Here's What You Need To Know About Extraordinary Attorney Woo’s Kang Tae-Oh
What you didn't know about this K-drama celeb who recently topped the list of most-searched TV actors on the internet in South Korea
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Their popularity is soaring now, playing will-they-won’t-they love interests in the hit K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
Recently, Kang Tae-oh (who plays Lee Jun-ho) even beat his co-star Park Eun-bin (Woo Young-woo) to take the top spot in the list of most-searched TV actors on the internet in South Korea, according to Good Data.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo has taken the K-drama world by storm, becoming the most-watched mini-series in South Korea for a period of time and topped the Netflix Singapore charts on July 14 and 15, taking its cast to new heights.
The series follows young lawyer Young-woo who tackles challenges in the courtroom and beyond as a newbie at a top law firm and a woman on the autism spectrum. Kind-hearted and mild-mannered Jun-ho works in the same company and becomes infatuated with Young-woo.
If you didn’t know about 28-year-old Tae-oh before, here are 10 facts about the handsome actor.
Did you know that Kang Tae-oh used to study film at Konkuk University? But that’s not all. What’s more interesting is that, he also studies in the same university as some of the most popular Korean celebs including the likes of BTS’s Jin, TWICE’s Nayeon, Lee Min Ho, Song Kang, Yoo Ah In, Girl’s Day’s Hyeri, SHINee’s Minho and many more.
Naturally, when we’re that invested in the drama, we would assume that actors like Kang Tae-oh, share a lot of similarities with his character Lee Jun Ho. On the contrary, in an interview with ‘Singles’ magazine, the actor shared that his character is more energetic whereas the actor himself is more introverted in real life and he’s someone who prefers to eat and sleep rather than going out.
In the past, the actor revealed that he usually prefers dating older women, and he also mentioned that almost all his ex-girlfriends were older than him, except for one girl. While he was sharing more about his ideal type, he also said that he especially likes women with short hair.
Believe it or not, Kang Tae-oh isn’t exactly his real name. In fact, it’s actually his stage name and his real name is Kim Yoon-hwan.
Back when he was in elementary school, Kang Tae-oh revealed that he used to talk loudly in class and he enjoyed the attention that he was receiving from his peers. However, it was only when he was in middle school that he became very quiet and could not understand why he used to be so talkative.
We’ve all heard of boy band members becoming successful actors, but in 2013 talent agency Fantagio Entertainment started a five-member actor group, the first of its kind, comprising Tae-oh, Yoo Il, Seo Kang-joon, Gong Myung and Lee Tae-hwan.
In a reversal of the usual trend, the group made their acting debut in the mobile drama After School: Lucky or Not, releasing their single Hey U Come On for its soundtrack, before going their separate ways in 2020.
Tae-oh played the villainous Prince Neungyang in the 2019 KBS historical drama The Tale of Nokdu, which saw him stage a coup and become the king of the Joseon dynasty in the 17th century.
If being a ruler wasn’t enough, he also won the best rookie (male) award in the KBS Drama Awards that year.
In 2014, Tae-oh played the lead role in the Vietnam Television (VTV) drama Forever Young, co-produced by Korean company CJ E&M Pictures, which earned him the moniker of Prince of Vietnam.
“I was able to gain attention from many people because the Korean-Vietnamese collaboration drama Forever Young did very well,” he recounted on the KBS show Happy Together 3 in 2018.
It earned him the Impressive Actor award at the VTV Awards in 2015 and the drama was renewed for a second season in 2016.