Biography
Gong Yoo was born in Busan in 1979. After graduating in Theater at Kyung Hee University, and a series of roles in various film and television projects, he was chosen to play the title role in the drama “Coffee Prince” (2007). The series is an unprecedented success and his career explodes establishing him as one of the most talented actors of his generation. In 2011 he played the main character in the drama film “Silenced”, directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, whose release had a strong impact on society. It is in fact thanks to the film, which tells a true story of child abuse, that a law is approved in Korea that eliminates any statute of limitations for sexual violence against minors under 13 and disabled people. In 2013 he is the hero of the action movie directed by Won Shin-Yun “The Suspect”, in which he plays a North Korean spy, which achieves great critical and box office success. Three years later, the consecration as a great film performer came with the participation in three auteur films: “A Man and a Woman”, by Lee Yoon-ki, “The Age of Shadows” by Master Kim Jee-woon and “Train To Busan”, directed by Yeong Sang-ho and presented at the Cannes Film Festival. During the same year he won a Baeksang Arts Awards for Best Actor for the drama “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God”. In 2019 he is the male protagonist of the film, based on the bestseller of the same name, “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982”. From 2021 to 2025 he appears as a recurring character in the TV series “Squid Game” in the role of the mysterious recruiter of the games affirming his popularity all over the world. He was the protagonist of the Netflix dramas “The Silent Sea” (2021) and “The Trunk” (2025) and of the series, to be released in the first part of 2026, “Tantara”.
Critique
The feeling of an actor
An elegantly dressed man, who has come from who knows where, wanders around the Seoul subway hiring desperate people to participate in deadly games. It is with the role of the enigmatic recruiter in "Squid Game", the Netflix series of records, that the world has known, or rather, recognized the face of Gong Yoo. Horror film fans, in fact, must not have taken long to identify the protagonist of the cult zombie film, now in its tenth anniversary, "Train to Busan" by Yeon Sang-ho. As well as the large audience of dramas, who had already been able to appreciate the skill of this extraordinary performer in serial projects such as "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" (2016). It is in fact thanks to the leading role in a successful series that the actor, not yet thirty years old, gets noticed: when, after years of solid academic preparation (he graduated in Theater at Kyung Hee University and soon began his career as an actor in supporting roles), he was chosen to play the role of the protagonist in the drama "Coffee Prince" (2007), Gong Yoo sees his career explode.
In 2011 a film was released in Korea that would have a shocking impact on the public. It is "Silenced", directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk (creator of "Squid Game"), which tells the (true) story of the abuse perpetrated against the very young deaf-mute pupils of an institute in Gwangiu by school staff. The film made it possible to pass the "Customs Law" (named after the Korean film), which eliminates any statute of limitations for sexual violence against children under the age of thirteen and disabled people. The protagonist, in the role of a young art teacher who realizes with horror what happens in the school where he works, is Gong Yoo, who takes on the responsibility of bringing to light all the humanity of his character, and his sense of frustration, in a very delicate film of denunciation.
In 2013 it was the turn of a completely different role, which would also mark a change in the interpreter's image; for the action film "The Suspect", directed by Won Shin-Yun, the actor transforms to best play the role of a North Korean spy engaged in a race against time. Body control and a more massive physicality allow Gong Yoo to perfectly deal with sequences that involve complicated hand-to-hand combat, in a film that will become a great critical and box office success.
2016 is definitely the year of the turning point in his film career, with the participation in three auteur films, one completely different from the other, but with in common the interpretation of an actor in the midst of his early artistic maturity. In "A Man and a Woman", by Lee Yoon-ki, Gong Yoo is engaged in a dramatic film, with a strong sensual charge, alongside a star like the actress Jeon Do-yeon. The two, for the first time together on screen, play a couple of lovers who the difficulties of life keep apart, forced to consummate their story in a fleeting and passionate way. For "The Age of Shadows", a monumental film by Master Kim Jee-won set during the Japanese occupation, the actor, flanked by his colleague Song Kang-ho, engages in the portrait of a resistance hero with great courage. "Train To Busan", directed by Yeon Sang-ho and presented at the Cannes Film Festival, has become, since its first screening, a cult of zombie-themed horror cinema and Gong Yoo, the absolute protagonist, a true icon, thanks to the formidable performance of a cold businessman who in a few hours, thanks to the emergency, rediscovers his most human side as a father. At the end of the same year he debuted with a drama that would have a worldwide success: "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God", a love story with a fantasy structure that earned Gong Yoo a prestigious Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor.
In 2019 the return to the cinema engaged with the film "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982" which, based on the best seller of the same name by the writer Cho Nam-joo, tells the delicate family balance in a couple who experience postpartum depression and who see Gong Yoo reunite with his colleague Jung Yu-mi ("Silenced", "Train to Busan") to give life to a story of rebirth after pain, a topic of great social importance. After the popularity obtained with "Squid Game" and the science fiction series "The Silent Sea", the actor was the protagonist of the romantic and intimate drama "The Trunk" (2025).
