Yoon Hyun-min is a South Korean actor best known for his starring role in the South Korean family melodrama ‘My Daughter, Geum Sa-wol’. Yoon, a graduate of Cheongwon High School, was a gifted athlete who had no intention of pursuing a career in acting. As a professional baseball player, he was affiliated with the ‘Hanwha Eagles’ and then the ‘Doosan Bears. However, fate had other plans for him. He was drawn to the stage after watching the play ‘Finding Kim Jong-wook’ and left sports in 2007 to pursue a career in acting. Beginning with stage performances, he made his debut with the same play ‘Finding Kim Jong-wook’ that inspired him to pursue a career in film and television. ‘Spring Awakening’ is one of his notable theatrical works, while his only feature film to date is the 2011 baseball film ‘Pitch High’. He has appeared in a variety of notable television series over the years, including ‘Falling for Innocence,’ ‘Discovery of Love,’ and ‘Cruel City,’ as well as lead roles in ‘Tunnel’ and ‘My Daughter, Geum Sa-wol. The latter not only increased his profile, but also earned him the 2015 MBC Drama Awards’ Best New Actor in a Special Project Drama award.
Childhood & Adolescence
Yoon Hyun-min was born in South Korea on April 15, 1985. Except for the fact that he graduated from Cheongwon High School, little is known about this baseball player turned actor’s childhood, early education, and family background.
Yoon, a gifted athlete, played professional baseball in 2005 for the South Korean professional baseball club ‘Hanwha Eagles’ in Daejeon.
He joined the South Korean professional baseball team ‘Doosan Bears’ in 2006, based in Seoul.
Career of Yoon
He stumbled upon the play ‘Finding Kim Jong-wook’ and the immediate passion he developed for the stage prompted him to permanently change careers.
He left sports in 2007 and embarked on a new career in acting. He played Kim Jong-wook in ‘Finding Kim Jong-wook’ that year and reprised the role in 2011.
His early television appearances included Fun TV Roller Coaster: Season 1 (2009) on tvN and ‘Joseon Mystery Detective Jeong Yak-yong’ (2009) on OCN.
In 2010, he appeared in minor roles as Yoon Hyun-min in MBC’s ‘More Charming by the Day’ and as the son of the second state councillor in OCN’s ‘Yaksha’. He also appeared in that year’s SBS Plus television series ‘Kiss and the City.’
His sole feature film appearance to date was as Sang-tae in the 2011 sports film ‘Pitch High.’ That year, he starred as Melchior Gabor, a rebellious and highly intelligent adolescent schoolboy, in the celebrated rock musical ‘Spring Awakening,’ which remains one of his most notable theatrical works to this day.
He appeared as Lee Jae-ha in the extended cast of the South Korean romance melodrama family series ‘Still You.’ Kim Seung-soo, Shin Eun-kyung, Song Jae-hee, and Wang Bit-na starred in the 124-episode series, which aired on SBS from May 21, 2012 to December 3, 2012.
He also portrayed Lee Tae-seong in the 2012 play ‘Bachelor’s Vegetable Store’. His breakthrough role as Kim Hyun-soo was in the South Korean noir/crime action romance series ‘Cruel City,’ which starred Nam Gyu-ri, Jung Kyung-ho, and Lee Jae-yoon. The series aired on jTBC for a total of twenty episodes between May 27, 2013 and July 30, 2013.
Between 2013 and 2014, he appeared in the play ‘Triangle’ as Do-yeon. He was nominated for Best New Actor at the 2014 KBS Drama Awards for his supporting role of Toyama Aoki in the South Korean period drama action romance series ‘Inspiring Generation’. Im Soo-hyang, Kim Hyun-joong, and Jin Seo-yeon starred in the series, which aired on KBS2 for 24 episodes from January 15 to April 3 of that year.
This was followed by another supporting role for Yong Soo-cheol in the South Korean romance comedy series
‘Witch’s Romance’, which was broadcast on tvN. The series was a remake of the popular Taiwanese drama ‘My Queen’ (2009). The series aired for sixteen episodes between April 14, 2014, and June 10, 2014.
Yoon’s most notable role was as Do Joon-ho in the South Korean romantic comedy drama series ‘Discovery of Love,’ which aired on KBS2 from August 18, 2014 to October 7, 2014. That performance earned him his second nomination for Best New Actor at the KBS Drama Awards that year.
He also appeared as Sang-woo in the MBC television series “House, Mate” in 2014. He landed his first lead role in a television series with ‘Falling for Innocence,’ a South Korean romance comedy drama. He starred in the series as Lee Joon-hee alongside Kim So-yeon and Jung Kyung-ho. The series aired on jTBC for sixteen episodes between April 3 and May 23, 2015.
The popular South Korean melodrama family series ‘My Daughter, Geum Sa-wol’ was the series that boosted his career and earned him widespread fame and recognition. This weekend series, which aired on MBC for 51 episodes from September 5, 2015 to February 28, 2016, drew a large audience but was dubbed “absurdly unrealistic” by critics.
Yoon played one of Kang Chan-leading bin’s roles in ‘My Daughter, Geum Sa-wol’. His performance earned him the MBC Drama Awards’ Best New Actor in a Special Project Drama award in 2015.
He then appeared as Kim Sae-byuk in the thirteenth episode of South Korean television drama ‘The Good Wife’ (2016), which starred Yoo Ji-tae, Yoon Kye-sang, and Jeon Do-yeon. The series was based on an American television drama of the same name.
Yuun’s next notable role was as Kim Seon-jae in the South Korean crime thriller television series ‘Tunnel’, alongside Lee Yoo-young and Choi Jin-hyuk.
‘Tunnel’ was a 16-episode weekend series that aired on OCN from March 25 to May 21, 2017. The series gained considerable popularity in China after being inspired by an unsolved South Korean serial murder case, the Hwaseong serial murders.
Yoon is currently starring as Yeo Jin-wook opposite Jung Ryeo-won in the South Korean legal drama television series ‘Witch at Court’. Beginning October 9, 2017, the series will air on KBS2 every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST).
Private Life of Yoon
In early 2015, he began dating South Korean actress Jeon So-min. Their split was officially announced in January 2016. Jeon is also affiliated with the same agency as Yoon, ‘Entertainment IAM.’ He confirmed his relationship with South Korean actress Baek Jin-hee in March 2017.
Estimated Net Worth
Yoon Hyun is one of the wealthiest actors and is ranked as one of the most popular actors. Yoon Hyun’s net worth is estimated to be between $1-5 million, based on our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.