Actor Ju Ji Hoon Complete Profile, Facts, Photos and TMI

Ju Ji Hoon Profile

Birth Name: 주영훈 (Ju Young Hoon)
Stage Name: 주지훈 (Ju Ji Hoon)
Nationality: South Korean
Date of Birth: 1982.05.16
Zodiac Sign: Taurus
Chinese Zodiac: Dog
Height: 187.9 cm (6’16”)
Weight: 83 kg (143.3 lbs)
Blood Type: A
Agency: H& Entertainment
Debut: 2006
Personal Social Media: Instagram

Ju Ji Hoon Facts & TMI

Ju Ji Hoon was born with the name Ju Young Hoon.
To avoid confusion because his name was identical to an author, he debuted with the stage name Ju Ji Hoon.
He then legalized his stage name Ju Ji Hoon later.
He was born and grew up in Seoul.
His family consists of mother, father, and a younger sister.
He belongs to Shinan Ju clan.
He is an atheist.
He holds an associate degree in e-business from Dongwon University and a Theater degree from Kyonggi University.
He began his career in the entertainment industry as a model at the age of 19.
When he was still attending high school, his mother’s friend suggested Ju Ji Hoon to shoot profile photos (portfolio photo). His friend sent one of those photos to a magazine company and he eventually debuted as a model.
He became one of South Korea’s top male models in early 2000.
He can even be seen as a regular model at GQ magazine because he shot pictorials for the magazine almost every month at the beginning of his modeling career.
He grew up with large families of eight members, including grandmother and grandfather.
He shared that had many unique friends around him when he was young, so he did not have much resistance when he encounters various characters in noir genres, dramas, or movies.
Before making an official debut, he acted as an extra in sitcoms ‘Nonstop 3’ and ‘Apgujeong’s Bell’s House’.
His agency sent him to an acting academy after his debut.
In 2005 he received a casting offer to portray Crown Prince Shin in the drama adaptation of the comic ‘Princess Hours’. At first, he declined the offer as he felt burdened and embarrassed to portray the role of a high schooler (and crown prince). He eventually accepted the offer and made an official acting debut with ‘Princess Hours’ in 2006.
Ju Ji Hoon received backlash for his acting skills in ‘Princess Hours’.
Through his second acting work, KBS2 drama ‘The Devil’, Ju Ji Hoon earned positive reviews for significant acting improvement.
In 2008, Ju Ji Hoon made a big-screen debut through ‘Antique’.
Since 2008 he has also acted in several musical stages including ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Doctor Zhivago’.
In 2009 he was involved in a drug scandal, that made him received a broadcasting ban from several TV stations.
He mentioned the movie ‘Confession’ as a turning point in his acting career.
In 2016, Ju Ji Hoon received critics’ acknowledgment with his portrayal of Moon Seon Mo in the movie ‘Asura: The City of Madness’. The role of Moon Seon Mo was originally offered to actor Kim Nam Gil, but Kim Nam Gil declined the offer due to several circumstances.
Ju Ji Hoon’s name started to skyrocketed once again after he was cast in the blockbuster movie ‘Along with the Gods’, followed by critically acclaimed movies ‘The Spy Gone North’ and ‘Dark Figure of Crime’.
His portrayal of a North Korean army Manager Jung in ‘The Spy Gone North’ earned him a Best Supporting Actor Award at Buil Film Awards 2018 and Korean Association of Film Critics Awards 2018.
He got invited to the Cannes Film Festival with the movie ‘The Spy Gone North’.
He enjoys the peak of his career when the Netflix original series ‘Kingdom‘ became a worldwide sensation.
Ju Ji Hoon is best friend with actor Kim Nam Gil. He even mentioned Kim Nam Gil in his Best Supporting Actor winning acceptance speech at Buil Movie Awards 2018, expressing his gratitude to Kim Nam Gil who gave up Moon Seon Mo role in ‘Asura’ for him. Ju Jihoon said that the directors of ‘The Spy Gone North’ and ‘Dark Figure of Crime’ eventually cast him after watching his performance in ‘Asura’.
He is also best friends with actor Kim Jae Wook whom he met through the movie ‘Antique’. Through Kim Jae Wook’s connection, he also got close to actors Kim Nam Gil and Ryu Deok Hwan.
He is also known to have close relationships with people that he has worked together in the past, such as the director Min Gyu Dong (‘Antique’ and ‘The Treacherous’ director), writer Kim Eun Hee (‘Kingdom‘ and ‘Cliffhanger’ writer), and co-actors Ha Jung Woo, Jung Woo Sung, Hwang Jung Min, Lee Jung Jae, Lee Seung Min, Bae Doona, and Cha Tae Hyun.
He lived together with actor Kim Jae Wook for 7 months in the past.
According to Kim Nam Gil, Ju Ji Hoon is a chatterbox.
According to his co-actors (Ha Jung Woo, Jung Woo Sung, Hwang Jung Min) Ju Ji Hoon is a mood maker at the filming site or during eating out sessions.
He is raising a Shiba Inu called Butan.
He loves reading books, especially novels. It is said that he has more than 1000 collections of books. When he was a child, his father prohibited him from playing arcade games, so he read books instead. He can read 2~3 books per month.
He is very bad at taking selfies.
He shot a shocking intimate scene in the movie ‘The Treacherous’.
Ju Ji Hoon dated singer Gain from 2014 to July 2017.
He has a cat fur allergy.
He does the Aloha/ Shaka gesture as his signature greeting.
Among his nicknames are JJun and Aori Sagwa (Sagwa or 사과 means “apple”).
He has uneven eyes (he has double eyelid in left eye and monolid in right eye).
He is suffering from gouty arthritis.
He shared that he grew up in an economically difficult environment, but his parents taught him about etiquette a lot.
Ju Ji Hoon has completed his military service in 2011. He served in ROK Army Special Forces from February 2, 2010, to November 21, 2011.
He often portrays roles that experience many unfortunate events.
Ju Ji Hoon trended the Korean traditional hat ‘gat’ when he appears in it at ‘Kingdom’, it even being sold on Amazon.com and was used in fashion shows.
One of his favorite songs is Park Hyo Shin’s ‘Breath’.

