Sung Hoon (성훈)

It’s quite common in some cultures to change names in an effort to change one’s luck. Born Bang In-kyu, Bang Sung-hoon (more popularly known as Sung Hoon) legally changed his name because he was a sickly child. He sure must’ve picked a lucky name because good fortune has been shining on him since.

Photo from Star1

Birthday: February 14, 1983

Instagram: sunghoon1983

Sung Hoon was training to be a competitive swimmer until a spinal injury forced him out of the pool and, as it turned out, into the stage. He debuted as an actor in 2009 and by 2011 had been given his first lead role in New Tales of Gisaeng. Other projects soon followed: Passionate Love (2013), Oh My Venus (2015), Five Enough (2016), Level Up (2019), and My Secret Star (2020).

In the 2015 web drama Noble My Love, Sung Hoon plays Lee Kang-hoon, the egotistic CEO of a large company, who gets rescued by a kind, small-town veterinarian (Kim Jae-kyung). The chance encounter leads to a contract relationship and of course, love.

Through My Secret Romance, Sung Hoon earned the distinction of starring in the first rom-com of OCN, the cable network best known for its crime thrillers. Perhaps because he looks are so well-suited to chaebol roles, he again plays a spoiled heir who falls in love with a “regular” girl. As Cha Jin-wook, he must face the consequences of his one night stand with Lee Yoo-mi (Song Ji-eun) who later turns out to be an employee of his family’s company.

Woori the Virgin (2022) is actually a reunion project for Sung Hoon and Im Soo-hyang. The onscreen couple first starred together in this 52-episode SBS series in 2011. In New Tales of Gisaeng, Sung Hoon’s first drama, he plays Ah Da-mo, a wealthy and arrogant business administration student who falls in love with Dan Sa-ran (Im Soo-hyang), a modern gisaeng (courtesan) from a poor family. A breakthrough role for Sung Hoon, the drama earned him a New Star Award at the SBS Drama Awards. In Woori the Virgin (based on the US series Jane the Virgin) he plays a man who unwittingly becomes the biological father of a woman (played by Im Soo-hyang) who is accidentally artificially inseminated.

For two seasons, Sung Hoon starred as Pan Sa-hyun, a hotshot lawyer who cheats on his wife in the extremely popular Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce). The drama depicts the unraveling of the supposedly happy marriages of three couples at different stages in life, with Sung Hoon and Lee Ga-ryeong playing the couple in their 30s. The drama is one of the most successful series of TV Chosun and one of the highest-rated in cable history.

The man with the head-turning good looks and physique is more than just a handsome face. He is a consummate performer and is an accomplished music disc jockey, voice over talent, host, and model. The one thing though that eludes him is his dancing ability or lack thereof. It’s a running joke among the hosts of the k-variety show I Live Alone which he has been co-hosting since 2017. In the show, Sung Hoon is good-natured and laughs easily, mostly at himself. It his perhaps what makes him so endearing for his fans. In fact, Sung Hoon’s fan meets all over Asia are always jam-packed.

May good fortune continue to shine on this hardworking star!