The year he turned 23, he made his entertainment debut in Bang Yong-guk’s music video, and at the end of the year he appeared on screen in the film Perfect Game. In 2012, he played Si-woo, a member of the band Eden, in KBS2’s Dream High 2, his first drama.
In 2013, he played Park Hyun-tae in MBC’s Pots of Gold. In 2014, he played the younger man Yoon Dong-ha in tvN’s A Witch’s Love.
The breakthrough yearIn January 2015, he played Oh Ri-on in MBC’s Kill Me, Heal Me. The year he turned 27, in September, he played Ji Sung-joon in MBC’s She Was Pretty and rose to stardom. Ratings reached 16.9%, followed by endorsement deals and a sold-out fan meeting. In November, he received the Popular Star Award at the 36th Blue Dragon Film Awards.
In 2016, he played the low-born Mu-myeong in KBS2’s Hwarang. In 2017, he played Ko Dong-man in KBS2’s Fight for My Way, which took first place in the Monday-Tuesday slot, and Midnight Runners drew 5.65 million viewers. He won Best New Actor at the Grand Bell Awards in October.
In 2018, he played Lee Young-joon in tvN’s What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim and moved to Awesome ENT, following the CEO he had known for ten years. In 2019, he made a cameo in the film Parasite and played the fighting champion Yong-hu in The Divine Fury.
The year he turned 32, he played Park Sae-ro-yi in JTBC’s Itaewon Class, and the last episode ended with 16.5%, its own best. In 2021, he served as assistant chef on tvN’s Youn’s Stay.
In 2022, he appeared in the variety show In the Soop: Friendcation. In 2023, he appeared in the films Concrete Utopia and The Marvels, and in December Netflix’s Gyeongseong Creature season 1 was released. In 2024, Gyeongseong Creature season 2 was released and reached No. 3 in the global TV shows category on FlixPatrol in two days.
In August 2025, on his 14th debut anniversary, he donated 100 million won to Samsung Medical Center, and in December he appeared in JTBC’s Surely Tomorrow, his first JTBC drama in five years. In 2026, he was cast in Disney+’s Born Guilty.
Park Seo-joon (born Dec 16, 1988) debuted on Aug 12, 2011, the year he turned 23, in Bang Yong-guk’s music video, and broke through in 2015, the year he turned 27, as Ji Sung-joon in MBC’s She Was Pretty. In 2020, the year he turned 32, he played Park Sae-ro-yi in Itaewon Class.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
Appeared as the male lead in the music video of a duet by the singer Bang Yong-guk and Yang Yo-seob of the group Beast. He was introduced at the time under his birth name, Park Yong-gyu.
Source 01 · Sports Chosun (Korean) · Male lead of the “I Remember” music video · opens in a new tabAppeared in a film about the rivalry between Choi Dong-won and Sun Dong-yol.
Source 02 · Newsinside (Korean) · Interview on Dream High 2 · opens in a new tabSource 03 · OSEN (Korean) · Perfect Game passes one million · opens in a new tabPlayed Si-woo, a member of the band Eden, in his first drama. Episode 1 was rated 10.5%.
Source 04 · Sports Chosun (Korean) · Dream High 2 premiere at 10.5% · opens in a new tabSource 40 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · Dream High 2, Park Seo-joon Twitter interview · opens in a new tabPlayed Park Hyun-tae in the MBC weekend drama. Ratings that started with 7.1% ended with 22.3% for the last episode.
Source 05 · Newsis (Korean) · Pots of Gold finale · opens in a new tabSource 29 · Wikipedia (Korean) · Park Seo-joon · opens in a new tab The role is from Wikipedia and was not confirmed in articles.Played Yoon Dong-ha, a younger man who comes into the life of Ban Ji-yeon (Uhm Jung-hwa), a woman who is single by choice.
Source 06 · TenAsia (Korean) · A Witch’s Love preview · opens in a new tabPlayed Oh Ri-on, the older brother of Oh Ri-jin (Hwang Jung-eum). Episode 1 was rated 9.2%.
Source 07 · Dong-A Ilbo (Korean) · Kill Me, Heal Me premiere at 9.2% · opens in a new tabSource 41 · MBN Star (Korean) · Kill Me, Heal Me, role of Oh Ri-on · opens in a new tabIn his first lead role he played Ji Sung-joon, a deputy editor. Ratings reached 16.9%, followed by endorsement deals and a sold-out fan meeting, and his followers in China grew by 50,000 in each of two straight weeks.
Received the Chungjungwon Popular Star Award, along with Lee Min-ho, Park Bo-young and Kim Seol-hyun.
Source 11 · Herald Muse (Korean) · Popular Star Awards for Lee Min-ho, Park Bo-young, Park Seo-joon and Kim Seol-hyun · opens in a new tabPlayed the low-born Mu-myeong. Episode 1 was rated 6.9%.
Source 12 · Joynews24 (Korean) · KBS’s desperate push for Hwarang · opens in a new tabSource 13 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Hwarang production team interview 1 · opens in a new tabPlayed Ko Dong-man, and the drama took first place in the opening matchup of the new Monday-Tuesday slot.
