# Yoo Ji-tae (유지태)
**Yoo Ji-tae** (유지태; hanja 劉智泰, born 1976) is a South Korean actor, film director, and screenwriter who began his screen career as a fashion model, became a leading youth-film star around 2000, and is known internationally for playing the captor Lee Woo-jin in [Park Chan-wook](https://www.edgepedia.org/park-chan-wook)'s *[Oldboy](https://www.edgepedia.org/oldboy-2003-film)* (2003). He later moved toward character roles, turned to directing with short films and the feature *Mai Ratima* (2012), and has run independent-film screening programs for more than a decade.[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/kofic/200_actors/Yoo_Jitae.jsp)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1976, South Korea; listed name 유지태, hanja 劉智泰[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) |
| Physical profile | Listed height and weight of 188 cm and 78 kg[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) |
| Education | Hwimun High School; Dankook University, theater and film; master's in image arts, Chung-Ang University Graduate School[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) |
| Screen debut | *Bye June* (1998); stardom followed with *Attack the Gas Station!* (1999)[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/kofic/200_actors/Yoo_Jitae.jsp) |
| Signature role | Lee Woo-jin, the jailer who stages a long revenge in *Oldboy* (2003)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oldboy) |
| Directing | Short films from 2003; feature debut *Mai Ratima* (2012), Jury Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) |
| Indie advocacy | "Watch Independent Films with Yoo Ji-tae" screenings sustained for more than a decade[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20231213091624528) |
| Recent honor | Kang Soo-yeon Award, 26th Women in Film Korea Festival, December 16, 2025[6](https://news.sbs.co.kr/english/article.do?news_id=N1008373951) |
## From modeling to the youth-star wave
Yoo started his career as a fashion model. Filmmakers noticed his long, straight body, trained through dance, and cast him in *Bye June* (1998); he then drew immediate attention starring in the comedy *[Attack the Gas Station!](https://www.edgepedia.org/attack-the-gas-station)* (1999) as the character Paint.[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/kofic/200_actors/Yoo_Jitae.jsp) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
The year 2000 marked his peak as a youth icon. Within that single year he appeared in the melodrama *Ditto*, the horror film *Nightmare*, the action picture *Libera Me*, and the internet film *MOB 2025*, a run that led Korean media to call him an idol of the so-called N generation.[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/kofic/200_actors/Yoo_Jitae.jsp) • [1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) His role as a young man naive about love in Hur Jin-ho's melodrama *One Fine Spring Day* (2001) placed him among the country's high-teen (Korean slang for teen-oriented youth stars/roles) stars and earned him a Best Actor nomination at the 22nd Blue Dragon Film Awards.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) • [7](https://www.iq.com/actor-info/%EC%9C%A0%EC%A7%80%ED%83%9C-yoo-ji-tae-yoo-jitae-yoo-ji-tae-202323905?lang=ko)
**A deliberate change of course.** According to the Korean Film Council's database, Yoo felt burdened by the "star" label and cut off the high-teen tag early, wanting to build a career as a character actor instead of pursuing fame. After *One Fine Spring Day* he completed a short-term language course in Japan, and he then moved across genres: a secret service agent who falls in love with a cyborg in *Natural City* (2003), a man probing a death in a department store in *Into the Mirror* (2003), an ordinary reality-filled character in [Hong Sang-soo](https://www.edgepedia.org/hong-sang-soo)'s *[Woman Is the Future of Man](https://www.edgepedia.org/woman-is-the-future-of-man)* (2004), and rough male roles in *Antarctic Journal* (2005), *Running Wild* (2005), and *Midnight F.M.* (2010).[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) • [1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745)
## Oldboy and Lee Woo-jin
In Park Chan-wook's *Oldboy* (2003), Yoo played Lee Woo-jin, the wealthy jailer who imprisons Oh Dae-su ([Choi Min-sik](https://www.edgepedia.org/choi-min-sik)) for 15 years and prepares a long, solemn revenge to avenge the death of his older sister. The Korean Film Council notes that Yoo's cool and stylish acting was said to have complemented Choi's impassioned performance.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) The British Film Institute's magazine described the film as a hyperviolent action movie about the metaphysics of revenge, built on the guessing game between Oh Dae-su and his omnipotent kidnapper.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/out-revenge-park-chan-wook-oldboy) The Busan festival catalog lists the film as a 120-minute Korean feature and the second installment of Park's Vengeance Trilogy, based on a Japanese manga of the same title.[9](https://www.biff.kr/pop/20250903/Ticket-Catalogue.pdf)
