Jo Han-chul

Jo Han-chul (born June 13, 1973) is a South Korean actor. Jo Han-cheol debuted in the play 'One Room' in 1998 and has been active in the theater world for a long time. After that, he went back and forth between TV dramas and movies, playing supporting roles. He is best known for his roles in television drama 100 Days My Prince (2018), Vincenzo (2021), Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021), Jirisan (2021), Reborn Rich (2022) and Gyeongseong Creature (2023).

Education
Jo graduated from Cheongju University with an undergraduate degree in Film Directing from the Department of Theater and Film. He then pursued further education and earned a master's degree in acting from the Korea National University of Arts and Drama. For his graduation thesis, Jo focused on the topic of 'Research on Film Acting in relation to the unique characteristics of media in films, with a critical examination of American method acting'.

Career
He debuted as theater actor in 1998 in play One Room (원룸).

A year later, he made his first appearance in a movie with a small role in Peppermint Candy. He has acted in other film such as 'Theatrical Exhibition', 'Ask the one who can', 'The most beautiful breakup in the world', 'Moby Dick', 'Ask the one who can', 'Yeonga City', and 'Scary Story'. ' 'Feng Shui', '48 Meters', 'Wonderful Woman', 'Scandal - A Very Shocking and Immoral Incident' (hereafter referred to as 'Scandal'), 'Hide and Seek', 'The Five', etc.

In 2008, Lee joined the encore performance of Park Su-jin's play "Applause for Juliet," directed by Min Bok-ki. The play, which originally premiered in 2004, received acclaim for its vibrant dialogue and imaginative storytelling. Jo portrayed the character of Seok-dong (Hamlet), alongside Lee Jin-hee as Seon-jeong (Ophelia), Min-ho as Romeo, and Bok-soon as Juliet. The play explores a complex web of conflicting love in a contemporary setting that cleverly combines Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

After a career of two decades, Jo's breakthrough as an actor came with his portrayal of an after-life prosecutor in the box office hit Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days. Joo was not the first choice for this role, in fact he replaced Oh Dal-su who had resigned from the movie. That same year, Joo also achieved a breakthrough in television dramas by playing the role of a king in 100 Days My Prince. He was cast as a replacement for Yoon Tae-young. The 2018 tvN historical drama is ranked as one of highest-rated Korean drama on cable television.

Other work
He is also an instructor teaching applied acting camera classes at the Department of Theater and Film at Dankook University.

Personal life
In 2015, Jo shared that he and his wife were in their 15th year of marriage. Jo revealed that he and his wife have a son in the first year of middle school and a daughter in the fifth grade of elementary school. Jo's wife is one year younger than him, and interestingly, they had lived in the same neighborhood during their childhood. They reunited when they were both twenty-eight years old and decided to tie the knot after just three months of dating. Jo expressed that their frequent encounters brought comfort and a sense of freshness, leading him to make the decision to marry her.

While Jo pursued his acting career, his wife was a former fashion designer who now specializes in creating stage costumes for various performances, including theater and musicals. She is currently known as Kang Ki-jeong, a talented designer actively involved in the vibrant theater scene of Daehakro.