Source 42 · TenAsia (Korean) · Fight for My Way, episode 1 · opens in a new tabSource 14 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Fight for My Way takes first place in the new Monday-Tuesday matchup · opens in a new tabStarred with Kang Ha-neul as police academy students, and the film drew 5.65 million viewers.
Source 15 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul’s Midnight Runners passes two million · opens in a new tabSource 16 · Sports Seoul (Korean) · 2017 film year in review · opens in a new tabWon for Midnight Runners. He also won Best New Actor at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards that year.
Source 17 · Seoul Shinmun (Korean) · Best New Actor at the Grand Bell Awards · opens in a new tabSource 18 · Nocut News (Korean) · Best New Actor at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards · opens in a new tabStarred with Park Min-young. Ratings that started with 5.8% set new highs for the drama day after day.
Source 19 · YTN (Korean) · What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, scene-stealers · opens in a new tab The exact date of the first broadcast was not confirmed in articles.His contract with Content Y ended at the end of June, and he moved to Awesome ENT, newly set up by CEO Yang Geun-hwan, whom he had known for ten years.
Source 20 · Sports World (Korean) · Park Seo-joon leaves Content Y for Awesome ENT · opens in a new tabSource 21 · Star News (Korean) · Awesome ENT acquires Content Y · opens in a new tabMade a cameo as Min-hyuk. The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and passed 10 million viewers.
Source 22 · Sports Chosun (Korean) · Park Seo-joon interview, cameo in Parasite · opens in a new tabSource 23 · Wikipedia (Korean) · Parasite (film) · opens in a new tab The release date and role are from Wikipedia.Played Yong-hu, a fighting champion who takes on evil, with Ahn Sung-ki. The film drew 380,000 on opening day, above Midnight Runners’ opening day.
Source 24 · Star News (Korean) · Ahn Sung-ki on The Divine Fury and Park Seo-joon · opens in a new tabSource 25 · Sports Hankook (Korean) · The Divine Fury draws 380,000 on opening day · opens in a new tabPlayed Park Sae-ro-yi, and the drama started with 5.0%, equal to the highest first-episode rating for a JTBC drama. The last episode ended with 16.5%, its own best.
Source 26 · News1 (Korean) · Itaewon Class premiere, highest first-episode rating of 5% · opens in a new tabSource 27 · TV Daily (Korean) · Itaewon Class reaches 18% · opens in a new tabAppeared with Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Seo-jin, Jung Yu-mi and Choi Woo-shik, serving as assistant chef. Episode 1 was rated 8.2%.
Source 43 · Newsis (Korean) · Youn’s Stay premiere at 8.2% · opens in a new tabA travel show with five friends, including BTS’s V and the actors Choi Woo-shik and Park Hyung-sik. It aired on JTBC and Disney+.
Source 28 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · In the Soop: Friendcation, the final story · opens in a new tabSource 29 · Wikipedia (Korean) · Park Seo-joon · opens in a new tab The first broadcast date is from Wikipedia; only the final episode (Aug. 12) was confirmed in articles.Appeared with Lee Byung-hun, Park Bo-young and others. The film passed three million viewers in 16 days and was chosen as South Korea’s submission for the 96th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film.
Source 30 · TV Chosun (Korean) · Concrete Utopia passes three million in 16 days · opens in a new tabPlayed Prince Yan, the husband and ally of Captain Marvel Carol Danvers (Brie Larson).
Source 31 · TV Report (Korean) · Park Seo-joon and Brie Larson in The Marvels · opens in a new tabSource 32 · Celeb Media (Korean) · Movie ranking, The Marvels passes 440,000 in its first week · opens in a new tabStarred with Han So-hee, and the series took first place in the integrated content ranking in its first week. Dong-A Ilbo reported the total production cost for seasons 1 and 2 at 70 billion won.
Source 33 · JTBC (Korean) · Gyeongseong Creature tops the integrated content ranking in its first week · opens in a new tabSource 34 · Dong-A Ilbo (Korean) · Gyeongseong Creature, which cost 70 billion won, draws divided reviews · opens in a new tabTwo days after release it reached No. 3 in the global TV shows category on FlixPatrol.
Source 35 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · Gyeongseong Creature 2 is No. 3 globally in two days · opens in a new tabDonated 100 million won to Samsung Medical Center.
Source 36 · Ilgan Sports (Korean) · Park Seo-joon donates 100 million won to Samsung Medical Center on his 14th debut anniversary · opens in a new tabAppeared in a JTBC drama for the first time in five years since Itaewon Class. It started with 2.7% for the first episode and ended with 4.7% for the last.
Source 37 · JTBC (Korean) · Surely Tomorrow press conference · opens in a new tabSource 38 · Maeil Business Newspaper (Korean) · Surely Tomorrow finale interview · opens in a new tabCast with Um Tae-goo and Jo Hye-joo in a drama set in the 1980s.
Source 39 · Xportsnews (Korean) · Official: Park Seo-joon, Um Tae-goo and Jo Hye-joo on Born Guilty · opens in a new tabEND OF SELECTED RECORDSSelected records, 2011–2026 · 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
Dec 16, 1988 —
Ages are counted from the birth year 1988: the year of the event minus 1988, birthdays aside. “Key moment” labels and the connecting story are AgeTrail's editorial reading.
Fact-checked: 2026.09.29 · An independent archive, not affiliated with the person or their agency.