“Hot Ahjussi” Jung Sung Il: A saddening story of the actor’s early childhood, drama-like romance and more 

Despite being a revenge drama, “The Glory” managed to gather attention with the lovelines running throughout the series. Among the romances, Jung Sung Il, who plays Ha Do Young, husband of Park Yeon Jin, gave Lee Do Hyun, who plays the male lead Joo Yeo Jeong, a run for his money. Fans cannot stop buzzing about who Jung Sung Il is behind the aloof yet smart front portrayed on the screen. 

A latecomer to the industry with surprising background 

Jung Sung Il was born in 1980 in Daegu, South Korea. He started out as a stage actor and only appeared in TV drama series from 2009 and in movie projects in 2008 with minor roles. However, his handsome face left a strong impression on the viewers. 

“The Glory” marks a leap in his drama-acting career, after a series of appearances in “Stranger 2,” “The Chase,” “Our Blues,” and “Moonshine.” As expected, his role in the drama Ha Do Young is portrayed with subtlety and complexity conveyed through his “eye-acting” along with a mature and attractive image that quickly captures attention. 

Sung Il is currently active under KeyEast Entertainment. 

A dream body at the age of 43 

At the age of 43, Jung Sung Il boasts a handsome image and an aloof aura that draws all eyes on him. More surprisingly, the actor was able to gain a hard-earned six-pack in just 8 weeks without the help of a personal trainer to act in “The Glory.” 

More interestingly, the audience began to notice the uncanny similarity between him and the “National MC” Yoo Jae Suk. They believed, with the right adjustment, they would be indistinguishable.  

A drama-like love story with his wife 

On episode 179 of tvN’s “You Quiz on the Block,” Jung Sung Il revealed that he has been married for 7 years. He met his wife around his 20s after being discharged from the military. During their relationship, his wife had to go the US for her study and they coped with a long-distance relationship through phone calls and email exchanges. The couple maintained the relationship like that for three years and another 3 in person before breaking up. After 7 to 8 years of parting, the couple reunited when his current wife, and ex-girlfriend at that time, brought his mother to Seoul for a surgery and hid it from him. Jung Sung Il met her once again after knowing about what happened. 

He admitted that his wife was his first love, his true love and the muse of his youth. 

A haunting past of poverty 

The story of his ill mother dates back further than his youth and romance and has a strong tie to his early life in poverty. As the actor recounted, Jung Sung Il’s mother was always ill and had to receive constant treatment when he was in elementary school. His father was, in the actor’s words, “a free spirit” and almost never at home. He lived with his sister and his grandmother. However, due to her health problems, the young siblings only had each other to rely on and had to take care of the two adult women in the family. 

He confided, “My mother was sick ever since I was young so she was away healing and my father was a free spirit so he was never home.” He continued, “We lived with our grandmother, and we had to care for her when we were in elementary school. We had to take care of her excreta (human waste) because she had a hard time moving.” She unfortunately passed away when he was in sixth grade, the actor retold. 

During his childhood, Jung Sung Il recalled his sister being his primary carer, “When my sister was in school, I would wait for her but had nothing to eat or drink. So one time, I was so hungry and saw a puddle of water on the pavement. I waited until the dirt fell to the bottom and drank the water at the top,” adding that when his sister knew what he did, she “yelled at me saying ‘Are you crazy? Why did you drink that? You should’ve waited for me to come back’.”

More heart-breakingly, due to a lacking childhood, Jung Sung Il once lived without direction and only felt the need for survival. Unfortunately, at high school, his mother recovered and returned home. She wanted her son to pursue college education and he was recommended by his sister to take up fine art and performance art. With his family’s help and an undeniable talent, Jung Sung Il is able to succeed as he is today. 

Source: k14