Yoo Hai Jin

Born in 1970, Yoo Hai Jin joined the Mokhwa Repertory Company and started performing in bit roles. His first appearance in film was in (1997), playing a foul-mouthed truck driver. His performances as gangsters in the cult comedy (1999) and (2002) quickly established him as one of the most well-known and reliable character actors. He could be seen in the China-Korea coproduced action (2001), but in the several years that came after he mostly appeared in comedies such as (2001), (2002), (2003), (2005) and (2004). Yoo found opportunities in increasingly weightier roles, and now has become a bona fide marquee name in the box office. He took distinctive roles, playing a suspicious villager in (2005), a blockhead who cannot stay away from gambling in (2006), a county public officer who cannot stop bragging about himself in (2007), and the titular character’s pet dog in (2009). Yoo next appeared in films such as the Korean War drama (2011), the thriller (2012) and the virus outbreak film (2013). Three films followed in 2014, including the melodrama (2014), the crime sequel (2014) and the hit swashbuckler (2014), for which he was given a Best Supporting Actor prize from the Grand Bell Film Awards. 2015 saw him star in two high profile thrillers, Ryoo Seungwan’s (2015) and Kwak Kyungtaek’s (2015). After he headlined a film for the first time in the comedy (2016), which scored just short of 7 million admissions, he became a major box office magnet. He also played the South Korean counterpart to Hyun Bin’s North Korean detective in (2017). He then took on a meaty supporting role in (2017), one of the most-watched films ever in Korea with 12 million admissions, and he finished the year starring in the hit historical drama <1987: When the Day Comes> (2017). As one of the most celebrated comedy actors, Yoo also starred in the word-of-mouth hit comedy (2018). In 2019, he took a role in the period dramas and . In 2021, he appeared as a cyborg in the space sci-fi film (2020), and he reprised his role in the Chuseok holiday season chart topper . Less