Acting Film Jung was selected as an actor through street casting by former Sidus CEO Cha Seung-jae, who was the head of the production department at the film company Shin Cine at the time. Directed by
Kim Sung-su,
Beat is about a high school student forced into gang life. The movie brought Jung widespread fame and started his rise to Korea's
A-list and made him one of the most sought-after commercial models. In 1999, he starred in
City of the Rising Sun, playing an unsuccessful boxer who befriends an unlucky swindler. His co-lead in the movie, actor
Lee Jung-jae, became his lifelong friend. Jung later played a naval lieutenant in
Phantom: The Submarine and a marathoner in
Love. and appearing in a large number of commercials, Jung took on the eccentric lead role in
Mutt Boy, the fifth film by director
Kwak Kyung-taek. and a demon hunter seeking his lost love (played by
Kim Tae-hee) in
The Restless.
Kim Jee-woon's "kimchi western"
The Good, the Bad, the Weird inspired by Sergio Leone's work, would become one of Jung's most iconic roles. He used his physicality to great effect as the
Clint Eastwood counterpart in
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The film was screened out of competition at the
2008 Cannes Film Festival, which also marked its world premiere. Jung attended the festival with his co-stars. He won Best Supporting Actor at the
3rd Asian Film Awards and Outstanding Achievement in Acting at the 2008
Hawaii International Film Festival for his performance. Shortly afterwards, Jung worked again with
Kim Jee-woon on a
short film for
W Korea. Jung then starred alongside Chinese actress
Gao Yuanyuan in
Hur Jin-ho's romance film
A Season of Good Rain, and Su Chao-pin's martial arts film
Reign of Assassins with
Michelle Yeoh. In 2011, Jung was cast in the English-language
3D remake of
John Woo's
The Killer. The film was to be shot in Los Angeles and reunite him with
A Moment to Remember director John H. Lee and
Reign of Assassins director
John Woo acting also as producer. The project was put on hold while John Woo worked on another film. But the project never progressed. 2013Jung drew praise in his first villain role in
Cold Eyes, an action thriller and box office hit in 2013. He portrayed the ruthless head of a criminal organization specializing in bank robbery, eluding detectives chasing him with uncanny dexterity. Jung next played a
baduk player seeking revenge in
The Divine Move, followed by an adulterous university professor gradually losing his eyesight in
Scarlet Innocence.
Scarlet Innocence had its world premiere at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival, attracting positive reviews from critics. He then took a leading role in the melodrama
indie feature ''
Don't Forget Me, also known as Remember You
, a remake of the 2010 short film Remember O Goddess,'' both directed by Lee Yoon-jung. Jung also co-produced this movie, explaining that he wanted to protect the director's original ideas that other producers wanted to modify. In 2016, he starred in the noir crime thriller
Asura: The City of Madness, his fourth collaboration with director
Kim Sung-su. Jung played a crooked detective who attempts to save his terminally ill wife while arresting a corrupt town mayor.
Asura premiered globally at the 41st
Toronto Film Festival in September 2016, where it was shown in the Special Presentations section. The actor's second movie shot in 2016 and released in 2017 was
Han Jae-rim's political drama
The King, whose plot revolves around a senior prosecutor being manipulated by an overambitious younger colleague connected to the mob. In 2017, Jung starred in
Steel Rain as a former agent from North Korea's intelligence bureau. In 2018, he played an officer of the elite police unit in the science fiction action thriller
Illang: The Wolf Brigade. Based on the Japanese
anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, the work was his second collaboration with director
Kim Jee-woon. In 2019, he starred in the dramatic film
Innocent Witness as a lawyer. His performance earned him the Grand Prize in film at the
Baeksang Arts Awards. The same year, he starred in the thriller
Beasts that Cling to the Straw. In 2020, Jung starred in the sequel to
Steel Rain, titled
Steel Rain 2: Summit. Jung starred alongside Lee Jung-jae in the latter's directorial debut, the spy action film
Hunt, which premiered at
2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Television In 1995 Jung appeared in his first major television role in
SBS drama series
Asphalt Man, playing an aspiring race driver who leaves to United States to realize his dream. The part not only expanded his popularity but also brought him critical acclaim with Best New Actor award at 32nd
Baeksang Arts Awards and
SBS Drama Awards. In 2010 Jung returned to the small screen after 15 years' absence in the big-budget spy series
Athena: Goddess of War, playing an NTS (National Anti-Terror Service) agent.
