Jung Kyung-ho is one of those artists who boast of several successful projects under his name. As a versatile actor, he earned a lot of praise for the several roles he played over the years. In fact, you might’ve recognized him in recent dramas.
Having started his acting career way back in 2004, there is a lot to catch up on if you want to go through his filmography. So, we narrowed it down to eight of his most successful ones yet. Read on to get a quick look at other Jung Kyung-ho’s dramas you might be interested to watch.
Prison Playbook (2017)
Baseball superstar Kim Je-hyuk (Park Hae-soo) was reeling in success both in his career and personal life. But with only days before his Major League Baseball debut in the US, he unexpectedly lands himself in prison. It resulted when he beat a guy to death after he saw him sexually assaulting her sister.
Instead of flying abroad to pursue bigger dreams, he finds himself to have fallen from grace. With hands tied, he was whisked on a bus along with murderers, thieves, and drug lords on their way to incarceration.
In prison, Je-hyuk met Lee Joon-ho (Jung Kyung-ho) a seemingly hardened prison guard. To him, Lee Joon-ho is a special inmate. He seemed to know everything about him, and the reason for that is gradually revealed as the drama progressed.
Je-hyuk had to learn to navigate his new environment that comes with its own rules which he must follow if he wants to survive. To his surprise, what one would expect to be a very volatile environment as it is riddled with criminals, prison seemed to be a place where Je-hyuk found strangers who would play poignant roles in his life and vice versa.
Jung Kyung-ho’s character was one of the crowd favorites in this drama. He is the kind of friend who would rise to the occasion for you—no questions asked. Kyung-ho played him well by portraying him to have that hard exterior, but he is actually soft-hearted, especially for the people he cares for.
Hospital Playlist (2020)
Jung Kyung-ho made a strong impression on all those who fell in love with this successful 2020 medical drama. He plays Kim Jun-wan, an outspoken cardiothoracic surgeon.
Hospital Playlist is a slice-of-life drama that follows the lives of five doctors who have been friends since they entered medical school in 1999. Aside from sharing the same alma mater, they also share the same love for music.
A lot of people fell in love with this medical drama because it was not over-the-top. Rather, it gives audiences a realistic portrayal of the struggles that go inside the hospital. Music became a form of escape from all the stress-inducing checkups, surgeries, and patient interactions the doctors face on a daily basis.
The story also shows a friendship that has been tested over time. The five main characters are professional when it comes to their jobs, but they also find time to relax. So as a cathartic release, they revived their band sessions which they used to do back in med school.
Among the five of them, Kim Jun-wan is the one who often comes off like a jerk because of his sharp tongue. He prefers to give tough love thinking that it is what’s best for people. But things are different when it comes to romance because he is not one to hold back in expressing how he feels.
This drama is definitely one of Jung Kyung-ho’s most enjoyable performances in storytelling that was lauded for its realistic approach. Viewers get to enjoy musical interludes and also jump right into the characters’ daily journey in and outside the clinical field.
When the Devil Calls Your Name (2019)
When the Devil Calls Your Name is about star composer Ha Rip / Seo Dong-cheon (Jung Kyung-ho), who has been struggling all of his life to make it in the music industry. Having grown weary and desperate, he sold his soul to the devil when the opportunity showed itself in exchange for fame and fortune. But when his contract is about to expire, he tries to strike another deal with the devil using his life as collateral.
Jung Kyung-ho was perfectly cast as the vain musical composer Ha Rip. Having to portray a character across a wide age range – from his thirties to his sixties – it was a challenge for Jung Kyung-ho but he was able to deliver a good performance. In one part of the story, we see him as this successful musician reeling in his glorious moments, then he becomes this discouraged and desperate man who is willing to risk everything to hold on to his success.
With his nuanced delivery, Jung Kyung-ho was able to successfully pull off a character that shows its likability and humanity.
Missing 9 (2017)
Missing 9 is a story about nine individuals who get stranded on an island after a plane crash. Among them are celebrity, Seo Joon-oh (Jung Kyung-ho), his stylist Ra Bong-hee (Baek Jin-hee), and seven others who also work in the entertainment industry. Together, they go through an intense journey of growth as they fight for survival.
