Yoo Seungmok, born in 1969, majored in stock raising but started acting as part of the school’s drama club. He later officially debuted his acting career when he joined the theater company Gagyo in 1993. Five years later, in order to learn a different approach to acting, he studied for a master’s degree in theater and film at Dankook University. Having gained experience playing before a camera in his classmate’s short movies, he was later set to make his feature debut ...More

Yoo Seungmok, born in 1969, majored in stock raising but started acting as part of the school’s drama club. He later officially debuted his acting career when he joined the theater company Gagyo in 1993. Five years later, in order to learn a different approach to acting, he studied for a master’s degree in theater and film at Dankook University. Having gained experience playing before a camera in his classmate’s short movies, he was later set to make his feature debut in the Lee Changdong’s critically acclaimed <A Peppermint Candy> (1999) in the role of a private dispatched to Gwangju to contain the uprising, but delays in the production led to an overlap with his graduation stage performance, which left him with no other choice but to walk out the project. Even though his name still appears in the credits of <A Peppermint Candy>, it wasn’t until a few years later that he made his first appearance on the silver screen, in the comedy <Saving My Hubby> (2002). His turn as a sly journalist hell-bent on extracting a scoop from the detectives in Bong Joonho’s <Memories of Murder> (2003) made a strong impression and got him on the radar of casting directors. A character actor, Yoo has a considerable list of credits to his name, most notable among them 2005’s biggest hit <Welcome To Dongmakgol> (2005), Bong’s subsequent title <The Host> (2006), the fantasy-romance <A Werewolf Boy> (2012), as well as the retro gangster thriller <Gangnam Blues> (2014). He also participated in smaller projects, having starred in the indie drama <End of Animal> (2010) and played the father of the titular character in <HAN Gong-ju> (2013). His character in <Haemoo> (2014) was praised as a true scene stealer and cemented his reputation as a talented actor to keep an eye on. After appearing in the blockbuster disaster films <Tunnel> (2016) and <Pandora> (2016), as well as the historical drama <1987: When the Day Comes> (2017), Yoo reached a new international audience when he was cast in the Netflix period zombie series <Kingdom> (2019). In 2019, he could also be seen in the Cannes-invited thriller <The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil> and the Fantasia International Film Festival Best Picture winner <Idol>. In 2022, he appeared alongside Tang Wei and Park Haeil in Park Chanwook’s latest <Decision to Leave>.Less