Jung Dong-hwan

Jung was born in Gimje, as second and youngest son. He spent his childhood in Huam-dong, Seoul with his mother and his older brother. He proudly remember as being one of the first visitors to Namsan Library when it opened. Since he was young, Jung enjoyed watching plays. His first experience watching play was students performances from the theater department of Joongdong High School. At that time, there weren't as many theatre performances as now, he was seeing only one or two plays a year. After repeating a year, He enrolled in Joongdong High School with the sole intention of pursuing theater. At that time, the theater class at Jungdong High School was unparalleled among high school theater classes. Luckily, starting from his first year, he was given lead roles. The first play he ever performed was an adaptation of Augusta Gregory's "When the East is Turning Gray," which was adapted by the renowned playwright Noh Kyung-sik. In the second semester, he entered the drama class. In 1965, when he was a freshman in high school. He participated in the National High School Male and Female Student Theater Competition with a play called 'Sunrise' and he won the Best Acting Award. The competition's host was Dongnang Yoo Chi-jin (1905-1974). After failed his college entrance exam, Jung decided to enter the Seoul Academy of Dramatic Arts, founded by Dongnang Yoo Chi-jin, which was predecessor of today Department of Theater and Film of Seoul Institute of the Arts. Yoo gave Jung a full scholarship on the condition that he work as a stage manager in Dongnang Repertoire Theater Company. He embarked on his acting journey from the ground up, learning from esteemed theater figures like Lee Ho-jae and Jeon Moo-song. As soon as he entered, young elite theatrical figures of the time, such as Yoo Deok-hyung, Ahn Min-soo, and Yoo Min-young, returned from studying abroad. Meeting them and getting to know a new theater culture was a big turning point in his life.