*Oldboy* won the [Grand Prix](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-prix-cannes-film-festival) at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, where [Quentin Tarantino](https://www.edgepedia.org/quentin-tarantino) presided over the jury.[10](https://www.accesson.kr/kj/assets/pdf/8512/journal-60-1-128.pdf) • [8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/out-revenge-park-chan-wook-oldboy) A 2023 Los Angeles Times retrospective called the film the original K-cinema breakthrough and traced the foundation of Korean cinema's later international triumphs, including *[Parasite](https://www.edgepedia.org/parasite-2019-film)*'s Best Picture Oscar, to it.[11](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-08-16/oldboy-park-chan-wook-south-korea-action-tarantino)
## Directing
Yoo's interest in directing began while he was still a busy young actor. His short and mid-length films include *The Bike Boy* (2003), *How Does the Blind Dream* (2005), *Out of My Intention* (2007), and *The Invitation* (2009); *The Bike Boy* won the Audience Award at the Busan Asia Short Film Festival in 2003.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) • [1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) His feature directorial debut, *Mai Ratima* (2012), an immigration-focused drama that he also wrote, premiered in the Korean Cinema Today-Vision section of the Busan International Film Festival and won the Jury Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival in France, where it also served as an opening film; it later screened at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Muju Film Festival.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) He next embarked on the project *The Kochebi* and returned to directing with *Talk to Her* (2024).[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) • [12](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView2.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
## Independent film advocacy and teaching
For more than a decade Yoo has run "Watch Independent Films with Yoo Ji-tae" screenings, held at venues such as the independent cinema Indie Space, and has sponsored multiple independent film festivals. In a December 2023 interview he explained the project as a response to a distribution system in which a film he appears in can secure around 600 screens while a film he directs struggles to find theaters, and he framed the screenings as a way of seeding broader support for auteur cinema in Korea.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20231213091624528) At the 26th Women in Film Korea Festival on December 16, 2025, he received the Kang Soo-yeon Award, given to artists across the industry regardless of gender who advance Korean cinema, in recognition of more than 13 years of support for independent and arthouse film.[6](https://news.sbs.co.kr/english/article.do?news_id=N1008373951)
He has also worked in film education and festival service. Since 2023 interviews he has taught as a full-time professor in [Konkuk University](https://www.edgepedia.org/konkuk-university)'s Department of Media Acting.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20231213091624528) The Short Shorts & Asia 2007 Film Festival in Tokyo named him a jury member, judging films in three official categories.[13](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601008&mode=VIEW&seq=677) The Busan International Film Festival listed him among its invited actor-director figures in 2014 and among its jury members in 2022.[14](https://biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2014_report_eng.pdf) • [15](https://www.biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2022_report_eng.pdf)
## Later screen work
**Character roles across media.** Yoo's filmography after *Oldboy* spans crime, thriller, and drama: prosecutor Park Hee-soo in *The Swindlers* (2017), Kim Je-seok, the century-old "living Maitreya," in *Svaha: The Sixth Finger* (2019), and roles in *Money* (2019) and *The Sea of Itami Jun* (2019).[12](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView2.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) • [1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) On television he led KBS's action-romance *[Healer](https://www.edgepedia.org/healer-tv-series)* (2014) and tvN's *The Good Wife* (2016), after the SBS drama *Star's Lover* (2008).[7](https://www.iq.com/actor-info/%EC%9C%A0%EC%A7%80%ED%83%9C-yoo-ji-tae-yoo-jitae-yoo-ji-tae-202323905?lang=ko) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
For the Disney+ series *Vigilante* (2023), adapted from a webtoon, he played the enormously built detective [Jo Heon](https://www.edgepedia.org/jo-heon) and raised his weight from his usual 85 kg to over 100 kg within three months, combining CrossFit and bodybuilding; he said that if a second season were made he would aim to bring his condition to 100 percent.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20231213091624528) • [16](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202401010047)