Jung Kyung Ho made another impressive performance as Joon-oh. His character was a leader of a popular idol band whose career suffered a major blow after having been accused of DUI and instigating a colleague to commit suicide. He is quite a bratty and spoiled celebrity which only made it challenging for him to cope with life stranded on the island—all the while it was also entertaining to watch.
But through the course of this difficult journey, he matures into a leader who puts others above himself.
Juxtaposing both past and present-day events, this story takes a turn tackling a possible murder mystery. Those who survived the ordeal on the island learned that some of them are murdered and they struggle to find out who among their number is the possible assailant.
Life on Mars (2018)
Han Tae-Joo (Jung Kyung-Ho) is a modern-day detective and forensics expert from Seoul who is brilliant and principled. In his book, the law is above people and feelings, which is why he relies on data more than he trusts people. His inflexible personality and an unwillingness to compromise his principles led to a solitary life.
One fateful night, Tae-joo was on a mad chase to catch a serial-killer. Unfortunately, he suffers a severe head injury along the way. As everything around him slowly fades away, he wakes up in broad daylight on the streets of a small town thirty years into the past in the year 1988. In this timeline, he has the same name and is the newly assigned chief investigator of the Crime Unit of an unknown precinct. It is here that he is tasked to solve a case similar to the one he was working on in the present day. Turns out, this is what he must do for him to “go back to the future”.
While this is a remake of the highly successful British series of the same name, this version is just as enjoyable to watch. Jung Kyung-ho gave justice in how he portrayed the main character, and it helped that he had great chemistry with Park Sung-Woong.
One More Happy Ending (2016)
In this 2016 rom-com Jung Kyung-ho plays Song Soo-hyuk, a Reporter/photographer of gossip magazine “Masspunch”. He and his best friend got involved in the lives of four best friends who used to be part of an idol girl group.
Now that they are in their thirties living an unglamorous life than their idol days, the ladies face varying struggles when it comes to relationships. One of them is Han Mi-mo (Jang Na-ra), a divorcee who now owns a successful matchmaking company that specializes in joining couples that have been divorced and are looking for a new love. She met Song Soo-hyuk by chance while the latter was tailing a celebrity. As these two collide, can they find their true match this time around?
Beating Again (2015)
For this 2015 rom-com Jung Kyung-ho transforms into a hardened young businessman whose family was ruined by a greedy uncle. He then dedicates himself to exact revenge, until a transplant gives him a change of heart.
While he was still a young child Kang Min-ho’s (Jung Kyung-ho) father succumbed to his illness. To make things worse, his uncle betrayed his father by taking over his company and abandoned his family. The loss and betrayal prompted his mother to commit suicide, leaving Min-ho all alone to bear the burden. His pain pushed him to seek revenge. Eyeing his uncle’s company, he plans to dismantle it before the same heart disorder that took his father’s life will eventually claim his own.
While in the midst of this hostile takeover, he crossed paths with a childhood acquaintance Kim Soon-jung (Kim So-yeon). She replaced her father to work as the secretary to the chairman which is Min Ho’s uncle, at their company. Because of this, Min-ho sees her whole family be part of his uncle’s betrayal.
But in a crazy twist of fate, Soon Jung’s fiancé dies in a car accident. It turns out that he is a match to donate a heart to Min-ho. Once the transplant was done, Min-ho starts to show personality traits and feels a strong affinity towards the grieving Soon-jung. Things get even more complicated when his long-time friend Lee Joon-hee (Yoon Hyun-min) is determined to do anything to get his hands on Min-ho’s seat at the company and also win Soon-jung’s heart.
Endless Love (2014)
Endless Love is a 50-episode period drama about the main characters’ ambition and love set against the backdrop of Korean politics through the 1970’s up to the 90’s.
Seo In-ae (Hwang Jung-eum) is a smart, beautiful, and ambitious woman who wants to help people seeking justice after she witnessed the murder of her own mom. Meanwhile, Han Gwang-hoon (Ryu Soo-young) is the eldest son of a poor fisherman’s family. He and Seo In-ae have loved each other since childhood. Unfortunately, their ambitions and conflict of interests tainted their relationship.
However, Gwang-hoon’s brother, Han Gwang-cheol (Jung Kyung-ho) also pined for In-ae. He is passionate to win her over that he is willing to do anything to make it happen. In this drama, Kyung-ho shows a charismatic bad boy person which he has never shown before in other projects.
