Where Have You Seen Tactician Kwon Before? Get To Know “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” Actor Joo Jong Hyuk

While we are all loving ENA‘s (first) hit K-Drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo, there is one character we just love to hate too…

ENA‘s first K-Drama, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, has the industry shook as the drama’s first episode had a 0.9% rating and has grown by 10x in only three weeks (The drama releases two episodes per week). It’s already in talks for a U.S. remake, although you can watch Extraordinary Attorney Woo on Netflix internationally. Viewers, including the hottest K-Pop idols, have fallen in love with the brilliant attorney on the Autism Spectrum, the show’s heartwarming storylines, and its charming cast, including Park Eun Bin, Kang Tae Oh, and Kang Ki Young.

About an autistic 27-year-old lawyer. Due to her high IQ of 164, impressive memory, and creative thought process, the brilliant Woo Young Woo graduated at the top of her class from a prestigious law school.

— IMDb’s plot description for Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Kang Tae Oh has stolen our hearts as Lee Jun Ho, but Joo Jong Hyuk is a true antagonist as his co-worker and roommate “Tactician” Kwon Min Woo.

Kwon MinWoo deserves it. #ExtraordinaryAttorneyWooEp8#ExtraordinaryAttorneyWooEp7#ExtraordinaryAttorneyWoo #이상한변호사우영우#ParkEunBin #박은빈#JooJongHyuk #주종혁 pic.twitter.com/iBLMEVgH47

— luckyonepearl (@luckyonepearl) July 20, 2022

Yet, looking at his previous work proves that Joo Jong Hyuk is truly a great actor because he is not always so disagreeable. In fact, he can be quite lovable!

🐳 since there is no tambourine, you can use that (remote) instead
🐳 don’t you think it’s lacking something?
☀️ that’s why i’m making sounds using my body

hanbadas: *proceeds to make weird sounds together*#ParkEunbin #KangKiyoung #HaYoonkyung #JooJonghyuk pic.twitter.com/uF7OFjzRBP

— 제로 (@clockozero) July 26, 2022

So, let’s take a look at his career and get to know him better…

Joo Jong Hyuk celebrates his birthday on July 27, 1991, so happy birthday! Currently, he is BH Entertainment, which is also home to Kim Go Eun, Lee Byung Hun, Park Bo Young, and GOT7’s Jinyoung (just to name a few).

Before becoming an actor, he graduated high school in Korea before traveling abroad to major in Marketing and Hotel Management at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, which is among the top 1% universities worldwide! So, he is quite the genius himself in real life.

But what made him switch to acting? While working as a barista, a customer offered Joo Jong Hyuk a role in a commercial film. His natural looks caught their attention obviously, and we can understand why!

This sparked his interest in acting. So, in 2015, he started acting in independent films.

Finally, he got his start in the Korean entertainment industry in 2018 with JTBC‘s adaptation of Webtoon My ID Is Gangnam Beauty.

Kang Mi Rae recovers her self esteem after being bullied as she gets to know Do Kyung Suk after getting plastic surgery. Then she gets called the ‘Gangnam plastic surgery monster.

— IMDb’s description for My ID Is Gangnam Beauty

His next K-Drama was also a JTBC adaptation of a Webtoon as he appeared in Clean With Passion For Now in 2019. Unfortunately, they’re both such minor roles that you’ll blink and miss him!

Gil Oh Sol, an employee at a cleaning company, meets Jang Sun Gyeol, the boss of the company. The two are diametric opposite when it comes to cleanliness. With the help of Oh Sol, Sun Gyeol faces his mysophobia and finds love.

— IMDb’s description for Clean With Passion For Now

Also, in 2019, he appeared in two movies, Warning: Do Not Play and Spring, Again, as Jung Min and a judo team member, respectively.

Mi-Jung (Seo Ye-Ji ) is a rookie film director and she has been preparing a horror film for the past 8 years. One day, Mi-Jung hears about a movie which was banned. Mi-Jung wants to know about the film. She begins to search for the movie. Her search takes her to meet Jae-Hyun (Jin Seon-Kyu), who is the director of the film. Jae-Hyun warns Mi-Jung to forget about his film, but she ignores his warning. Mi-Jung’s obsession with the movie leads her to bizarre and horrible cases.

— AsianWiki’s description for Warning: Do Not Play

Eun-Jo’s (Lee Chung-Ah) daughter dies by accident and she falls into despair. One day, Eun-Jo wakes up and finds herself in yesterday. The next day when Eun-Jo wakes up, she finds herself in the day before yesterday. Her timeline is going backwards. Eun-Jo then meets Ho-Min (Hong Jong-Hyun). He has a key to the mystery behind her time travel.

— AsianWiki’s description for Spring, Again

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In 2020, Joo Jong Hyuk won the “Kakao M Actors” competition, and he has been making quite the name for himself ever since. He has been showing up in all the hottest K-Dramas!

First, he portrayed Lee Hyo Sang in Netflix‘s 2021 K-Drama D.P. He got scolded by Son Suk Ku (also known as Son Seok Gu)!

A young private’s assignment to capture army deserters reveals the painful reality endured by each enlistee during his compulsory call of duty.

— IMDb’s description for D.P.

He played Yoon Chang Kyu in MBC‘s The Veil the same year.

A spy investigation show with a story about a top National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent. In his endeavor to uncover the internal traitor that brought him to his downfall, he confronts a much bigger enemy behind the organization.

— IMDb’s description for The Veil

And before the end of 2021, we saw him as Kim Seung Beom in tvN‘s zombie thriller Happiness.

An apocalyptic thriller that takes place in a time in which infectious diseases have become the new normal.

— IMDb’s description for Happiness

However, one of his most notable roles might be Louis in Yumi’s Cells, both Seasons 1 and 2. This character serves as Goo Woong’s (Ahn Bo Hyun) nerdy coworker and friend. That means Joo Jong Hyuk also appears in the series with two of his company mates!

The story of an ordinary office worker named Yumi-from the point of view of the many brain cells in her head controlling her every thought, feeling, and action.

— IMDb’s description for Yumi’s Cells

Like Goo Woong, he has a glow-up in the second season. Still, he is so cute!

So, for those who have been watching Yumi’s Cells and Extraordinary Attorney Woo simultaneously, we get two very different versions of Joo Jong Hyuk!

If you’re like us and want to see more of this versatile actor, he stars in the new sci-fi film Spy-type Model.

A job seeker brother-in-law happens to find a man’s wallet. But the guy is weird. His sickly face is covered with blood, and his wallet contains yen. The next day, when Hyeong Woo finds out again, two gangsters chase the man into a secluded place. After a while, he approached him, and the gangsters were bloodied and collapsed, and the mysterious man disappeared without a trace. Eventually, Hyeong Woo goes to find the man and enters an unexpected world step by step.

— HanCinema’s description for Spy-type Model

What is your favorite role of Joo Jong Hyuk’s so far?