23 Facts About Gang Dong-won

Gang Dong-won debuted as a model and rose to stardom through the film Temptation of Wolves.

Gang Dong-won is subsequently known for starring in the films Maundy Thursday, Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard, Secret Reunion, Kundo: Age of the Rampant, The Priests, A Violent Prosecutor, Master, and Peninsula.

Gang Dong-won was born January 18,1981, in Busan, and grew up in Changwon of South Gyeongsang Province.

Gang Dong-won's father, Gang Cheol-woo, was an engineer and later vice president of SPP Heavy Industries.

Gang's family suffered economic hardship at times and Gang had to work part-time in college to pay for his tuition.

Academically gifted with an IQ of 137, Gang Dong-won graduated from Hanyang University at Ansan with a degree in mechanical engineering.

In 2000, when Gang Dong-won was a first year university student, he was spotted on the street by a modeling agent.

Gang Dong-won then joined the Busan-centered omnibus Camellia, starring in Jang Joon-hwan's short film Love For Sale.

Gang Dong-won enlisted for his mandatory military service on November 18,2010, for four weeks of basic training at the Nonsan military camp in South Chungcheong Province.

In 2013, Gang Dong-won appeared in The X, a 30-minute spy thriller directed by Kim Jee-woon.

In 2014, Gang Dong-won returned to the big screen in Yoon Jong-bin's period action film Kundo: Age of the Rampant, playing an illegitimate nobleman's son who attempts to destroy a group of Robin Hood-like outlaws in 19th century Joseon Dynasty.

Gang Dong-won next starred in My Brilliant Life, E J-yong's film adaptation of Kim Aeran's bestselling novel My Palpitating Life about a couple who must watch their son suffering from progeria grow prematurely old.

In 2015, Gang Dong-won reunited with Jeon Woo-chi co-star Kim Yoon-seok in Jang Jae-hyun's mystery thriller The Priests.

In 2016, Gang Dong-won played a young con artist in the crime film A Violent Prosecutor directed by Lee Il-hyung, which became the second highest grossing Korean film of 2016.

Gang Dong-won starred in Um Tae-hwa's fantasy film Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned and Cho Ui-seok's financial thriller film Master together with Lee Byung-hun and Kim Woo-bin.

In 2017, Gang Dong-won made a special appearance as Lee Han-yeol in Jang Joon-hwan's historical film 1987: When the Day Comes.

In 2018, Gang Dong-won played a delivery man framed for the assassination of a politician in Noh Dong-seok's thriller Golden Slumber, based on Isaka Kotaro's novel of the same name.

Gang Dong-won's next project was Kim Jee-woon's science fiction action thriller Illang: The Wolf Brigade, which is a film adaption based on Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, a Japanese animated thriller.

In 2020, Gang Dong-won starred in the Yeon Sang-ho's horror-action-thriller Peninsula, a standalone sequel to 2016 hit Train to Busan.

In December 2022, Gang Dong-won ended his contract with YG Entertainment after about 7 years.

In June 2024, Gang Dong-won was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In October 2024, Netflix released Uprising, the platform's first original film featuring Gang Dong-won, produced by Park Chan-wook and directed by Kim Sang-man.

In May 2022, Gang Dong-won was selected as house ambassador for French luxury brand Louis Vuitton.