Born in 1975, Chung Sunghwa entered the drama department of the Seoul Institute of the Arts in 1993, and his activities as a member of the school comedians club led him to be elected president of the group. In 1994, having joined public broadcaster SBS to serve as a floor director, the producer of the show, noticing how he would easily draw attention before shooting, recommended him to go to an open audition for comedians held by SBS, and lo and behold, he joined the channel...More

Born in 1975, Chung Sunghwa entered the drama department of the Seoul Institute of the Arts in 1993, and his activities as a member of the school comedians club led him to be elected president of the group. In 1994, having joined public broadcaster SBS to serve as a floor director, the producer of the show, noticing how he would easily draw attention before shooting, recommended him to go to an open audition for comedians held by SBS, and lo and behold, he joined the channel’s rooster of comedians who would entertain viewers on the weekends. He even momentarily joined the group of comedians-turns-pop idols Tin Tin Five to replace one of the members. However, his lack of commitment resulted in him being replaced shortly after, and Chung then decided to enlist for his military service in 1996.
He resumed his career when he was cast in the drama series <Kaist> in 1999, a role which earned him some recognition. This was followed by several sitcoms such as <The March> (1999). He debuted in film in the 2003 historical comedy <Once Upon a Time on the Battlefield>. But it was in theater that his talent for mimicking would be in high demand. In 2004, stage musical producer Seol Doyoon saw him in a duo play called <Island> and offered him a role in his upcoming musical, <I Love You>. Chung would find success through many other musicals such as <Man of La Mancha> and <Les Miserables>, but none of them would compare to the sensation that <Hero> would become. Starring as the real-life Korean independence hero Ahn Junggeun, Chung has participated in every performance from the premiere in 2009 through all the subsequent runs until 2022 and received a large number of awards for his role.
More frequent on the big screen from the 2010s, he mainly appeared in comedies such as <Meet the In-Laws> (2011), <Dancing Queen> (2011) and <The Pirates> (2014). When it was announced that <Hero> would receive the film adaptation treatment, Chung was naturally offered to reprise his iconic role in the title, released in 2022.
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