Bae Yong-joon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bae Yong-joon
Waxwork of Bae Yong-joon
Born	(1972-08-29) August 29, 1972 (age 52) Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Businessman actor
Years active	1994–2017
Spouse(s)	Park Soo-jin ​ (m. 2015)​
Children	2
Awards	Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit (2008)
Korean name
Hangul	배용준
Hanja	裵勇浚
RR	Bae Yongjun
MR	Pae Yongjun
Signature

Bae Yong-joon (Hangul: 배용준; Hanja: 裵勇浚) is a South Korean businessman and a former actor. He was born on August 29, 1972. He became very famous for starring in many TV shows, especially Winter Sonata in 2002. This show was a huge part of the Korean Wave, which is when South Korean culture became popular around the world. Bae stopped acting after 2007, but he is still active as the head of a company called KeyEast.

Early Life

Bae Yong-joon was born in Mapo District, Seoul, South Korea. In 2000, he started studying Film at Sungkyunkwan University.

Acting Career

Bae started his acting career in 1994 in the Korean TV show Salut D'Amour. He quickly became popular. A year later, he won the Best New Actor award at the 1995 KBS Drama Awards for his role in Our Sunny Days of Youth.

Throughout the 1990s, Bae continued to play main characters in TV shows. These included Papa (1996), First Love (1996), and Did We Really Love? (1999). First Love was incredibly popular, with over 65% of viewers watching it. In Hotelier (2001), he played a business expert who planned to take over a hotel. But he changed his mind after falling in love with an employee.

Winter Sonata and Global Fame

In 2002, Bae's career changed completely with the show Winter Sonata. This TV show was about first love, lost memories, and family secrets. Winter Sonata became a huge hit in Asia and over 20 other countries, especially in Japan.

Bae gained a massive fan base, particularly among Japanese women. They gave him the special nickname Yon-sama, which means "Emperor Yon." This show and Bae's popularity brought in billions of dollars from tourism and merchandise sales related to Winter Sonata.

Movies and New Roles

In 2003, Bae took on his first big movie role in Untold Scandal. Before this, he had only small parts in two other films in the 1990s. In Untold Scandal, he played a tricky and charming nobleman in 18th-century Korea. This role was very different from his usual gentle image. He won awards for Best New Actor for this movie. In 2004, he released a photo book called The Image: Volume 1, which sold 10,000 copies.

He then worked on the movie April Snow (2005). In this film, he played a stage lighting director who finds out his wife was cheating after she gets into a car accident with her lover. The movie did not do very well in Korea. However, because Bae was so famous, it broke box office records for a Korean film in Japan.

Business Ventures

Bae Yong-joon also started businesses in the restaurant world. He opened restaurants and cafes that focused on healthy living. He owns a health food restaurant called Gorilla in the Kitchen and a fancy traditional Korean restaurant called Gosire. Because he was so well-known in Japan, he became a supporter of Korean food. His Gosire lunchboxes were even sold in Japanese stores.

In 2006, Bae became one of Korea's richest celebrities. He owned a large part of the management company KeyEast. Many of the people who work at KeyEast, including its president, used to be Bae's managers and have worked with him for over ten years.

Return to Television

Bae made his return to TV in 2007 with The Legend. This was a big-budget historical fantasy show. Bae played two roles: Gwanggaeto the Great, a powerful king from ancient Korea, and Hwanung, who was believed to be the son of God. He was paid a very high amount for each episode, making him one of the highest-paid Korean TV actors at the time.

In 2009, Bae and his Winter Sonata co-star Choi Ji-woo worked together again. They provided the voices for the animated series Winter Sonata Anime, which was shown in Japan. Bae also wrote a book of photo-essays called A Journey in Search of Korea's Beauty. This book shared information about Korean traditional culture, like ceramics, traditional clothes, and historical places. It became a bestseller and was translated into many languages. The book was later made into a TV documentary in 2011.

From 2009 to 2010, Bae was the star of a Nintendo DS learning game series called "Learn Korean with Bae Yong-joon." These games helped people learn the Korean language.

In 2009, Bae and KeyEast teamed up with Park Jin-young and JYP Entertainment. This partnership led to the TV show Dream High (2011). It was a musical series about students at a performing arts high school. Bae helped with the script and production. He also appeared in a few episodes as a guest star.

Personal Life

Bae Yong-joon and actress Park Soo-jin announced they were getting married in May 2015. They got married on July 27, 2015. Only their friends and family were invited to the wedding.

Filmography

Movies

Television Shows

Music Videos

Video Games

Awards and Honors

Bae Yong-joon has won many awards throughout his career.

Awards

Honors

See also

In Spanish: Bae Yong-joon para niños

• Contemporary culture of South Korea
• Korean Wave