Kim Jae-Wook was born on April 2, 1983 in South Korea. His family consists of his parents and one older brother. When Kim-Jae Wook was an infant his family moved to Japan. His father worked as a journalist and was transferred to Japan as a foreign correspondent. Kim Jae-Wook moved back to Korea by the time he was 8-years-old.
When Kim Jae-Wook returned to Korea, he could barely speak Korean. When he was admitted to elementary school in Korea, Kim Jae-Wook first started to learn Korean. Growing up through the Korean school system, he could not get used to the strict Korean school rules like wearing uniforms & regulation of hair style. Because of this, he told his parents that he might not go to the high school. He then changed his mind because he wanted to partake in school band activities like his brother. As a freshman at Dandae High School, he took an audition for the band "Kaksital" and got accepted.
During higschool, Kim Jae-Wook appeared on the MBC TV show "Akdong Club" which was a reality show depecting the makings of an idol group. In the show, high school students took auditions and Kim Jae-Wook was among the contestants. The host of the show Lee Hwi-Jae asked Kim Jae-Wook if he could dance and sing in the idol group style rather than rock music style. Kim Jae-Wook said no and without hesitating gave up the audition.
In his sophmore year of high school, Kim Jae-Wook started modeling for fashion magazines like "YuHaeng Tongshin" and appearing in fashion shows. His passion was still centered on his music career.
At the Seoul Institute of the Arts, Kim Jae-Wook majored in music and formed a 3 piece rock band named "Walrus". Kim Jae-Wook still performs with the band to this day. In 2002, MBC PD Park Sung-Soo advised Kim Jae-Wook to pursue acting in TV dramas. Kim Jae-Wook made his acting debut in the MBC drama "Ruler of Your Own World," performing as a member of an indie rock band. His experience though was not positive for his first acting job. In fact, Kim Jae-Wook found acting to be too difficult and decided to give up that career. 5 years later, Kim Jae-Wook had a change of heart and performed in the 2007 KBS2 drama "Dalja's Spring" as a friend of lead character Kang Tae-Bong (played by Lee Min-Ki).
In 2007, Kim Jae-Wook also acted in the MBC drama "Coffee Prince" as supporting character No Seon-Ki. "Coffee Prince" turned out to be a hit series and achieved high ratings. This also brought recognition to Kim Jae-Wook in the public's eye. The public referred to supporting actors Kim Jae-Wook, Kim Dong-Wook and Lee Eon as "꽃미남 프린스" - meaning literally "Handsome Flower Princes". When Kim Jae-Wook first auditioned for "Coffee Prince," he was cast for the character Jin Ha-Lim who was written as a bright kid but also a womanizer. Lee Yoon-Jung, the PD for "Coffee Prince," then changed Kim Jae-Wook's role to No Seon-Ki - a more introspective & silent character, hoping he would feel more comfortable playing that role.[6]
In 2007, Kim Jae-Wook made his feature film acting debut with "Antique". In the movie, Kim Jae-Wook played Min Seon-Woo, a character written as a highly talented patissier and also a homosexual. According to director Min Kyu-Dong, he picked Ju Ji-Hun and Kim Jae-Wook for the movie, but was undecided on which characters they would play. Kim Jae-Wook decided to play Seon-Woo and was enthusiastic to play him. [7]
In an interview with Kim Jae-Wook, he mentioned that it was difficult playing Min Seon-Woo and expressing the character's gay tendencies in a natural way.[8]
After successfully performing in "Antique," more job offers came to him with characters written simialr to Min Seon-Woo. Kim Jae-Wook decided to take a one year break from acting.[9]
Kim Jae-Wook made his return to acting in 2010 with the SBS drama "Bad Guy". Kim Jae-Wook performed as supporting character Hong Tae-Sung - a character that possesses a more dynamic nature than Kim Jae-Wook's prior characters. Kim Jae-Wook was cast after only one meeting with the series director Lee Hyeong-Min.[10]
Kim Jae-Wook also performed in the KBS2 drama "Marry Me, Mary!". In "Marry Me, Mary!" Kim Jae-Wook perfroms as Jung-In, a wealthy young man who moves from Japan to Korea. Kim Jae-Wook was able to speak Japanese in the drama series.
Outside of music & acting, Kim Jae-Wook's hobbies include reading, baseball and soccer. He also enjoys cleaning in his spare time. It usually takes Kim Jae-Wook about 4-5 hours to finish cleaning. Afterwards, when he looks over his clean home he feels a sense of pride. While cleaning, Kim Jae-Wook finds he can contemplate on matters running through his mind. Stylistically, Kim Jae-Wook prefers an easy style and he keeps a personal rule that he never washes his jeans.[11]
22 Rin's World
Kim Jae wook
Hall of Fame
Name: Kim Jae-Wook
Birthdate: April 2, 1983
Birthplace: South Korea
Universities: Seoul Institute of the Arts
Height: 183cm.
Blood Type:
Education
B.A in Film