Background
Jo Jeong-ik was born in Arizona, United States to Korean American parents.
Jo Jeong-ik was born in Arizona, United States to Korean American parents.
He came to South of Korea in the 1990s as a teenager. Under the stage name Yoo Gun, he began his entertainment career in 1997 as a singer in South Korean boy band Oppa. Yoo rose to popularity through his first leading role in the 2006 television drama Hello, God! (안녕하세요 하느님).
He played a mentally challenged character based on "Charlie" in the novel Flowers for Algernon.
Supporting roles followed in the comedy films Dasepo Naughty Girls, Project Makeover, Mission Possible: Kidnapping Granny K, and My Mighty Princess. Yoo underwent six months of martial arts training for his next leading role in the action drama Fight, which aired on cable in 2008.
Besides appearing in the television series Bad Couple, Can"t Stop Now, and Prosecutor Princess, he also made his theater debut in 2010 in the stage play Thief"s Diary. In 2011, he renounced his United States. citizenship in order to serve in the South Korean army.
He also appeared on the KFN (Korean Forces Network) television program March in 2012.
After his discharge in December 2012, Yoo quickly resumed his career, appearing on the travel program The World is Delicious (오감만족 세상은 맛있다) in an episode about Brazil, followed by a cameo on the melodrama That Winter, the Wind Blows. Yoo then headlined the KBS1 daily drama Sincerity Moves Heaven in 2013.