Kam Woo-sung

In this Korean name, the family name is Kam.

Kam Woo-sung (born October 1, 1970) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his portrayal of a court jester serving a despotic king in the hit period film The King and the Clown.

Kam Woo-sung
Born	(1970-10-01) October 1, 1970 (age 54) Okcheon County, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea
Other names	Gam Woo-sung Gam Wu-seong Kam Woo-seong Karm Woo-sung
Education	Seoul National University – Oriental Painting
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1991–present
Agent	Bright Entertainment
Spouse	Kang Min-young ​ (m. 2006)​
Korean name
Hangul	감우성
Hanja	甘宇成
Revised Romanization	Gam U-seong
McCune–Reischauer	Kam Usŏng

Career

Kam Woo-sung majored in Oriental painting at the Seoul National University, then made his acting debut in the 1991 television drama Our Paradise. Through his roles on TV in the following decade, Kam became known for playing gentle and intellectual upper-middle-class men, notably in Hyun-jung, I Love You. Then in 2002, he successfully subverted this image in his first film, the critically acclaimed Marriage Is a Crazy Thing, in which he played a commitment-phobic professor having a passionate affair.

More characters followed in a variety of genres: a man trapped in a confusing and haunting sequence of events in Song Il-gon's mystery film Spider Forest;^[1] the PTSD-afflicted leader of a South Korean squadron in Vietnam who looks into the mysterious disappearance of 18 soldiers in the horror thriller R-Point; and a son struggling to fake Korea's reunification to fulfill an ailing father's wish in the comedy A Bold Family.^[2]

In late 2005, Kam reached a turning point in his 15-year career when he starred in The King and the Clown. Jang Hyuk was originally cast in the leading role of a court jester during the reign of Joseon dynasty tyrant King Yeonsan, but after Jang was implicated in a draft-dodging scandal, Kam was brought in to replace him.^[3] He trained extensively over two months in the art of Korean traditional performance, including street opera, and acrobatic, rope and mask dances.^[4] The low-budget film unexpectedly broke box office records to become (at the time) the highest grossing Korean film of all time. Critics praised Kam's "powerful energy and wit,"^[5] and his performance garnered acting recognition, including Best Actor at the 2006 Grand Bell Awards.^[6][7]

He returned to television in Alone in Love (2006), which was lauded for its realistic portrayal of a divorced couple.^[8] Back on the big screen, Kam reunited with previous A Bold Family costar (and close friend in real life) Kim Soo-ro in Big Bang (2007),^[9][10] followed by the ensemble romantic comedy My Love and crime thriller The Outlaw (2010).^[11] Kam was listed as one of the highest paid entertainers on the KBS network in 2011, earning ₩440 million for playing Geunchogo of Baekje in the 60-episode series The King of Legend.^[12]

Though appearing less frequently in projects, Kam has starred in melodramas My Spring Days (2014), Should We Kiss First? (2018) and The Wind Blows (2019) in recent years.^[13][14][15]

Personal life

After dating for 15 years, Kam married actress Kang Min-young in Australia in 2006.^[16]

Discography

Singles

Title	Year	Album
"I Will"	2014	My Spring Days OST

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2002	Marriage Is a Crazy Thing	Kim Jun-Yeong
2004	R-Point	Choi Tae-In
	Spider Forest	Kang Min
2005	A Bold Family	Kim Myung-Seok
	The King and the Clown	Jang-Saeng
2007	Big Bang	Park Man-Su
	My Love	Jang Se-Jin
2010	The Outlaw	Oh Jeong-Su

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Our Paradise	Art student
	Woohwangcheongsimhwan	Hyun	MBC Best Theater
1992	A Story of Long Distance Couple	Choi Wang-jae	MBC Best Theater
	Investigation of Memory	Choi Jong-gwan	MBC Best Theater
	Enchantment	Cho Hoon-bae
1993	At Our Last Winter	Geon-woo	MBC Best Theater
	Trumpet Flower	Chae I-eon
	Stormy Season	Choi Han-yeong
	Women's Generation	Kim Hyun-seok	MBC Best Theater
	A Tale of Childhood	Yong-sik	MBC Best Theater
	Jeremy	Jeremy	MBC Best Theater
1994	The White Journey	Cho Seong-gyu	MBC Best Theater
	A Verse of Sad Father	Cha Dong-hwa	Special drama
1995	A Three-color Friendship	Tae-hyung	Special drama
	To Make a Man	Meong Tae-min
1997	The Mountain	Choi Seong-gyu
	Instinct	Lee Jun-seob
1998	Shy Lovers	Choi Myung-il
	Song of the Wind	Song In-gyu
1999	Michiko	Han Dong-wook	Special drama
	I'm Still Loving You	Kim Hyung-jun
2000	Say It with Your Eyes	Jang Ki-woong
	Medical Center	Kim Seung-jae
2001	Stars Rise Even in the Day	Gab-soo	Special drama
2002	Hyun-jung, I Love You	Kim Beom-soo
2006	Alone in Love	Lee Dong-jin
2010	The King of Legend	King Geunchogo
2014	My Spring Days	Kang Dong-ha
2018	Should We Kiss First?	Son Mu-han
2019	The Wind Blows	Do Dae-cheol	[17]
2021	Joseon Exorcist[a]	Kim Tae-jong	[18]

Awards

Year	Ceremony	Awards	Works
1999	MBC Drama Awards	Popularity Award	I'm Still Loving You
		Best couple Award (with Chae-Lim)
2002	Grimae Awards	Best Actor	Hyun-jung, I Love You
	MBC Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award (Actor in a Miniseries)
	Women Viewers Film Awards	Best Actor [19]	Marriage is a Crazy Thing
	Korean Film Awards	Best New Actor [20]
	Korea Best Dresser Swan Award	Swan Award (Actor in Film)
2004	Women Viewers Film Awards	Most Hopeful Actor Award	Spider Forest
2006	Grand Bell Awards	Best Actor	King and the Clown
	Chunsa Film Art Awards	Best Actor [21]
	Blue Dragon Awards	Best Couple Award (with Lee Joon-Ki)
2008	National Tax Service	Prime Minister Commendation
2018	Ministry of Health and Welfare	Minister Commendation
	Korea Broadcasting Awards	Best Actor	Should We Kiss First?
	Korea Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award[22]
	SBS Drama Awards	Grand Prize (Daesang)[23]
		Best Couple[24]

Notes

1. cancels complete broadcast of show due to history distortion and Chinese style props. The show faced a massive amount of criticism leading to sponsorships and advertisements pulling out.