1998–2004: Struggling actor Uhm Tae-woong was unsure which college course to take, so he initially joined Kyungmin College's theater department because his crush was there. But even after the girl shifted majors, Uhm stayed after having befriended a fellow student who would become his current manager, and began acting in earnest. Then in 2004, Uhm played a dying man in the acclaimed
Drama City episode
Blue Skies of Jeju Island, a well-received performance for which he won his first acting trophy at the 2004
KBS Drama Awards.
2005: Breakthrough Uhm began his rise to popularity with the 2005 romantic comedy series
Sassy Girl Chun-hyang, a modern retelling of the classic Korean folktale
Chunhyangjeon. But instead of the villainous magistrate of the folktale, Uhm played a talent agency executive who becomes obsessed with the heroine. But it was
Resurrection later that year that cemented his stardom. He had originally been cast as the antagonist, but after lead actor
Park Yong-woo dropped out three weeks before filming due to scheduling conflicts, director Park Chan-hong took a risk and cast Uhm as the protagonist. Playing
dual roles as two very different
identical twins, one of whom embarks on a quest for revenge, it was Uhm's first leading role in a TV series. Despite low ratings,
Resurrection was a critical hit and gained a
cult following, and one review praised Uhm for "the kind of acting expected from
Song Kang-ho and
Choi Min-sik," not from a young little-known actor who'd previously appeared in a few projects in supporting roles. His growing fanbase nicknamed him "the UhmForce" (derived from
Star Wars), and he received an Excellence Award from the 2005 KBS Drama Awards and a Best TV Actor nomination from the
2006 Baeksang Arts Awards.
2006–2008: Leading roles continue In 2006, he and
Resurrection leading lady
Han Ji-min were cast in
Wolf, but an on-set accident that injured Han and co-star
Eric Mun led to production being halted and the series was cancelled after airing only three episodes. Uhm moved on to
Stranger Than Paradise, in which he played the manager of a singer, the same woman his long-lost brother also falls in love with. He also joined the ensemble cast of
Kim Tae-yong's critically acclaimed film
Family Ties, playing a reckless but charming man who suddenly shows up at his sister's door with a live-in partner 20 years his senior. For this role, Uhm won Best New Actor at the
Chunsa Film Art Awards. In 2007, Uhm, reunited with
Resurrection's director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo in
Lucifer, the second in Park and Kim's
noir vengeance trilogy that explore the conflict between good and evil, and sin and punishment. He gave another memorable lead performance as a detective hunting down a serial killer while attempting to atone for his past. Uhm also starred in December romance
My Love, in which his character is a
Free Hugs activist who returns to Korea after six years overseas in the hopes of finding his ex-girlfriend. Finally no longer known as simply "Uhm Jung-hwa's kid brother," This was followed by the
black comedy Chaw, in which his character is a policeman battling with a mutant boar. Uhm then starred as 7th-century
Silla general
Kim Yushin in the popular
period drama Queen Seondeok, for which he received a Top Excellence Award at the
2009 MBC Drama Awards. Romantic comedy
Cyrano Agency was the 8th most commercially successful Korean film of 2010, and in it, Uhm played a theater actor-turned-
dating coach whose ex-girlfriend is being pursued by his client. While in
Dr. Champ, after his character's
ice hockey career was ended by injury, he became a cranky
sports medicine doctor reminiscent of
Gregory House.
2011–2013: Reality show In 2011, Uhm joined the cast of
2 Days & 1 Night, a popular variety-
reality show which travels throughout Korea, featuring small towns and their inhabitants. Through it, viewers discovered the real-life shy, dorky personality behind Uhm's intense screen persona. Meanwhile, he continued with his acting projects. He acted opposite
2 Days & 1 Night co-star
Joo Won in
S.I.U., as two detectives who team up against corruption in their ranks. In 2012, Uhm played one half of a quirky terminally ill couple in
Never Ending Story, and an architect building his first love's house in
Architecture 101 (the latter was a box-office hit, breaking records at the time as the top-grossing Korean melodrama of all time). He returned to television in another revenge-themed drama,
Man from the Equator. Uhm drew praise for his performance as a blind man, and received an Excellence Award from the
2012 KBS Drama Awards, as well as a Best TV Actor nomination from the
2013 Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2013, he made a
guest appearance in Joo Won's spy comedy series
7th Grade Civil Servant. Uhm then reunited with
Man from the Equator director Kim Yong-soo in
The Blade and Petal, a period drama set in
Goguryeo. He played
Yeon Gaesomun's fictional illegitimate son who has a forbidden romance with the princess whose father, the
king, was
killed by Yeon in a coup. Veteran actor
Park Joong-hoon then cast Uhm in the lead role in Park's directorial debut
Top Star. He played a manager who dreams of becoming an actor. Later that year, Uhm left
2 Days & 1 Night along with other regulars
Lee Soo-geun,
Sung Si-kyung, and
Yoo Hae-jin.
2014: Cable dramas In early 2014, Uhm played an arrogant film director who falls in love with a divorcee in
Can We Fall in Love, Again?, which aired on cable channel
jTBC. This was followed later in the year by
Righteous Love from
tvN, in which his character's marriage is put to the test after his wife has an affair, so as a
marine researcher he sets out to prove that her new romance is "invalid."
2015: Back to variety In January 2015, Uhm and his daughter Ji-on began appearing in
The Return of Superman, a reality show in which male celebrities take care of their young children for 48 hours. He left the program in October 2015. ==Personal life==