The year he turned 23, he began his acting career in the short film A Perfect Sight. In 2012, he won the Directors Guild of Korea best actor award at the Busan International Film Festival for The Sunshine Boys.
In 2013, The King of Jokgu, in which he played the lead, premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, and it opened in theaters the following August. It opened on 56 screens nationwide in 2014.
The breakthrough yearIn April 2015, he won best actor at the Wildflower Film Awards for the film.
The year he turned 29, in November, he appeared as Kim Jung-bong in tvN’s Reply 1988. Top Star News, Raon News and OhmyNews write that the drama made him known to the public. It came six years after his debut. In January 2016, the drama aired its last episode.
In 2017, he appeared in the film Fabricated City and then starred in KBS 2TV’s Fight for My Way, and at the end of the year he won best newcomer at the KBS Drama Awards. In 2018, he played Han-sol in the film Microhabitat. In 2019, JTBC’s Be Melodramatic began.
In 2020, the film Secret Zoo opened, he made a cameo in Netflix’s Kingdom season 2 in March, and Time to Hunt was released on Netflix in April. In 2021, he finished filming Hi-Five.
In 2023, he played a lead role in the film Rebound, and in August Netflix’s Mask Girl ranked first in weekly viewing among non-English TV series two weeks after its release. In 2024, Chicken Nugget was released, and in May he won the supporting actor award in the TV category at the Baeksang Arts Awards.
In 2025, the film Hi-Five opened on May 30. In 2026, he made a special appearance in The King’s Warden, and in June he was named ambassador of the Jecheon International Music & Film Festival.
Ahn Jae-hong debuted in 2009, the year he turned 23, in the short film A Perfect Sight, and became known on Nov 6, 2015, the year he turned 29, as Jung-bong in tvN’s Reply 1988. In 2024, the year he turned 38, he won the supporting actor award in the TV category at the Baeksang Arts Awards for Mask Girl.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
Began his acting career in the short film A Perfect Sight.
Source 01 · Top Star News (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong pictorial update · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tab The release date was not confirmed in news reports. Only the year is given.Received the best actor award at the closing ceremony of the 17th Busan International Film Festival, shared with Shim Hee-seop and Kim Chang-hwan.
Source 02 · OSEN (Korean) · Busan International Film Festival closing ceremony · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabPlayed the lead role of Hong Man-seob, a student returning to college after military service. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival that year.
Source 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tab The month and day of the premiere were not confirmed in news reports.Opened on 56 screens nationwide and drew 6,000 viewers by its third day.
Source 04 · Kukmin Ilbo (Korean) · The King of Jokgu opens · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabWon best actor for The King of Jokgu, competing against Park Hae-il, Ryo Kase, Song Sae-byeok and Jung Eui-gap.
Source 05 · My Daily (Korean) · 2nd Wildflower Film Awards · opens in a new tabAppeared as Kim Jung-bong in tvN’s Reply 1988. Episode 1 averaged a 6.7% rating.
The last episode aired.
Source 07 · Star News (Korean) · Reply 1988 finale · opens in a new tabAppeared alongside Ji Chang-wook, Shim Eun-kyung and others. It opened at No. 1 at the box office.
Source 10 · SBS Entertainment News (Korean) · Fabricated City · opens in a new tabStarred with Park Seo-joon, Kim Ji-won, Song Ha-yoon and Kim Sung-oh. He played Kim Joo-man.
Source 11 · Xports News (Korean) · Fight for My Way premiere · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabFor Fight for My Way, he was one of four winners of the male and female best newcomer awards.
Source 12 · Herald Business (Korean) · 2017 KBS Drama Awards · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabPlayed Han-sol, the boyfriend of Mi-so, played by Esom.
Source 13 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · Microhabitat · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabAppeared as the star producer Son Beom-su.
Source 14 · Korea Economic Daily (Korean) · Be Melodramatic · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabPlayed Tae-soo, a lawyer who becomes director of a zoo. The film held the No. 1 spot at the box office after its opening.
Source 15 · Korea Economic Daily (Korean) · Secret Zoo · opens in a new tabMade a cameo as the eunuch Mun-su in season 2 of the Netflix original series Kingdom.
Source 28 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Kingdom season 2, Ahn Jae-hong as a new face · opens in a new tabPlayed Jang-ho. The film was released simultaneously in more than 190 countries.
Source 16 · Chosun Biz (Korean) · Time to Hunt · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong’s acting transformation · opens in a new tabFilming, which began in June 2021, was completed. He appeared with Lee Jae-in, Yoo Ah-in, Ra Mi-ran and Kim Hee-won.
Source 17 · TenAsia (Korean) · Hi-Five wraps filming · opens in a new tabPlayed the lead role of coach Kang Yang-hyun of the Busan Central High School basketball team. The film placed second at the box office on its first weekend.
Source 18 · JoongAng Ilbo (Korean) · Rebound · opens in a new tabPlayed Joo Oh-nam, an office co-worker. In its second week of release, it ranked No. 1 on Netflix’s global Top 10 for non-English TV.
Source 19 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · Mask Girl tops global chart · opens in a new tabSource 20 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Mask Girl tops weekly viewership · opens in a new tabTwo weeks after its release, it recorded 7.4 million views for the week of Aug. 21–27.
Source 20 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · Mask Girl tops weekly viewership · opens in a new tabReceived the award given by the Directors Guild of Korea for Mask Girl.
Source 23 · Seoul Finance (Korean) · Director’s Cut Awards · opens in a new tab The date of the ceremony was not confirmed in news reports. The article says only that it was held in March, so the month is given.Appeared as Baek-joong in a Netflix original series.
Source 21 · MTN (Korean) · Chicken Nugget · opens in a new tabHe and Yeom Hye-ran won the male and female supporting awards for Mask Girl.
Source 22 · Yonhap News Agency (Korean) · 60th Baeksang Arts Awards · opens in a new tabSource 27 · Joynews24 (Korean) · 60th Baeksang Arts Awards · opens in a new tabPlayed Ji-sung. Cumulative admissions were 1,182,306 as of June 9.
Source 24 · News1 (Korean) · Hi-Five returns to No. 1 · opens in a new tabSource 01 · Top Star News (Korean) · Ahn Jae-hong pictorial update · opens in a new tabMade a special appearance, along with Park Ji-hwan and Lee Joon-hyuk.
Source 25 · Top Star News (Korean) · The King’s Warden passes 10 million · opens in a new tabSource 26 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · The King’s Warden passes 14 million · opens in a new tabPassed 10 million cumulative admissions 31 days after its opening.
Source 25 · Top Star News (Korean) · The King’s Warden passes 10 million · opens in a new tabSource 26 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · The King’s Warden passes 14 million · opens in a new tabChosen as the festival’s official ambassador, called “Jimface.” The festival was announced to run from Sept. 3 to 8.
Source 08 · Raon News (Korean) · Jecheon International Music & Film Festival ambassador · opens in a new tabEND OF SELECTED RECORDSSelected records, 2009–2026 · not a complete list of work. “Key moment” is an editorial label, not a measure of success.
What did they do, and at what age?
AgeTrail lines up the key moments of a life by age.
Debut and breakthrough are marked separately, and every record has a source.
Film & TV · South Korea
Mar 31, 1986 —
Ages are counted from the birth year 1986: the year of the event minus 1986, birthdays aside. “Key moment” labels and the connecting story are AgeTrail's editorial reading.
Fact-checked: 2026.10.06 · An independent archive, not affiliated with the person or their agency.