Photo: sisaprime / CC BY 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Ha Jung-woo is one of those rare actors who makes every genre look easy — thrillers, horror, dark comedies, prestige dramas — and yet never seems like he's coasting. His real name is Kim Sung-hoon, but he built the Ha Jung-woo brand through sheer range and a quiet intensity that sneaks up on you. The Yellow Sea and The Chaser back-to-back basically announced him as a force to take seriously, and he just kept delivering. His films have sold over 100 million tickets in South Korea, a milestone only a handful of actors have ever reached, and he got there faster than any of them. He won the Asian Film Award for Best Actor, which feels both well-deserved and a bit overdue given how long he'd been carrying films by then. I genuinely look forward to whatever he picks next.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ha Jung-woo
- Name (Japanese)
- ハ・ジョンウ
- Reading
- は・じょんう
- Born
- March 11, 1978 (age 48)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Horse
- Origin
- South Korea, United States
- Occupation
- actor / film actor / stage actor / director / film director
2. Background
- University
- Chung-Ang University
Awards & achievements
- Asian Film Award for Best Actor
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Ha Jung-woo born?
Born March 11, 1978 (age 48).
Where is Ha Jung-woo from?
Ha Jung-woo is from South Korea, United States.
What does Ha Jung-woo do?
Ha Jung-woo works as actor, film actor, stage actor, director, film director.
Actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.