Jung Kyung Ho | 정경호 | About

Jung Kyung Ho is a South Korean actor. He was born in Gwangmyeong, the son of Jung Eul Young, a veteran television director and frequent collaborator of the writer Kim Soo Hyun. His father was against him acting, and Jung left the family home over it; the two did not speak for three years before reconciling.

He was accepted into the theatre department of Chung-Ang University, where in his first year he roomed with an older theatre major, Ha Jung Woo. Seeing Ha on stage settled his decision to act, and it was Ha who talked him into the KBS actors' audition in 2003. He passed, signed with SidusHQ, and made his debut in "5 Stars", a mobile drama the agency produced for SK Telecom.

His first real break was the 2004 melodrama "I'm Sorry, I Love You", as the actor who realises too late that he loves his childhood friend. "Time Between Dog and Wolf" (2007) followed, and a run of films — "Herb", which won him Best New Actor at the Chunsa Film Art Awards, "For Eternal Hearts", "Sunny" and "Running Turtle" — before the family drama "Smile, You" (2009).

He enlisted on November 30, 2010, served as an active-duty soldier and later in the military band at Yongin, and was discharged on September 4, 2012 with a commendation from the Army Chief of Staff. "Heartless City" (2013) was his first work back, and drew strong notices for its conflicted antihero.

From 2017 his profile rose sharply: "Missing Nine", then Shin Won Ho's black comedy "Prison Playbook" as an elite prison guard — one of the highest-rated Korean cable series ever made — and the Korean version of "Life on Mars" (2018). He reunited with Shin Won Ho for "Hospital Playlist" (2020-2021) as the cardiothoracic surgeon Kim Jun Wan, and appeared in "Crash Landing on You" as Yoon Se Ri's ex-boyfriend, a part that came about through the director Lee Jung Hyo.

In 2021 he made his stage debut as Prior Walter in the National Theater Company of Korea's premiere of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America", playing both parts of the cycle and earning a Baeksang nomination for Best Actor in Theater. He went on to "Crash Course in Romance" (2023) opposite Jeon Do Yeon, and "Oh My Ghost Clients" (2025).

In April 2008 he and the actor Yoo Ha Jun opened an online shop, Double Bill, selling vintage and contemporary menswear. He was in a relationship with the singer and actress Choi Soo Young of Girls' Generation from 2012; in June 2026 both agencies confirmed they had separated after fourteen years, and would remain good colleagues.