Koo Kyo-hwan (Koo Kyo-hwan), born on December 14, 1982, in South Korea, is a South Korean actor, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer. A graduate of the Seoul Institute of the Arts, he first built a career in independent film before gaining widespread recognition from the general public.
He began his career in the late 2000s, notably in the short film Boys and the movie Castaway on the Moon. Alongside his acting career, Koo began developing his own projects at an early stage, regularly taking on the roles of director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. This versatility became one of the defining features of his career. In particular, he collaborated with director Lee Ok-seop on several independent productions, including Maggie (2018), which he co-wrote and in which he stars.
His critical revelation comes with Jane (2016), in which he plays a transgender woman. His performance earned him several awards, including the Actor of the Year award at the Busan International Film Festival and the Best New Actor award at the Baeksang Arts Awards in 2018.
In 2020, Peninsula, continued from Last Train to Busan, marked his transition to large-scale commercial productions. He then cemented his popularity with Escape from Mogadishu (2021) and, above all, the series D.P. (2021–2023), in which her portrayal of Corporal Han Ho-yeol became one of her most acclaimed roles.
It also appears in Monstrous and, as a guest, in Extraordinary Attorney Woo in 2022, and then in Kill Boksoon and D.P. 2 in 2023. In 2024, he played one of the leading roles in Parasyte: The Grey, in which he plays Seol Kang-woo. He then continued his collaboration with Yeon Sang-ho on several projects, including Colony and Paradise Lost, and in 2026 plays the lead role of Hwang Dong-man in We Are All Trying Here.
