Uhm Hong-sik (; born October 6, 1986), known professionally as Yoo Ah-in (), is a South Korean actor, creative director, and gallerist. As an actor, he is known for his roles in Punch (2011), Secret Affair (2014), Veteran (2015), The Throne (2015), Six Flying Dragons (2015–2016), Burning (2018), #Alive (2020), Voice of Silence (2020), and Hellbound (2021). He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Blue Dragon Film Awards and two Baeksang Arts Awards. He ranked 2nd on the 2016 Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list.
Early life Yoo was born in Nam District, Daegu in southeastern South Korea, the youngest of three children. In the first year at Gyeongbuk Arts High School, majoring in fine arts, Yoo was discovered by a casting agent on the streets in front of the school. He traveled to Seoul by himself and began living independently, which he said developed into a personal asset. He was enrolled in Seoul Arts High School, but soon dropped out of school to carry on his broadcast activities. Yoo later entered Dankuk University and Konkuk University, having completed a GED for high school certification. Before debuting, he was once scouted to be a K-Pop idol and trained to sing.
Career 2003–2005: Career beginnings and hiatus Yoo made his debut in a TV commercial in 2003. His first management wanted to create an attractive stage name for him that fit an idol image because the name Uhm Hong-sik was considered too heavy and old fashioned. He then chose Yoo Ah-in, Ah-in taken from the German word meaning "one".
Yoo was then cast in the teen series Sharp after auditioning, playing the role of a model student majoring in painting. After the series aired, Yoo gained popularity and was cast in romance drama April Kiss and one-act drama Shi-eun & Soo-ha. Yoo also appeared in various commercials including school uniforms and youth apparel.
After that, however, Yoo took a break from acting and disappeared from the spotlight. According to Yoo, he became an actor without any prior knowledge about acting and entertainment industry. At first, he was thrilled by the accolades and popularity of the profession, but then became confused about whether or not that was what he truly desired in life. Yoo felt the need for a hiatus to reflect upon what he wanted for himself instead of catering to others, and what kind of path as an actor he would want to take in the future. Having taken the time for introspection, he discovered his passion for serious acting. Yoo recalls of his career beginnings:
2006–2009: Film debut Resuming his acting career, Yoo starred in low-budget indie film Boys of Tomorrow, taking over the role of a young man Jong-dae, who carries the psychological scars of a traumatic childhood accident. The film premiered at Busan International Film Festival in October 2006, and competed for the Golden Leopard at the 2007 Locarno International Film Festival. He said about the meaning of his first film, "If I have drawn a picture of the actor career, this film must be within that picture." Director Noh Dong-seok met Yoo when he couldn't make up his mind even though he has met several actors interested in the role of Jong-dae. Noh decided to cast Yoo within five minutes of meeting him, saying, "I can't forget the first five minutes I met Yoo at the audition. When I asked other actors about Jong-dae character, they usually answered, 'I think he's going to wear something, have some hairstyle and some kind of personality'. But he stared out the window for a long time, and suddenly said one word as if he choked up slightly, 'It's sad.' At that moment, I thought, 'Jong-dae is him.'" During the film's press junket, Noh said, "In contrast to his noticeably good looks, he was filled with a furious energy. When I hear the word 'youth,' I think of Yoo Ah-in. The true main character of this movie, I think, is [not Jong-dae but] Yoo Ah-in." Noh also recalled Yoo's audition in an interview, saying, "I fell for Yoo Ah-in at first sight. Of course, he also had good looks. But he had an extremely different feel from the other actors whom I had met during casting. Yoo Ah-in was nervous when he met me. Before his identity as an actor, he possessed twenty years of his natural self as Yoo Ah-in." Yoo's role as a boy looking for a gun in order to escape from his frustrating reality earned positive reviews, and he won the Best New Actor award at the Busan Film Critics Awards. Yoo then starred in Jeong Yoon-cheol's black comedy film Skeletons in the Closet, playing the role of an eccentric boy who believes he was a king in previous incarnation. Yoo was nominated at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
In 2008, Yoo starred in historical drama Strongest Chil Woo, playing a cruel but lonely assassin adopted by a nobleman. He gained recognition from critics and viewers for his performance, despite it being the first historical drama for him. He was also featured in Min Kyu-dong's comedy-drama film Antique, adapted from Yoshinaga Fumi's manga Antique Bakery. For his role as a patisserie aspirant and former boxer, Yoo took boxing and baking classes. Min purposefully gave Yoo long sets of lines in the film, saying that Yoo already knew exactly how to act with rhythm, "No matter how long his lines were, just one sentence could tell you how good his rhythm was." And, "Most rookie actors wait around for their turn in the script and then get so nervous that they mess up their first lines and everything else completely falls apart, but Yoo Ah-in got it done in one stroke of the knife. That's why I purposefully gave him long sets of lines. He's an actor whose talent is most evident in long takes and full shots." Yoo received the Best New Actor award at the Director's Cut Awards and emerged as one of the most promising actors in Korean film industry. In 2009, he was cast in romance drama He Who Can't Marry, as cheeky assistant who works at the architectural office, portraying the bright side of being in one's twenties. He next starred in the film Sky and Ocean as a pizza delivery man who strives to make his own livelihood.