In 2024 he played the Joseon-era statesman [Han Myeong-hoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/han-myeong-hoe) in Jang Hang-jun's historical drama *The King and the Man* (왕과 사는 남자), which surpassed 9.2 million admissions by March 2026 and stood near the ten-million mark at the time of a March 2026 interview, his first film to reach that scale in a career that began in 1998.[17](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=109535) • [5](https://v.daum.net/v/20231213091624528) Upcoming credits listed in the Korean film database include *[The King's Warden](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-kings-warden)*, with him as actor, dated 2026.[12](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView2.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
## Other recognition
Beyond film-specific honors, Yoo has received civic and industry awards: in 2007 he became the first man to win the Seoul City Women's Award, recognized for supporting women and children who are victims of domestic violence; in 2011 he received a Ministry of Health and Welfare donor-of-the-month award and a 6th Asia Model Award; and in 2008 he received a contribution award at the 10th International Short Film Festival.[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008) His film work in the 2010s also included the Korean-Japanese co-production *The Tenor Lirico Spinto* (2014), in which he played an opera singer overcoming throat cancer, which screened at the Busan International Film Festival in 2014.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
## References
1. [Yoo Ji-tae person profile, Cine21](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=3745)
2. [Yoo Jitae, Korean Actors 200, KoBiz / Korean Film Council](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/kofic/200_actors/Yoo_Jitae.jsp)
3. [YOO Ji-tae people page, KOFIC Korean Film Database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
4. [Oldboy (2003), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oldboy)
5. ["Why did Yoo Ji-tae invest 10 years in independent films?" interview, Sports Kyunghyang via Daum, December 13, 2023](https://v.daum.net/v/20231213091624528)
6. [Yoo Ji-tae Wins Kang Soo-yeon Honor at Women in Film Korea for Championing Indie Cinema, SBS News English, December 19, 2025](https://news.sbs.co.kr/english/article.do?news_id=N1008373951)
7. [Yoo Ji-Tae actor profile, iQIYI](https://www.iq.com/actor-info/%EC%9C%A0%EC%A7%80%ED%83%9C-yoo-ji-tae-yoo-jitae-yoo-ji-tae-202323905?lang=ko)
8. [Out for revenge: Park Chan-Wook on Oldboy, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/out-revenge-park-chan-wook-oldboy)
9. [Busan International Film Festival ticket catalogue, Oldboy entry](https://www.biff.kr/pop/20250903/Ticket-Catalogue.pdf)
10. [Korea Journal, vol. 60, no. 1 (spring 2020): 128–151](https://www.accesson.kr/kj/assets/pdf/8512/journal-60-1-128.pdf)
11. [After 20 years, a Korean action landmark still hits hard, Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2023](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-08-16/oldboy-park-chan-wook-south-korea-action-tarantino)
12. [YOO Ji-tae filmography, KOFIC Korean Film Database](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView2.jsp?peopleCd=10054008)
13. [YOO Ji-tae on Short Shorts Jury, KoBiz news](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601008&mode=VIEW&seq=677)
14. [The 19th Busan International Film Festival report](https://biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2014_report_eng.pdf)
15. [27th Busan International Film Festival report](https://www.biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2022_report_eng.pdf)
16. [IS New Year interview: Yoo Ji-tae, the person who became a creator, Ilgan Sports, January 3, 2024](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202401010047)
17. [Interview: The presence of Yoo Ji-tae, The King and the Man, Cine21, March 12, 2026](https://host.cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=109535)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of East and Southeast Asia › South Korean actors, 2000s onward › Surnames T to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license