Jang Tae-yoo

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Jang Tae-yoo
20201118 Lovers of the Red Sky (hongceongi) Director Jang Tae-yoo at Script Reading.jpg
Jang in 2020
Born1972 (age 5253)
Other namesDavid Chang
Occupation Television director
Years active1999-present
Agents
Korean name
Hangul
장태유
Hanja
張太侑
Revised Romanization Jang Tae-yu
McCune–Reischauer Chang T'ae-yu
Website Studio TaeYou

Jang Tae-yoo (born 1972) is a South Korean television director. He directed the Korean dramas War of Money (2007), Painter of the Wind (2008), Deep Rooted Tree (2011), My Love from the Star (2013-2014), Hyena (2020), and Lovers of the Red Sky (2021).

Contents

Career

Jang Tae-yoo entered Seoul National University in 1998 majoring in Industrial Design, but eventually dropped out. He originally wanted to direct commercials, but during the IMF crisis, there were no new hires at advertising agencies. So his older brother Jang Hyuk-jae, then a television director at SBS, encouraged him to join the network.

Jang began working as an assistant director on the television drama Tomato in 1999, which he later described as more difficult than mandatory military service. This was followed by Woman on Top (also in 1999; though he was replaced after three months), Ladies in the Palace (2001-2002), Sunrise House (2002), and Punch (2003). He was also the second unit director on Choice (2004-2005) and Bad Housewife (2005).

Jang's first drama as the lead director was The 101st Proposal (2006) starring Lee Moon-sik and Park Sun-young, a remake of the same-titled 1991 Japanese drama about an unattractive but kind-hearted aging bachelor who meets the girl of his dreams, a TV announcer still mourning her dead boyfriend. [1] Then in 2007, Jang directed War of Money , which explored loan shark culture and drew high ratings as well as praise for its cast led by Park Shin-yang (Park later won the highest honor, called the "Daesang" or Grand Prize, at the 2007 SBS Drama Awards). Jang reunited with Park in the period drama Painter of the Wind (2008), adapted from Lee Jung-myung's historical fiction novel that depicted the relationship between two Joseon era artists, Kim Hong-do and Shin Yun-bok (the latter is a woman disguised as a man, portrayed by Moon Geun-young). [2] Though Jang said he found it "challenging to make art interesting," [3] the drama drew critical acclaim, particularly for Moon, who became the youngest ever Daesang winner at the 2008 SBS Drama Awards. War of Money and Painter of the Wind established Jang as one of the top production-directors (or "PD") in Korean television.

For his next drama, Jang chose another Lee Jung-myung adaptation Deep Rooted Tree (2011), about a murder mystery surrounding King Sejong's invention of the Hangul system. It starred Han Suk-kyu and Jang Hyuk, and was notable for Han's return to television after appearing mostly in films (Han won the Daesang at the 2011 SBS Drama Awards). [4] Jang's track record continued to attract movie stars to the small screen, followed by Jun Ji-hyun in My Love from the Star (2013-2014). Written by Park Ji-eun (herself a hitmaker), the romantic-sci-fi dramedy about an alien who falls for a famous actress (played by Kim Soo-hyun and Jun) was popular domestically and overseas. [5] [6] The drama's massive success in the Chinese market [7] led to more opportunities for Jang, so he took a leave of absence from SBS, and signed an exclusive five-year contract with Yuehua Entertainment. [8] His next project will be a Chinese 3D romantic comedy film. [9] [10]

Jang is also an adjunct professor of Performing Arts at the Seoul Arts College since the first semester of 2012. [11]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleCredited asRef.
EnglishOriginalAssistant DirectorSecond unit directorDirector
2016 MBA Partners 夢想合夥人NoYesNo [12]