2010–2013: Rising popularity and breakthrough
Yoo's rise to fame came in 2010, when he acted in fusion period drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal, adapted from a book with the same title. Yoo became famous due to the drama's popularity. He played the role of an unpredictable man who moonlights to reveal the corruption of rich nobles. Yoo's popularity was later referred to as "Geol-oh-al-yee" (Geol-oh fever), coined after the name of his character. The drama's scriptwriter Kim Tae-heui said in her interview, "[t]he most charming character in the book was Geol-oh but I don't think I'm cut out exactly for portraying such raw and rough male character. That's how my Geol-oh is more sensitive and less in words compared to other characters. This combined with additional interpretation of actor Yoo Ah-in who happens to be a very sentimental actor, the Geol-oh in the drama became someone completely different from the original story."
In 2011, he played a leading role of biracial teenager in the coming-of-age film Punch, a critical and commercial hit. The film premiered at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival, and competed for Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. His co-star, veteran actor Kim Yoon-seok praised him that "In the next 10 years, he will be one of the biggest names in Korean cinema." Yoo was nominated at the Buil Film Awards, his first nomination for the Best Actor category.
The next year, Yoo starred in drama Fashion King, taking over the role of a self-made but obsessed-with-success fashion businessman. The drama portrays the love and success of young people, but poorly received due to its weak narrative and controversial ending. Still, he described his joining the project as an adventurous and satisfying step as he was able to play a character with worldly desires. Cast as King Sukjong in the 2013 period drama Jang Ok-jung, Living by Love, a revisionist take on infamous royal concubine Jang Hui-bin. Yoo called the role one of the biggest challenges of his career and he garnered favorable press reviews for his mature, charismatic and versatile portrayal of Sukjong. He then played the titular character in the film Tough as Iron, about a Busan pier worker who takes care of his mother afflicted with dementia and kidney disease. Yoo and Tough as Iron co-star, Jung Yu-mi later collaborated again as voice actors in the animated film The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow.
2014–2017: Acclaim in film and television
In 2014, Yoo appeared as a quirky supporting role in Lee Han's Thread of Lies (this was Lee's second film adaptation of a Kim Ryeo-ryeong novel after Punch). This was followed by a leading role in cable melodrama Secret Affair (Secret Love Affair), in which Yoo played a poor piano prodigy in love with his married, much older teacher. To prepare for his role, Yoo practiced the piano and listened to classical music. The drama occupied the number one ratings slot throughout its run and became the highest rated general cable drama of the year. Due to his popularity, Yoo was dubbed as "kukmin yeonha-nam" (the nation's younger boyfriend). Yoo garnered favorable press reviews for his delicate, three-dimensional and passionate portrayal of a genius pianist. 10 Asia praised, "Secret Affair is Yoo Ah-in's turning point in acting. He makes the affair looks so irresistible and concrete, he makes the viewers sympathize for his forbidden love and follow his journey till all hell breaks loose." And, "His piano concerto scene will be the talk of the town for a long time and is worth lasting memory."
In 2015, Yoo starred in two top-grossing films. He played an amoral young millionaire who faces off with a detective in Ryoo Seung-wan's crime thriller/comedy Veteran with Hwang Jung-min and Yoo Hae-jin among the cast, and as the tragic Crown Prince Sado in Lee Joon-ik's period drama The Throne alongside Song Kang-ho. Veteran became one of the highest-grossing films in South Korea and The Throne was South Korea's submission for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Ryoo Seung-wan described Yoo's character in Veteran as "more like James Cagney's characters", and praised Yoo's take on his first character as a ruthless chaebol, "He was more interested and active in expressing this villain character. We were more like supplementing each other rather than one guiding the other." And, "Yoo Ah-in's character being like a boy made this character even more special. If you watch James Cagney's movies, his characters have this childish side; Yoo Ah-in doesn't have it, so that's what makes it even more scary. It's something that not even Lee Marvin can make." Lee Joon-ik said he hand-picked Yoo and wrote the Crown Prince Sado character for Yoo after watching Punch, "When I watched Punch, I already saw Sado's heart in Yoo Ah-in. He's an actor with so much dissatisfaction and anxiety, who has an internal flame bottled up inside", and, "He showed the essence of people in their 20s." For his roles in both Veteran and The Throne, Yoo received Best Actor awards at influential film awards including Blue Dragon Awards, Korean Film Reporters Association Awards, Chunsa Film Art Awards, and Golden Cinematography Awards. The same year, he was named Film Actor of the Year by Gallup Korea and ranked number two on Korea Power Celebrity 40 by Forbes.