Gong Yoo

Gong Yoo (Gong Ji-cheol) was born on July 10, 1979, in Busan. He is the second child and only son of Gong Won and Yoo Myung-Joo. His father attended Busan Sango, a baseball academy, and was a manager of the Lotte Giants from 1983 to 1985. Gong attended Dongin High School and pursued undergraduate studies at Kyung Hee University's Department of Theater and Film.

A 1996 edition of Gokbu Gong clan's genealogy book in Korea recorded the ancestry of Gong Yoo, under the name "Gong Ji-cheol", who was listed as a 79th-generation descendant of ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius; his mother's bongwan is Paechon, from a cadet branch of the Gangneung Yoo clan, who claimed to be Goryeo descendants of Emperor Gaozu of the Han dynasty. In 2009, the 5th revision of Confucius' family tree was published in China; however, while thousands of Korean members from the Gokbu Gong clan are included, Gong Yoo and his relatives are not listed in this official genealogy book. In 2017, Gong Yoo revealed that he is from the Gokbu Gong clan.