1997–2001: Beginnings and rise to fame Jang Yong-jun spent most of his childhood and adolescence in his birthplace,
Busan. In 1996, Jeong Hoon-tak, who ran a management company named EBM Production Co., after success elevated
Jung Woo-sung and
Kim Ji-ho as top star, met Jeong Yong-jun, a 20-year-old young man who was a student at
Seoul Institute of the Arts. He was convinced that the innocence in the face of Jung Yong-joon, which exudes sadness and strange charisma would become a "weapon". Jung Hoon-tak pushed Jung Yong-joon into the accommodation of the group god members who were still preparing for their debut. And started the harsh training. With Jung, who has his own confidence that "only those who are prepared can succeed," Jung Yong-joon prepared for a long time. After Lee Seung-hwan's music video, Jung Yong-joon making his acting debut in 1997 in the
television drama Model under his stage name Jang hyuk. Besides the teen series
School (1999) and a minor role in the little-seen film
Zzang (The Best), Jang appeared in the
music video of "
To Mother", the 1999 debut
single of popular
boyband g.o.d, whom he was housemates with at that time. Also in 1999, he played the good-hearted yet aggressive Myung-ha in the series
Into the Sunlight. Using the stage name "TJ", he had a brief career as a rapper and acted in several music videos from his rap album
TJ Project, which was released in 2000. Jang's career first began to take off in 2001, when he was cast in the lead role of the special-effects extravaganza
Volcano High with actress
Shin Min-a. His acting in the eccentric role drew praise from fans and critics.
2002–2004: Mainstream popularity and controversy In 2002 he continued to make a name for himself, starring in the
sleeper hit Jungle Juice, which made the top of the weekly box-office. His popularity continued to increase when he starred in the hugely popular TV drama
Successful Story of a Bright Girl with actress
Jang Na-ra. He also took a role in
Public Toilet, the HK-Korea co-production by acclaimed
Hong Kong director
Fruit Chan which won a Special Mention in the Upstream section of the
2002 Venice Film Festival. Jang continued to appear in high-profile projects; in 2003, Jang starred alongside
Lee Na-young in the comedy
Please Teach Me English, by director
Kim Sung-su and the following year, he starred opposite
Jun Ji-hyun in
Kwak Jae-yong's
Windstruck. Although
Windstruck was generally not well received in Korea, it went on to beat
Shiri and become one of the best-selling Korean films in Japan. In late 2004, together with fellow actors
Song Seung-heon and
Han Jae-suk, Jang was found to have illegally avoided his
mandatory military service through his and Han's agency
SidusHQ. Amid widespread public condemnation, Jang apologized to his fans, then began to serve his two-year military term.
2006–2009: Career revival and international collaborations After his discharge from the military in 2006, Jang made his comeback in the drama series
Thank You. A heartwarming story about a young single mother (played by
Gong Hyo-jin) with an
HIV-positive daughter and the cynical doctor who enters their lives,
Thank You surprisingly became a modest hit, and with it Jang left the
stigma of his draft-dodging scandal behind him. He then signed up for the international movie production
Dance of the Dragon (2008), a love story that mixed
ballroom dancing with
martial arts action and costarred
Singaporean actress
Fann Wong. He won the Best Actor award at the inaugural West Hollywood International Film Festival for his role. Jang also made a
cameo in
Japanese drama Ryokiteki na Kanojo, a remake of the 2001 Korean film
My Sassy Girl. After his earlier guesting on star
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi's talk show, the director of the drama reportedly added new scenes for Jang that were not included in the original script. Jang then appeared as the love interest in three music videos of
Taiwanese singer
Elva Hsiao. More leading roles in TV dramas followed, including
Robber (2008) and
Tazza (2008) adapted from the
gambling manhwa. In 2009, he appeared in the
short film His Concern in the
omnibus Five Senses of Eros, the risque
thriller Searching for the Elephant, and the
melodrama Maybe.
2010–2013: Critical acclaim and continued success In 2010, he received the best reviews of his career for his leading role as the slave hunter ("chuno") Dae-gil in the hit fusion
period drama The Slave Hunters. His acting coach of 14 years described Jang as being relentless in his analysis of a character. According to Jang, "It is easy to fail if you don't understand the steps one has to take to be famous." He won several acting awards, most significantly the Grand Prize ("Daesang") at the
KBS Drama Awards, and a Best Actor nomination at the 2011
International Emmy Awards. In the same year, he starred in
Fall in Love with Anchor Beauty, the
Chinese remake of 2000 Korean drama
All About Eve.
