Jang Hyuk

Jung Yong-jun (Korean: 정용준; born December 20, 1976), better known as Jang Hyuk, is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his leading roles in the films Volcano High (2001), Windstruck (2004), The Flu (2013), as well as the television series Successful Story of a Bright Girl (2002), Thank You (2007), The Slave Hunters (2010), Deep Rooted Tree (2011), You Are My Destiny (2014), Voice (2017), Money Flower (2017–18), and Bloody Heart (2022).

Jang Yong-jun spent most of his childhood and adolescence in his birthplace, Busan. In 1996, Jeong Hoon-tak, who ran a management company named EBM Production Co., after success elevated Jung Woo-sung and Kim Ji-ho as top star, met Jeong Yong-jun, a 20-year-old young man who was a student at Seoul Institute of the Arts. He was convinced that the innocence in the face of Jung Yong-joon, which exudes sadness and strange charisma would become a "weapon". Jung Hoon-tak pushed Jung Yong-joon into the accommodation of the group god members who were still preparing for their debut. And started the harsh training. With Jung, who has his own confidence that "only those who are prepared can succeed," Jung Yong-joon prepared for a long time.

After Lee Seung-hwan's music video, Jung Yong-joon making his acting debut in 1997 in the television drama Model under his stage name Jang hyuk. Besides the teen series School (1999) and a minor role in the little-seen film Zzang (The Best), Jang appeared in the music video of "To Mother", the 1999 debut single of popular boyband g.o.d, whom he was housemates with at that time. Also in 1999, he played the good-hearted yet aggressive Myung-ha in the series Into the Sunlight. Using the stage name "TJ", he had a brief career as a rapper and acted in several music videos from his rap album TJ Project, which was released in 2000.

Jang's career first began to take off in 2001, when he was cast in the lead role of the special-effects extravaganza Volcano High with actress Shin Min-a. His acting in the eccentric role drew praise from fans and critics.

In 2002 he continued to make a name for himself, starring in the sleeper hit Jungle Juice, which made the top of the weekly box-office. His popularity continued to increase when he starred in the hugely popular TV drama Successful Story of a Bright Girl with actress Jang Na-ra. He also took a role in Public Toilet, the HK-Korea co-production by acclaimed Hong Kong director Fruit Chan which won a Special Mention in the Upstream section of the 2002 Venice Film Festival.

Jang continued to appear in high-profile projects; in 2003, Jang starred alongside Lee Na-young in the comedy Please Teach Me English, by director Kim Sung-su and the following year, he starred opposite Jun Ji-hyun in Kwak Jae-yong's Windstruck. Although Windstruck was generally not well received in Korea, it went on to beat Shiri and become one of the best-selling Korean films in Japan.

In late 2004, together with fellow actors Song Seung-heon and Han Jae-suk, Jang was found to have illegally avoided his mandatory military service through his and Han's agency SidusHQ. Amid widespread public condemnation, Jang apologized to his fans, then began to serve his two-year military term.

After his discharge from the military in 2006, Jang made his comeback in the drama series Thank You. A heartwarming story about a young single mother (played by Gong Hyo-jin) with an HIV-positive daughter and the cynical doctor who enters their lives, Thank You surprisingly became a modest hit, and with it Jang left the stigma of his draft-dodging scandal behind him.^{[citation needed]}