Television series

YearTitleNetworkCredited asRef.
EnglishKoreanAssistant DirectorSecond unit directorDirector
1999Tomato 토마토 SBS YesNoNo
1999Woman on Top 맛을 보여드립니다 YesNoNo
2001-2002Ladies in the Palace 여인천하 YesNoNo
2002Sunrise House해뜨는 집YesNoNo
2003Punch 때려 YesNoNo
2004-2005ChoiceNoYesNo
2005 Bad Housewife 불량 주부NoYesNo
2006 The 101st Proposal 101번째 프러포즈NoNoYes
2007 War of Money 쩐의 전쟁NoNoYes
2008 Painter of the Wind 바람의 화원NoNoYes
2011 Deep Rooted Tree 뿌리깊은 나무NoNoYes
2013-2014 My Love from the Star 별에서 온 그대NoNoYes
2020 Hyena 하이에나NoNoYes
2021 Lovers of the Red Sky 홍천기NoNoYes [13]
2024 Knight Flower 밤에 피는 꽃 MBC NoNoYes [14]
2025 Bon Appétit, Your Majesty 폭군의 셰프 tvN NoNoYes [15]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef.
200835th Korea Broadcasting AwardsBest Director (TV) War of Money Won
44th Baeksang Arts Awards Best Director (TV)Nominated
2012 48th Baeksang Arts Awards Best Director (TV) Deep Rooted Tree Nominated
5th Korea Drama Awards Best Production DirectorWon
2014 50th Baeksang Arts Awards Best Director–Television [a] My Love from the Star Nominated [16] [17]
7th Korea Drama Awards Best Production Director [a] Nominated [18]
3rd APAN Star Awards Best Production Director [a] Won [19]
27th Grimae Awards Best Production Director [a] Won [20]

Notes

    1. 1 2 3 4 Co-directing with Oh Chung-hwan

    References

    1. "Korean Weekly News - February 27". Twitch Film . 27 February 2006. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
    2. Kang, Hye-ran (10 September 2008). "Upcoming drama paints lives of two Joseon masters". Korea JoongAng Daily . Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    3. Oh, Jean (29 September 2008). "Stellar period piece brings in poor ratings". The Korea Herald via Hancinema . Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    4. "Jang Hyuk Confident Deep Rooted Tree is Good Drama Regardless of Ratings". Drama Haven. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    5. "Jun Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun Share Theirs Thoughts On You Who Came From the Stars Finale". KpopStarz. 1 March 2014. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    6. Chung, Ah-young (3 March 2014). "Sequel to My Love from Star likely". The Korea Times . Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    7. "Why My Love from the Star is so successful?". China.org.cn . 2 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    8. Sohn, Ji-young (9 July 2014). "My Love from the Star producer to become movie director in China". The Korea Herald . Retrieved 2014-12-08.
    9. Limb, Jae-un (28 July 2014). "Directors see opportunity in Chinese film market". Korea.net . Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    10. Park, Hye-eun (17 October 2014). "Korean Directors Roaring in China". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
    11. Park, Si-soo (20 March 2014). "Entertainers take on teaching role". The Korea Times . Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
    12. "梦想合伙人 (2016)". movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
    13. Kim Ji-hye (August 28, 2021). "'홍천기' 장태유 감독, '바람의 화원'→'별그대' 잇는 연출 맛집..눈호강 예약" [Director Jang Tae-yu of 'Hongcheongi', 'Painter of the Wind' → 'My Love from the Stars' Directed restaurant.. Reservation of Noonhogang]. Herald Pop (in Korean). Retrieved March 7, 2022 via Naver.
    14. Tae Yu-na (May 11, 2023). "남궁민·이하늬 구원투수 될까…연이은 흥행 참패, 사극 명가 MBC도 옛말 [TEN스타필드]" (in Korean). Ten Asia. Retrieved May 11, 2023 via Naver.
    15. Beak, Seung-hoon (July 24, 2025). 임윤아, '폭군' 이채민과 칼싸움 시작 [Im Yoon-ah, starts a sword fight with 'tyrant' Lee Chae-min]. MBC Entertainment News (in Korean). Retrieved July 24, 2025 via Naver.
    16. Hicap, Jonathan M. (April 30, 2014). "Nominees in 50th Baeksang Art Awards revealed". Manila Bulletin . Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
    17. "Nominees for film and TV categories released for the 50th Baeksang Arts Awards". Daily K Pop News. April 29, 2014. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
    18. "Kim Soo-hyun wins at drama festival". Korea JoongAng Daily . 3 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-24.
    19. "2014 APAN Star Awards, 조인성 대상" [2014 APAN Star Awards, Jo In-sung]. 국제뉴스 (in Korean). 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
    20. "'별그대' 장태유·오충환 PD, 2014 그리메상 연출상 수상" ['Star You' PD Jang Tae-yu and Oh Choong-hwan won the 2014 Grime Award for Directing]. mosen.mt.co.kr (in Korean). 2014-12-12. Retrieved 2023-08-03.