Fall in Love with Anchor Beauty received high ratings in China during its run. Back in Korea, Jang played a fund manager-turned-lawyer in 2011's
Midas, also starring
Lee Min-jung and
Kim Hee-ae. He next starred in
legal thriller
The Client (2011) with
Ha Jung-woo and
Park Hee-soon, saying the film satisfied his wish to portray a more emotionally complex persona. Playing a man accused of murdering his wife, Jang said he had to find "the right balance" "as someone who can appear at times like a criminal or at other times like an innocent man." Initially reluctant to sign on to period drama
Deep Rooted Tree (2011) because he found the role of low-level royal guard Kang Chae-yoon uninteresting in the original novel, Jang changed his mind upon reading that the character had been dramatized and made richer in the TV script. It tells the story of Kang investigating a case involving the serial murders of
Jiphyeonjeon scholars in
Gyeongbokgung while
King Sejong (played by
Han Suk-kyu) is developing the
Korean alphabet. In 2013, he headlined
Iris II, the sequel to the
2009 spy action series. This was his third acting collaboration with actress
Lee Da-hae, after
Robber and
The Slave Hunters. He also returned to the big screen in 2013 blockbuster
disaster film The Flu, in which he and
Soo Ae played a firefighter and a doctor racing against time to find the cure for a deadly strain of the cold virus. To the surprise of many given his past draft-dodging scandal, he then joined
Real Men, a weekly show in which six male celebrities are filmed
documentary-style as they enter army
boot camp. This was Jang's first regular appearance on a variety/
reality show in his 17-year acting career. He said, "I'd like to use this opportunity to reflect on myself through
Real Men and to experience army life again." He appeared on
Real Men from June 2013 to February 2014. He then wrote a collection of
essays on his life experiences titled
Jang Hyuk, Hot-Blooded Man, published on August 6, 2013.
2014–present In 2014, he reunited with
Volcano High director
Kim Tae-kyun in
Innocent Thing, a thriller about a high school girl who becomes obsessed with her married gym teacher. He also teamed up again with
Successful Story of a Bright Girl costar Jang Na-ra in
You Are My Destiny, a Korean remake of the
similarly titled 2008 Taiwanese drama. Shortly after, he and Jang starred together for the third time in
Old Farewell, about a boxer who travels into the past and re-encounters his recently deceased wife. It was part of the single-episode anthology
Drama Festival, and helmed by one of their directors on
Fated. In 2015, Jang returned to the milieu of period dramas with
Shine or Go Crazy, a fictional romance between a cursed
Goryeo prince and the last princess of
Balhae. The film
Empire of Lust followed, in which he played the wily and ambitious
Yi Bang-won who launched a coup to become the king of
Joseon. He was next cast in the Chinese film
Inside or Outside, a detective mystery co-starring
Simon Yam and
Wallace Huo. Jang then played a Joseon innkeeper merchant in
The Merchant: Gaekju 2015. In 2016, Jang was cast in the Chinese drama
New Sea. Back in Korea, Jang starred in KBS's medical drama
A Beautiful Mind, playing a genius neurosurgeon. Though the drama was critically praised, the number of episodes were brought down from 16 to 14 because of low viewer ratings. In 2017, he starred in his first cable drama, crime thriller
Voice by
OCN, where he played an ex-detective who joined a call center's team to track his wife's killer.
Voice became a hit and its ratings broke
OCN's dramas records when it was aired in Korea. His movie
Ordinary Person opposite
Son Hyun-joo was released in March 2017, where he acted as a manipulative National Planning Security chief. He also starred in weekend drama
Money Flower, earning much acclaim and a Baeksang Arts Awards Best Actor nomination for his role as a revenge-seeking lawyer. The same year, he was cast in action film
The Swordsman. In 2018, Jang returned to the small screen with SBS' romantic comedy drama
Wok of Love, playing a former gangster turned restaurant owner; and MBC's action melodrama
Bad Papa, playing a former champion boxer who chose to become a bad man in order to become a good father. In 2019, he took part in reality TV program
Urban Cops where celebrities team up with real life cops to solve crimes in the city. In 2020, Jang acted as a genius profiler in OCN drama
Tell Me What You Saw. His movie
The Swordsman was released in September 2020. The same year, he took part in reality TV program
Yacht Expedition: The Beginning. In 2021, Jang took part in outdoor survival variety TV program
Law of the Jungle-Pioneers and cooking show
National Bang Bang Cook Cook. His noir movie
Tomb of the River was released in November 2021. In 2022, Jang returned to the small screen with KBS2's historical drama
Bloody Heart, playing the first vice-premier and a living symbol of power and a figure that everyone obeys. His movie
The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die made its world premiere at the Udine
Far East Film Festival in April 2022, held a red carpet premiere at Los Angeles in June 2022 and hit the big screens simultaneously in South Korea and North America on July 13, 2022. He also won the Daniel A. Craft award for Excellence in Action Cinema at the
21st New York Asian Film Festival. In November 2022, he took part as a judge in tvN's variety program
Super Action. In March 2023, Jang decided not to renew his contract with Sidus HQ after working with the agency for 26 years since his debut. In April, he returned to the small screen with tvN's drama
Family: The Unbreakable Bond. In August, he took part in reality TV travel program
Express Delivery: Mongolia Edition. In August 2024, Jang's interactive film
In the Realm of Ripley made its world premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival. In January 2025, it was announced that Jang will make his directional debut with action film 'Stop Stop Dark Cold', in a partnership with a Hollywood-based production team. In February 2025, Jang's reality TV program ''Language Training Before It's Too Late: Shala Shala in Cambridge
was aired. He also took part as a cast member in music entertainment show Handsome Trot''. In 2026, he was cast in the historical drama Munmu, a production of KBS. He plays Yeon Gaesomun, the god of war and a ruthless dictator born by Goguryeo. ==Ambassadorship==