Gong Yoo at 41: from coronavirus aid to his Netflix debut, 4 things you didn’t know about the South Korean heartthrob ageing like a fine wine

Jul 10 , 2020

K-drama heartthrob Gong Yoo turns 41 – from Goblin and Train to Busan to coronavirus aid and plans beyond acting, read on for four things you didn’t know about South Korean actor. Photo: @gongyooactor1079/Instagram

We have seen many sides of actor Gong Yoo over the years – from his roles as a guardian heartthrob with super powers to a Korean freedom fighter and quietly understated feminist hero – not to mention his shape-shifting role as a certified fashion icon. And yes he is ageing like fine wine, celebrating his 41st birthday on July 10, and we still can’t get enough of him. Here are four things you may not know about Gong Yoo.

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He almost didn’t appear in Guardian: The Lonely and Great God – the K-drama that made his name

Who can imagine the soft charismatic guardian not being Gong Yoo? Well the screenwriter Kim Eun-sook thought the same. In what is now quite a famous story, Gong rejected the drama (widely known as Goblin) for five years – unimaginable considering how many actors were desperate to work with Kim after she wrote successful pieces such as Descendants of the Sun and Secret Garden. Eventually Gong saw sense, explaining that at one point he felt scared of acting in dramas.

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He wasn’t acting in the Train to Busan … because he was really scared

In an interview with Hankook Ilbo, Gong explained that he gets frightened easily, and cannot even go in the ghost house in theme parks. While filming the movie Train to Busan, he admitted that he was scared of the zombies – for real. He once shared a story of how he freaked out when the actors playing the zombies didn’t hear the director’s call, and continued attacking him after the cameras stopped rolling. No wonder those scenes felt extra real! Also, at the time in 2015, Korea was going through the Mers virus and so all the crew had to wear masks while filming. “I was really afraid then,” Gong Yoo said.

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He donated 100 million won for coronavirus relief

Gong donated 100 million Korean won (US$84,000) for coronavirus relief measures, joining other K-stars like BTS’ Suga, IU and the director Bong Joon-ho of Parasite . He apparently didn’t do it for recognition as the donation was made under his real name Gong Ji-cheol, his agency commenting that he wished it to be used for medical staff and to support low income and underprivileged people.

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What are his plans for 2020?

We will all get to see Gong Yoo on screen again very soon. Although the release date is still uncertain due to Covid-19, the movie Seo Bok will be in cinemas this year. He takes on the role of an ex-agent, with Park Bo-gum playing a human clone. As this is his comeback after Train to Busan and the drama Goblin, people are keen to see what he’s got to show.

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His next move was choosing The Sea of Tranquility as his first Netflix Originals to take part in. But he has suggested he wants to do more than just act. In the show Wook Talk, Gong Yoo showed his ambition to produce movies later in his career. “I want to discover a good story and start out producing movies from there,” he commented.

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Asian cinema: Korean films

Goblin, Coffee Prince, The Suspect, Silenced, Train to Busan, Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 ... the assured range of Gong Yoo continues to astound well into his fifth decade – but what else is there to know about the actor set to make his Netflix Originals debut in The Sea of Tranquility?