Uhm Tae-woong (born April 5, 1974) is a South Korean actor. He made his acting debut in 1998, but initially struggled to emerge from under the shadow of his older sister, popular singer-actress Uhm Jung-hwa. After several years of small roles and work in one-act dramas, Uhm began to gain recognition after his villainous turn in the romantic comedy Sassy Girl Chun-hyang. In 2005, he made his breakthrough in the critically acclaimed Resurrection, followed by another revenge-themed series Lucifer in 2007. Since then, he has starred in diverse leading roles on film and television, notably in Forever the Moment (2008), Chaw (2009), Cyrano Agency (2010), Architecture 101 (2012), and Man from the Equator (2012).
Career
1998-2004: Struggling actor
Uhm Tae-woong was unsure which college course to take, so he initially joined Kyungmin College's theater department because his crush was there. But even after the girl shifted majors, Uhm stayed after having befriended a fellow student who would become his current manager, and began acting in earnest.
Uhm made his acting debut in 1998 at the age of 24, and began playing bit parts and supporting roles in films, television dramas and music videos. Among these was the 2003 blockbuster Silmido, in which he played a member of a suicide commando unit trained to kill Kim Il-sung in the 1960s. Starring veteran actors Sol Kyung-gu and Ahn Sung-ki, Silmido drew over 10 million admissions, and Ahn encouraged Uhm, saying he "would turn into a true actor." Uhm continued to go on auditions with little success, partly from the long shadow cast by his older sister, popular singer-actress Uhm Jung-hwa.
Then in 2004, Uhm played a dying man in the acclaimed Drama City episode Blue Skies of Jeju Island, a well-received performance for which he won his first acting trophy at the 2004 KBS Drama Awards.
2005: Breakthrough
Uhm began his rise to popularity with the 2005 romantic comedy series Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang, a modern retelling of the classic Korean folktale Chunhyangjeon. But instead of the villainous magistrate of the folktale, Uhm played a talent agency executive who becomes obsessed with the heroine.
But it was Resurrection later that year that cemented his stardom. He had originally been cast as the antagonist, but after lead actor Park Yong-woo dropped out three weeks before filming due to scheduling conflicts, director Park Chan-hong took a risk and cast Uhm as the protagonist. Playing dual roles as two very different identical twins, one of whom embarks on a quest for revenge, it was Uhm's first leading role in a TV series. Despite low ratings, Resurrection was a critical hit and gained a cult following, and one review praised Uhm for "the kind of acting expected from Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik," not from a young little-known actor who'd previously appeared in a few projects in supporting roles. His growing fanbase nicknamed him "the UhmForce" (derived from Star Wars), and he received an Excellence Award from the 2005 KBS Drama Awards and a Best TV Actor nomination from the 2006 Baeksang Arts Awards.
2006-2008: Leading roles continue
In 2006, he and Resurrection leading lady Han Ji-min were cast in Wolf, but an on-set accident that injured Han and co-star Eric Mun led to production being halted and the series was cancelled after airing only three episodes. Uhm moved on to Stranger Than Paradise, in which he played the manager of a singer, the same woman his long-lost brother also falls in love with. He also joined the ensemble cast of Kim Tae-yong's critically acclaimed film Family Ties, playing a reckless but charming man who suddenly shows up at his sister's door with a live-in partner 20 years his senior. For this role, Uhm won Best New Actor at the Chunsa Film Art Awards.
In 2007, Uhm, reunited with Resurrection'''s director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo in Lucifer, the second in Park and Kim's noir vengeance trilogy that explore the conflict between good and evil, and sin and punishment. He gave another memorable lead performance as a detective hunting down a serial killer while attempting to atone for his past. Uhm also starred in December romance My Love, in which his character is a Free Hugs activist who returns to Korea after six years overseas in the hopes of finding his ex-girlfriend.