Movie

‘Antique’ as Kim Jinhyeok (2008)
‘The Naked Kitchen’ as Park Dure (2009)
‘I Am the King’ as Yi Do/ Deok Chil (2012)
‘Marriage Blue’ as Kyung Soo (2013)
‘Love Suspicion’ as Kanghan (2014/ Chinese film)
‘Confession’ as In Chul (2014)
‘The Treacherous’ as Im Soong Jae (2015)
‘Asura: The City of Madness’ as Moon Sun Mo (2016)
‘Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds’ as Hae Won Maek (2017)
‘Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days’ as Hae Won Maek (2018)
‘The Spy Gone North’ as Manager Jung (2018)
‘Dark Figure of Crime’ as Kang Tae Ooh (2018)
‘Silence’ as Joe Park (TBA, expected to be released in the second half of 2021 or first half 2022)
‘Gentleman’ as Ji Hyeon Soo (2022)
‘Hunt’ (TBA/ Special appearance)

TV Series

‘Princess Hours’ as Crown Prince Lee Shin (MBC/ 2006)
‘The Devil’ as Oh Seung Ha (KBS2/ 2007)
‘Five Fingers’ as Yoo Ji Ho (SBS/ 2012)
‘Medical Top Team’ as Han Seung Jae (MBC/ 2013)
‘Mask’ as Choi Min Woo (SBS/ 2015)
‘Kingdom‘ as Crown Prince Lee Chang (Netflix/ 2019–present)
‘Item’ as Kang Gon (MBC/ 2019)
‘Hyena’ as Yoon Hee Jae (SBS/ 2020)
‘Jirisan‘ aka ‘Cliffhanger’ as Kang Hyun Jo (tvN/ 2021)

MV

‘처연’ by Lowdown30 (2012)
‘Fxxk U’ by Gain feat. Bumkey (2014)

Variety Shows

‘Come to Play’ (MBC/ 2008/ episode 219)
‘Magic Eye’ (SBS/ 2014/ episode 1)
‘Running Man’ (SBS/ 2014/ episode 202~203)
‘Yoo Quiz’ (tvN/ 2020/ episode 84)