In 2010, the year he turned 20, he began service in class 56 of the Navy’s Sea Salvage & Rescue Unit (SSU).
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 31, he appeared on Channel A and skyTV’s Steel Troops as an SSU representative. He took part in the trench fight mission in the first episode and, in episode 6, broke a door in one blow with a hammer, alone. His Instagram followers, in the thousands before the broadcast, passed 25,000 as of May 15. In the June final, SSU lost to UDT, and afterward he appeared in The Fisherman and the City 3, Amuteun Chulgeun! and My Little Old Boy. The watermelon-tearing scene on My Little Old Boy reached 17.9% per minute at its peak.
In 2022 he began Channel A’s Haeyang Ssunyeondan with Jeong Hae-cheol and Kim Min-su and appeared in Donjjul Naerro Wasseumnida season 2 and KBS2’s Mr. House Husband season 2. In September he was introduced in the cast of The King of Ssireum. In 2023 he appeared on ENA’s Newbie Camp and KBS 1TV’s Birth of a Worker. In August he took part in a CrossFit match at the K Sports Festival on Nodeul Island.
On March 19, 2024, Netflix’s Physical: 100 Season 2 – Underground was released, and he was listed as contestant No. 47. In May he ran the Seoul Shinmun Half Marathon, and in December he took part in The Mentality CrossFit competition.
In 2025 he joined Channel A’s Steel Earth as a Steel Traveler and visited Raja Ampat in Indonesia with Kang Min-ho.
In 2026 he appeared on Steel Earth again, traveling to a desert island in Palawan, the Philippines, to Malaysia and to the Pamir Highway.
Hwang Chung-won became known on Mar 23, 2021, the year he turned 31, when he appeared on Channel A and skyTV’s Steel Troops as an SSU representative. He appeared in Netflix’s Physical: 100 season 2 in 2024, the year he turned 34, and in Steel Earth in 2025, the year he turned 35. His birthday could not be confirmed.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
02 / QUICK ANSWERS
Q & AFrequently asked
- How did Hwang Chung-won become known?
- In 2021, the year he turned 31, he appeared in the first episode of Steel Troops, on Mar 23, 2021, as one of four SSU representatives. He took part in the trench fight mission in that episode and, in episode 6, broke a door in one blow with a hammer, alone.
- What does Hwang Chung-won do for a living?
- As of 2021 articles, he competes as a CrossFit athlete and works as a heavy equipment operator. He was discharged as a sergeant from class 56 of the Navy’s Sea Salvage & Rescue Unit (SSU) and graduated from Yong In University in social sports.
- How did Hwang Chung-won do on Steel Troops?
- On Jun 22, 2021, UDT beat SSU in the final. SSU reached the final, where Hwang Chung-won was hit by a red round, which put him out of action, and his teammates carried him on a stretcher.
- What has Hwang Chung-won appeared in since Steel Troops?
- In 2021 he appeared in The Fisherman and the City 3 and Amuteun Chulgeun!, in 2022 in Haeyang Ssunyeondan, in 2024, the year he turned 34, in Physical: 100 season 2, and from 2025 in Steel Earth.
- How old is Hwang Chung-won?
- Born in 1990, he turns 36 in 2026. His birthday is not known, so as of Sep 30, 2026 he is 35 or 36 in completed years.