Athena was a
spin-off to the 2009 highly successful
KBS2 drama
IRIS. With a budget of (), the series was shot on location in Italy, New Zealand, Japan and the United States. The aired in SBS channel, and its pilot episodes gathered 22.8% of the audience share. Jung and another actor were injured during filming in January 2011, causing a week's postponement of one of ''Athena's
episodes. The series was also edited into a two-hour movie version, and released in 2011 as Athena: The Movie''. Jung made his Japanese drama debut with a
guest appearance in episodes 6 and 7 of
Good Life ~Arigatou, Papa. Sayonara~. He followed that with another TV series
Padam Padam which marked the establishment of new cable broadcasting station
JTBC. Jung said he "decided on this drama because (he) was drawn to the way
Noh Hee-kyung writes 'family drama.' Whether mother-son or father-son, the love and pain experienced by families is something (he)'d like to try portraying in a realistic way." He played a man who has recently been released from jail after serving a 16-year sentence for a crime he didn't commit. The series premiered on December 5, 2011. In December 2020, he replaced
Bae Seung-woo for SBS television series
Delayed Justice as leading role. Jung served as an executive producer for Netflix series
The Silent Sea in 2021. and in 2022 he will star remake of Japanese drama
Say Me to Love Me Directing In 2000 Jung had started to try his hand at directing. His first works were music videos for one of the top South Korean pop music group
G.o.d. In 2012, he directed and starred in the promotional commercial for cable channel XTM. And a year later, Jung was among four celebrities who directed a
short film using
smartphone Samsung Galaxy S4 with the theme "Meet a Life Companion." His short
Love explored the feelings of first love, and recorded 1.8 million views on
YouTube. He then directed another short film for Samsung Galaxy S4, this time for the project "Story of Me and S4." In Jung's short
Beginning of a Dream,
Choi Jin-hyuk starred as an ordinary office worker who dreams of leaving his mundane existence and entering a world of fantasy; he is approached by a blue fish, rides a sports car at
supersonic speed, sees a boy floating past holding a balloon, hangs out with a hippie band in their van, and meets himself as a young boy at a bus stop. In 2014, Jung along with actors
Francis Ng and
Chang Chen, directed three short films for
Three Charmed Lives, an
omnibus commissioned by the
Hong Kong International Film Festival. Critics praised Jung's short
The Killer Behind the Old Man as the strongest and most stylish entry. In it, a son hires an ultra-methodical hitman (played by Andy Choi) to assassinate his own father, but the killer however finds himself transfixed by the man's slow-moving and ordered life, and thus hesitates to carry through with his mission. Jung was invited to present
The Killer Behind the Old Man at the 9th London Korean Film Festival in November 2014. His feature directorial debut
A Man of Reason, starring himself,
Kim Nam-gil,
Park Sung-woong, and
Kim Jun-han was invited to the Special Presentations section at
2022 Toronto International Film Festival where it had its world premiere in September 2022.
Talent management In October 2012 Jung left
Taurus Films, his agent since 2009, and established new talent agency
Red Brick House appointing his manager of 10 years as CEO. In May 2016, Jung and actor
Lee Jung-jae co-founded and became CEOs of the talent management agency, Artist Company. Apart from the owners, the company represents other artists, viz.
Lee Si-a,
Go Ara,
Ha Jung-woo,
Esom,
Nam Ji-hyun and
Yum Jung-ah. == Philanthropy ==