous Korean actor in Japan, he became a proponent for Korean cuisine, and his Gosire lunchboxes (or
bento) are sold in Japanese convenience stores and supermarkets. In 2006, Bae became one of Korea's wealthiest celebrities as the majority
shareholder (34.6%) of management agency
KeyEast (his stocks are valued at as of May 2015). Most of the KeyEast executives, including president Bae Sung-woong, are Bae's former managers and have worked with him for more than ten years. He was paid () per episode, making him the highest paid Korean television actor of all time. In 2009, Bae and
Winter Sonata co-star
Choi Ji-woo reunited as voice actors for the animated series
Winter Sonata Anime, which aired in Japan. He also wrote a book of
photo-essays ''A Journey in Search of Korea's Beauty
, which promoted Korean traditional culture such as ceramics, liquor, hanbok, pansori, hanok, Hangul, kimchi-making, temple stays, museums and historical sites. It became a bestseller, and has been translated to Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese and English. A Journey in Search of Korea's Beauty'' was later turned into an eight-episode
TV documentary that aired on
MBC Life in 2011. In 2009 and 2010, he was the star of
D3 Publisher's
Nintendo DS edutainment series Bae Yong-joon to Manabu Kankokugo DS ("Learn Korean with Bae Yong-joon"), consisting of three games: Bae Yong-joon to Manabu Kankokugo DS (beginner level), Bae Yong-joon to Manabu Kankokugo DS Date Hen (intermediate level), and Bae Yong-joon to Manabu Kankokugo DS Test Hen (advanced level). Bae and KeyEast entered into a joint partnership with
Park Jin-young and
JYP Entertainment in 2009, which eventually produced
Dream High (2011), a teen musical series that revolved around the lives of students attending a high school for the performing arts. As creative producer, Bae supervised the screenplay and production; he also appeared in a four-episode
guest arc. The collaboration between KeyEast and JYPE, named Holym, lasted until 2013. ==Personal life==