Jang Dong-gun is an actor from South Korea. He is best known in Korean for starring in what was at the time of its release the most profitable Korean movie in history, 2000's "Friend". He has also played characters in a long list of South Korean TV drama programs.
Jang Dong-gun was born in Seoul, Korea in the year 1972. His birthday is the seventh of March. Jang Dong-gun grew up in the Yongsan-gu area of Seoul; a part of the city that also contains the American military base and is within walking distance of Nam-san, the mountain in the middle of Seoul where Seoul Tower is located. Jang Dong-gun attended college at the Hangook School of Arts, but left early to pursue an acting career.
During the nineties Jang Dong-gun appeared in a long series of TV dramas, including "Our Heaven", "Il Ji Mae", "The Last Match", "Medical Brothers", "Myth of a Hero", "Springtime", "Ghost" and "All About Eve". In 1997, Jang Dong-gun won the MBC network's Best Actor award. That same year, Jang Dong-gun started his movie career parallel to his TV acting career, and received the Blue Dragon Award for Best New Actor for his appearance in "The Repechage". Jang Dong-gun's film career grew with the films "Nowhere to Hide" and "Anarchists". Finally he appeared in "Friend", a movie about a high school student who becomes involved with organized crime, which became the highest grossing Korean film up to that year. Since the turn of the millennium he has appeared in an even bigger movie: 2004's "Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War".
As of early 2007 Jang Dong-gun continues to appear in film acting roles. One of his most recent movies is "Typhoon", released in 2005. He has received five Blue Dragon Awards, two Baeksang Art Awards, and was named Best Supporting Actor at the 2001 Asia Pacific Film Festival for his appearance in "Friend".