Jo Woojin, born in 1979, decided after high school to go to Seoul and study drama at the Seoul Institute of the Arts despite the opposition of his parents. Having debuted on stage with a performance of <Last Embrace> in 1999, he spent years taking various roles in theater before making his first big screen appearance in the medium-length student film <Peels> (2009). His first commercial film credit came a couple of years later, in the family drama <Mama> (20...More

Jo Woojin, born in 1979, decided after high school to go to Seoul and study drama at the Seoul Institute of the Arts despite the opposition of his parents. Having debuted on stage with a performance of <Last Embrace> in 1999, he spent years taking various roles in theater before making his first big screen appearance in the medium-length student film <Peels> (2009). His first commercial film credit came a couple of years later, in the family drama <Mama> (2011). He has played a large range of supporting roles both in films and on television but remained mostly unnoticed until he finally struck gold when he played against Lee Byunghun in the noir crime thriller <Inside Men> (2015). His screen presence made such a strong impression on the audience, he signed his first contract with a talent agency soon after and it helped him receive more role offers, mostly for similar thriller films. He tormented Lee Byunghun again in 2017 in the critically acclaimed historical drama <The Fortress> (2017), this time as part of the main cast, and gained wider recognition playing in TV series such as <Squad 38> (2016) and <Guardian: The Lonely and Great God> (2017). He was also noted for his solid performance in the nuclear crisis thriller film <Steel Rain> (2017). Starring as Korea’s Vice-Minister of Finance in the historical financial drama <Default> (2018), he won the Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. By sheer coincidence, that wasn’t the only financial drama he starred in that year, as he could also be seen in <Money> (2018). He was also a scene-stealer in the hit historical drama series <Mr. Sunshine> (2018), playing an English interpreter who ends up working for the Korean Emperor. As he raised his profile, he joined the main cast of historical war drama <The Battle: Roar to Victory> (2019), sci-fi drama <SEOBOK> (2019) and heist action <Collectors>, and in 2021 he was offered top billing in the thriller <Hard Hit> (2021). In 2022, he appeared in the political drama <Kingmaker> (2021).Less