Born in 1970, Cha Seungwon started out as a fashion model in 1988, just after high school, but it was when he moved to acting in the late 1990s that he rose to stardom. After he was cast in a small role in the melodrama <Holiday Inn Seoul> (1997), Cha made his television debut with the 1997 sitcom <New York Story>. Although he played a dandy businessman in the hit sports drama <If the sun rises in the west> (1998), Cha failed to draw attention. It was eventu...More

Born in 1970, Cha Seungwon started out as a fashion model in 1988, just after high school, but it was when he moved to acting in the late 1990s that he rose to stardom. After he was cast in a small role in the melodrama <Holiday Inn Seoul> (1997), Cha made his television debut with the 1997 sitcom <New York Story>. Although he played a dandy businessman in the hit sports drama <If the sun rises in the west> (1998), Cha failed to draw attention. It was eventually his participation to various talk shows in 1998 that got him noticed, and soon thereafter he started to receive more important roles starting with <Ghost In Love> (1999). After a cameo appearance in the influential comedy <Attack The Gas Station!> (1999), Cha was part of the main cast for <Fin De Siecle> (1999) and was offered the lead role in <Black Honeymoon> (2000). Just when he made a strong impression with his performance as a serial arsonist in <Libera Me> (2000), Cha took his fans by surprise when he ventured into comedy with Kim Sangjin’s <Kick the Moon> (2001), which released to commercial success. Cha then appeared in a number of comedy films such as Jang Jin’s <Jail Breakers> (2002) and Kim Sangjin’s <Ghost House> (2004). Putting aside the comic roles he had come to be known for, he then appeared in the grisly period-set thriller <Blood Rain> (2004) and the drama film <Over the Border> (2006), the latter of which - about a North Korean refugee trying to start a new life in the South after his wife stayed in the North - proved that he has more range than many would have given him credit for. After the thriller <Eye for an Eye> and the period action film <Blades of Blood>, Cha ushered in the next decade with the Korean War film <71: Into the Fire> (2010), playing as a vicious North Korean general. Following a successful take as a haughty star in the hit romcom series <The Greatest Love> (2011) that brought him many endorsement deals, Cha teamed up with Jang Jin once more in 2014, starring as a transgender detective in the colorful noir thriller <Man on High Heels> (2013). After a 3-year long gap, he returned as a real-life cartographer in the period drama <The Map Against the World> (2016). He then joined the main cast of the thriller <Believer> (2017). He then headlined <CHEER UP, MR. LEE> (2019), his first comedy film in more than a decade. With the blockbuster action film <Sinkhole> (2021), of which he is the leading actor, Cha is confirming his status as a star of Korean cinema.


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