Joo Won

Joo Won
Born	Moon Jun-won (1987-09-30) September 30, 1987 Seoul, South Korea
Education	Kaywon High School of Arts Sungkyunkwan University (Film and Television) Graduate School of Mass Communications at Konkuk University
Occupation	Actor, Singer
Years active	2007-present
Agent	Huayi Brothers (formerly Sim Entertainment)
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Religion	Christianity
Website	www.joowon508.com
Korean name
Hangul	주원
Hanja	周元
Revised Romanization	Ju-won
McCune–Reischauer	Chu-wŏn
Birth name
Hangul	문준원
Hanja	文晙原
Revised Romanization	Mun Jun-won
McCune–Reischauer	Mun Chun-wŏn

Joo Won (Hangul: 주원; born Moon Jun-won, September 30, 1987) is a South Korean actor.^[1] He is best known for starring in King of Baking, Kim Takgu, Ojakgyo Family, Bridal Mask, Good Doctor, Yong-pal, and Fatal Intuition.

Early life

Moon Jun-won was born in Seoul, South Korea. The youngest in the family, he takes after his father in terms of personality while his physical appearance mirrored that of his mother. His mother has tried out for a talent search during her younger days, passing two out of three examinations.^[2]

When he was eight, his parents sent him and his brother abroad to study in the U.S. However, they came back to Korea after just six months. Joo Won revealed, "If I'd known, I would have stayed a little longer".^[3]

Due to his introvert nature, his parents encouraged him to join plays in the third year of middle school.^[4] He joined an Arts and Drama high school - later revealed to be Kaywon High School of Arts^[5] - and continued his education on Theatre and Arts in Sungkyunkwan University.^[4] In 2013, Joo Won announced that he will be furthering his studies at Konkuk University.^[6]

Career

2006-2009: Debut as a musical actor

Upon making it into college, Joo Won's father came up with the stage name "Joo Won" for him as the Hangul pronunciation of the name sounds similar to "God-willing".^[2][7]

With his love for singing, he became involved in Frees, a co-ed television performance group formed by SBS as part of a children's TV program. The show premiered in 2006, but Joo Won left the show quickly thereafter.^[8] Joo Won later auditioned for the stage musical Altar Boyz, based on the American musical of the same name.^[4] This musical role was a first of many to come, as he later appeared in other musicals, namely Singles, Grease, Sinsangnam, and most notably, Spring Awakening.

Originally, Joo Won was the understudy for Melchior in Spring Awakening. However, the original actor who played Melchior left the musical midway through the production, thus allowing Joo Won to perform later on in the production.^[9] His performance in Spring Awakening caught the attention of his future agency, Sim Entertainment.^[10]

2010-2013: Appearance in the small screen

Joo Won first appeared in the 2010 television drama King of Baking, Kim Takgu (also known as Bread, Love and Dreams) as the antagonist to the titular character. King of Baking, Kim Takgu recorded high viewership ratings of over 50%,^[11] earning a "national drama" status. He went on to star in the KBS2 weekend family drama Ojakgyo Family in 2011, opposite Uee. The drama revolves around four brothers and the Ojakgyo farm, and both Joo Won and UEE have been praised for their convincing performances as rookie actors.^[12] For his portrayal as Hwang Tae-hee, Joo Won took home the Best New Actor award at the 2011 KBS Drama Awards.^[13]

However, it was Joo Won's third small screen project Bridal Mask that truly propelled him to rising popularity. His excellent portrayal of the complex Lee Kang-to - a pro-Japanese Korean police officer by day and a masked vigilante who fights for Korean independence by night - earned him much praises from critics and audiences.^[14] For his role in Bridal Mask, Joo Won took home the Popularity Award and Excellence Award at the 2012 KBS Drama Awards.^[15] Just as Joo Won began filming Bridal Mask, he also joined the second season of Korea's popular variety program 1 Night 2 Days.^[16] Among many other traits, he has revealed himself to be an avid A Pink fan, and a man who gets stressed out by quizzes.^[17][18][19]

In the spring of 2013, Joo Won starred in the MBC television series 7th Grade Civil Servant, alongside Choi Kang-hee who is 10 years his senior. The drama is based on the action-romance movie My Girlfriend Is an Agent.^[20] At the 2013 MBC Drama Awards, Joo Won was awarded the Excellence Award for an Actor in the Miniseries category.^[21]

In May 2013, Joo Won was offered his most challenging role to date - the role of Park Shi-on, an autistic savant who becomes a genius pediatric surgeon - for the KBS television series Good Doctor.^[22] At the 2013 KBS Drama Awards, he swept four awards for his portrayal, namely Top Excellence Award for an Actor, Netizens' Award, PD Award (chosen by TV directors from KBS, SBS & MBC), and Best Couple Award with Moon Chae-won.^[23]

Late 2013-2014: Return to musical, and film and drama works

After four years of absence from the musical scene, Joo Won returned to the musical stage with the Korean version of Ghost the Musical.^[24] Due to schedule conflicts, he has since stepped down from 1 Night 2 Days to concentrate on his acting career.^[25] In late 2013, Joo Won starred in the romantic comedy movie Steal My Heart (also known as Catch Me) opposite Kim Ah-joong.^[26][27]

In early 2014, Joo Won confirmed that he would be starring in Fashion King.^[28] The film, based on a popular webtoon of the same title, tells of a male student who tries to win the heart of the most popular girl in school by becoming the most handsome and best dressed.^[29] The film premiered in theaters on 6 November 2014.^[30]

In the middle of the year, Joo Won went back and forth between Korea and China for the filming of the Chinese film 夏有乔木，雅望天堂 (Sweet Sixteen), signalling an entry into the Chinese market following the revelation of his increasing popularity in the country.^[31]

Joo Won returned to the small screen in the fall of 2014 with Cantabile Tomorrow, the Korean adaptation of Nodame Cantabile.^{[32][33][34][35]}

2015

His most recent drama Yong-pal with co-star Kim Tae-hee averaged 20.2 percent in the Nielsen ratings. It has also consistently topped other shows in its Wednesday-Thursday slot. As a result, the show has become one of the most popular Korean Drama of the year, and has added to the already-existing popularity of its leads, Joo Won and Kim Tae-hee. His film Fatal Intuition also known as “That Guy” or “It’s Him” premiered in theaters on 28 October 2015 and conquered the weekend box office. According to the Korean Film Council, the film earned more than 1 million ticket sales. November 3 the actor also won the Most Influential Asian Award that was presented in Beijing. The award is presented to a person or a group that is most influential in the arts. Joo Won attended the ceremony and represented Korea.^[36]

In the end of 2015 Joo Won is confirmed to play in China romantic drama "Love For You" or "Love Express" and start filming in November.

Filmography

Television drama

Film

Musical theatre

Narration

Variety shows

MC

Discography

Music Video Appearances

Soundtrack

Awards and nominations

Endorsements

References

External links

• Joo Won at Huayi Brothers (Korean) (English)
• Joo Won on Instagram
• Joo Won at HanCinema
  
• 주원 at Cine21 (Korean)
• 주원 at Naver 영화 (Korean)
• Moon Jun Won's Website
• Joo Won on Twitter