Yoo Seung-ho

Yoo Seung-ho
In January 2016
Born	(1993-08-17) 17 August 1993 Incheon, South Korea
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present
Agent	San Entertainment
Korean name
Hangul	유승호
Hanja	俞承豪
Revised Romanization	Yu Seung-ho
McCune–Reischauer	Yu Sŭngho

Yoo Seung-ho (Hangul: 유승호; Hanja: 俞承豪; born 17 August 1993) is a South Korean actor. He rose to fame as a child actor in The Way Home (2002), and has since featured in films and televisions series, including teen drama Master of Study (2010), suspense thriller Blind (2011), and romantic comedy Operation Proposal (2012). After his two-year mandatory military service, Yoo starred in the legal drama Remember: War of the Son (2015) and films The Magician (2015) and Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River (2016).

Early life and education

Born and raised in Incheon, Yoo is the younger of two siblings, he later said that his family had been poor.^[1]

Yoo graduated from Baekshin High School in February 2012.^[2] He decided not to pursue a college education in order to concentrate on his acting career.^[3][4][5][6]

Career

1999-2009: Beginnings as child actor

Yoo made his entertainment debut in a cellphone commercial in 1999 after Yoo's mother sent in a photo of her son to an ad agency.^[1]

In 2000 Yoo began his career as a child actor, first appearing in television dramas. He rose to stardom in his first film The Way Home, playing a bratty city boy who learns to appreciate country life when he's forced to spend the summer with his deaf-mute grandmother. The low-budget film was a surprise box office hit in 2002, drawing more than 4 million admissions.^[7] He was then affectionately labeled as "Korea's Younger Brother". Thereafter, Yoo also starred in animal movie Heart Is... (2006) about a boy and his beloved dog, and Unforgettable (2008) about school children from a remote island who go on a field trip to a candy factory in Seoul during the 1970s.^[8][9][10]

He continued acting in television, playing younger counterparts of male protagonists in television dramas, including general Yi Sun-sin in Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin (2004), King Seongjong in The King and I (2007), and Gwanggaeto the Great in The Legend (2007).^[11]

In 2009, Yoo starred in City of Fathers and 4th Period Mystery. He also appeared as Kim Chunchu in the period epic Queen Seondeok.

2010-2012: Teen leading roles

In his teens, Yoo was cast in one of the major roles in Master of Study (2010), a Korean screen adaptation of Japanese manga Dragon Zakura^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

In November 2012

He then played a more mature role in Flames of Desire, as the second-generation son of a wealthy chaebol family who is uninterested in the battles of succession among his relatives and becomes a married man at 21.^[17] Later that year, Yoo sang a duet with singer/actress IU titled "Believe in Love" for the charity program Love Request.^[18]

In 2011, Yoo trained in swordplay and martial arts in his role as an assassin in Warrior Baek Dong-soo, an action-period drama based on the manhwa by Lee Jae-heon.^[19] He was also one of the voice actors for Leafie, a Hen into the Wild, which was adapted from a bestselling children's novel by Hwang Sun-mi.^[20] He then co-starred with Kim Ha-neul in the thriller Blind.^[21]

In 2012, Yoo was cast in his first role as a leading man in Operation Proposal, a Korean remake of the Japanese drama Proposal Daisakusen.^[22][23]

This was followed by a supporting role as the Jade Emperor, ruler of the heavens, in the fantasy-period drama Arang and the Magistrate.^[24] Afterwards, he starred in the melodrama Missing You, playing a cold man who hides a vengeance-filled heart behind his seemingly gentle smile.^[25][26][27]

Known in the press as "Little So Ji-sub" for his resemblance to the said actor, in 2013 Yoo starred in the music video for So's single "Eraser" together with Park Shin-hye. This was his second time promoting So's musical endeavors, after "Lonely Life" in 2008.^[28][29] Following that, Yoo's first photo book titled Travel Letter, Spring Snow, And... was published; it was the last project shot by celebrity photographer Bori before her death on 9 April 2013.^[30]

2013-2014: Military service

Yoo enlisted for his mandatory military service as a regular soldier, without media fanfare, on 5 March 2013 where he reportedly worked as a trainer of new recruits.^[31] He drew praise for doing so at age 19 unlike most male Korean celebrities who choose to delay their enlistment until they turn 29.^{[5][32][33][34][35]} Yoo was discharged on 4 December 2014.^[36][37]

2015-present: Comeback with adult roles

As his first post-army project, Yoo appeared in the music video for Naul's "You From the Same Time" in 2015. He was next cast as a stubborn webcomic writer raising a cat in the TV adaptation of webtoon Imaginary Cat.^[38][39] Yoo followed this by starring in the joseon-era romance film The Magician directed by Kim Dae-seung, in which he plays a circus magician who falls in love with a princess. Yoo was then cast in SBS's legal thriller series Remember – War of the Son as a lawyer with hyperthymesia who defends his father on death row.^[40][41]

In 2016, Yoo starred in Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River as the titular Kim Seon-dal. The film received positive reviews for its effective use of satire, and was a solid mid-level hit in Korea. In October 2016, Yoo was announced to be starring in MBC's historical melodrama Ruler: Master of the Mask, playing Crown Prince Lee San. The drama is slated for a 2017 release.^[42]

Filmography

Film

Television series

Music video

Discography

Bibliography

Endorsements

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yoo Seung-ho.

• Yoo Seung-ho Fan Cafe at Daum (Korean)
• Yoo Seung-ho at the Korean Movie Database
• Yoo Seung-ho at the Internet Movie Database
• Yoo Seung-ho at HanCinema