Yoo Seung-ho

Yoo made his entertainment debut in a cellphone commercial in 1999 after Yoo's mother sent in a photo of her son to an ad agency.[1]

In 2000 Yoo began his career as a child actor, first appearing in the television drama Daddy Fish.[5] He rose to stardom in his first film The Way Home, playing a bratty city boy who learns to appreciate country life when he's forced to spend the summer with his deaf-mute grandmother.[6] The low-budget film was a surprise box office hit in 2002, drawing more than 4 million admissions.[7] He was then affectionately labeled as "Nation's Little Brother".[8] Thereafter, Yoo also starred in animal movie Hearty Paws (2006) about a boy and his beloved dog, and Unforgettable (2008) about school children from a remote island who go on a field trip to a candy factory in Seoul during the 1970s.[9][10][11]

He continued acting in television, appearing in Magic Warriors Mir & Gaon (2005), an adventure series for children. Yoo further built his filmography, playing younger counterparts of male protagonists in television dramas, including general Yi Sun-sin in Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin (2004), King Seongjong in The King and I (2007), and Gwanggaeto the Great in The Legend (2007).[12]

In 2009, Yoo starred in the action film City of Fathers and thriller film 4th Period Mystery.[13][14] He also played Kim Chunchu in the period epic Queen Seondeok.[15]

Yoo at the Adidas Marathon in November 2012.

In his teens, Yoo was cast in one of the major roles in Master of Study (2010), a Korean screen adaptation of Japanese manga Dragon Zakura.[16][17][18] He then played a more mature role in Flames of Desire, as the second-generation son of a wealthy chaebol family who is uninterested in the battles of succession among his relatives and becomes a married man at 21.[19] Later that year, Yoo sang a duet with singer/actress IU titled "Believe in Love" for the charity program Love Request. The song's lyrics was based on a diary that Yoo had written while seeing orphans of war in the slums of Sri Lanka.[20]

In 2011, Yoo trained in swordplay and martial arts in his role as an assassin in Warrior Baek Dong-soo, an action-period drama based on the manhwa by Lee Jae-heon.[21] He also voiced Greenie, Leafie's adopted son, on Leafie, a Hen into the Wild, which was adapted from a bestselling children's novel by Hwang Sun-mi.[22] He then co-starred with Kim Ha-neul in the thriller Blind.[23]

In 2012, Yoo was cast in his first role as a leading man in Operation Proposal, a Korean remake of the Japanese drama Proposal Daisakusen.[24][25] This was followed by a supporting role as the Jade Emperor, ruler of the heavens, in the fantasy-period drama Arang and the Magistrate.[26][27] Afterwards, he starred in the melodrama Missing You, playing a cold man who hides a vengeance-filled heart behind his seemingly gentle smile.[28]

Known in the press as "Little So Ji-sub" for his resemblance to the said actor, in 2013 Yoo starred in the music video for So's single "Eraser" together with Park Shin-hye. This was his second time promoting So's musical endeavors, after "Lonely Life" in 2008.[29][30] Following that, Yoo's first photo book titled Travel Letter, Spring Snow, And... was published; it was the last project shot by celebrity photographer Bori before her death on April 9, 2013.

As his first post-army project, Yoo appeared in the music video for Naul's "You From the Same Time" in 2015.[31] He was next cast as a stubborn webcomic writer raising a cat in the TV adaptation of webtoon Imaginary Cat.[32][33] Yoo followed this by starring in the joseon-era romance film The Magician directed by Kim Dae-seung, in which he plays a circus magician who falls in love with a princess.[34] Yoo was then cast in SBS's legal thriller series Remember as a lawyer with hyperthymesia who defends his father on death row.[35]

In 2016, Yoo starred in the historical comedy film Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River as the titular character Kim Seon-dal.[36][37] In 2017, he starred in MBC's historical melodrama The Emperor: Owner of the Mask[38][39] and romantic-comedy I'm Not a Robot.[40] In 2018, he was cast in SBS's high school drama My Strange Hero.[41] In 2020, Yoo starred in the mystery thriller Memorist as a detective in the police force with the power to read people's memories.[42]

In 2021, Yoo played a passionate inspector in KBS2 historical drama Moonshine.[43]

In March 2022, Yoo signed with new agency YG Entertainment.[44]