Actor You Need to Know: Zo In-sung

The longer he is on screen, the more engaging the scene becomes. That would mean Zo In-sung—the sightly Korean star, a stud of a man, and one heck of an actor who just gets better with age. You get the drift if you’re watching his latest, Moving, the webtoon-based magnum opus of superheroes—a sci-fi action fantasy K-drama. Zo has Kim Doo-sik, code-named Moon-san, a free-swinging debonaire NIS (National Intelligence Service) black ops operative who can fly. He is also the ex-NIS agent of extraordinary senses, Lee Mi-hyun’s (Han Hyo-joo’s) husband. Their romance is all heart, compelling story arc aside. When they are edging past each other, interacting, or whatever, that chemistry is insane, and Zo, in all facets of his persona, never ceases to make a statement.

Setting about as a model, he transitioned into acting through sitcoms, starring in the anthological teen drama School 3 (2000) but impressing as the renegade, irate Lee Kyung-ho breaking eventually into the gangland within the praised Piano (2001), a melodrama of a loving father and an illicit affair between stepsiblings.

Zo is conspicuous in how full-grown the character he creates is. I assume he goes in-depth with the character’s life, forging a bond with him thereby, which ideally serves a narrative and speaks to us. And that must have been his thing early on, in that he rapidly cut a leading role in the drama Shoot for the Stars (2002), portraying the dyslexic Sung-tae, an aspiring actor who becomes a household name despite challenges with the help of his manager.

That same year, with Public Toilet, he debuted in cinema, and the years that followed defined an illustrious period of his widespread fame. In his part as Sang-min, in love with Son Ye-jin’s Ji-hye, Zo hit an enormity thanks to the archetypal Korean romantic film The Classic (2003). In due course, coveted Best Actor honors at the Baeksang Arts Awards and the SBS Drama Awards followed Zo’s triumphant return to television as Jung Jae-min in the histrionic blockbuster Something Happened in Bali (2004). His genius in getting across Jae-min’s thoughts and inner turmoil, as well as embodying the conceited playboy who commits suicide in the final moments, reiterated his evocative maturity.

“Black or white, good parts are hard to come by,” the decorated American actor Denzel Washington once said, elucidating, “A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity, it doesn’t matter how good you are.” Zo is analogously a great actor who embraces a role, makes it his own, and thrives in it, but largely because he has had great characters along the way. He appeared as Eun-sup, a doctor, in the K-drama rendition of the Japanese drama Heaven’s Coin, titled Spring Day (2005). His following two movie releases were helmed by the revered director Yoo Ha: 2006’s A Dirty Carnival, starring Zo as a suave mobster Kim Byung-doo pursuing happiness, and 2008’s epic saga A Frozen Flower, having him as military commander Hong-rim entwined in love with the king and the queen.

Perhaps Zo is always quite up to par also as a romantic hero, bringing feelings to the forefront with such profundity. Together with Song Hye-kyo, his work in the 2013 mega-hit romance That Winter, the Wind Blows was phenomenal to a fault. Zo had an avid gambler and scam artist infiltrating the life of a blind heiress (Song) with an ulterior motive. But as fate would have it, they grow closer to each other and fall in love. Later, partnering with Gong Hyo-jin in the medical drama It’s Okay, That’s Love (2014), Zo played a sought-after writer who is humorous yet haughty and also suffers from a mental health condition. His efforts in the role won him the prestigious Daesang (“Grand Prize”) at the APAN Star Awards.

The actor is a dominant force that stems from his use of an intrinsic skill to engage with strong emotions. A host of his ensuing films were all blockbusters, a testament to his formidable presence. As much of a coup, he was a prosecutor in The King (2017), rising to glory and back to insignificance, and so was his knockout leader Yang Manchun in The Great Battle (2018). He became the cutting-edge intelligence officer Kang Dae-jin in the tense Escape from Mogadishu (2021), while also displaying his feat of strength as an opulent, fierce, and crafty Sergeant Kwon in Smugglers (2023).

Cutting to the bone, Zo In-sung, 42, is certainly a force to be reckoned with, perhaps one of the strongest in his league.