Birthday Celebration Post: 101 Fun Facts About Yoo Ah In

Posted by Furbabe on October 11, 2014 · 21 Comments 

This is Seeksik 101 “Birthday Celebration Post” Special! If you think you’re the biggest and funkiest fan of Yoo Ah In, you’d better know these facts!

Roll the drums and let’s get started! 😀

101 Fun Facts About YOO

1. He was born in Daegu, 6th October 1986.

2. He’s got a father, a mother, 2 older sisters (noona) and once got a dog.

3. He felt he didn’t look like any of his family members, mom, dad, or sisters, so at one point when he was a child he had seriously considered that his parents might not be his birth parents.

4. He was a serious mama’s boy! He loves his mom more than his dad and as a child he would stay by his mom and follow her around. When visiting other family members’ homes, even to go to the bathroom he would whisper to his mom so she would take him.

5. He tries really hard to speak with his mother at least once a week although he barely manages to come home for Chuseok holidays.

6. His real name is Uhm Hong Sik, but he was told to pick a stage name to suit image as a star, and he picked Yoo Ah In. “Ah In” was adapted from German, which means “Ein” or “One”. His fans and friends like to call him “Hongsik” or “Sik”, and so does himself.

7. He and teen actress Go Ah Sung, who plays with him in Elegant Lies, were close neighbors/family friends in Daegu.

8. He’s the A-type blood, which is introverted, but they are reasonable, stable and thoughtful. It sounds good, right? However, on the downside, type A is a stubborn perfectionist!

9. He admitted that he is 179 cm-tall but he was told to increase his height profile to 180 cm-tall.

10. He started his career as a child actor, and is one of the most successful child actors of his generation along with Jang Geun Suk and Go Ara.

11. He was discovered by a casting agent on the streets in front of his school when he was in his first year of junior high.

12. He was scouted to be an aspiring idol (an idol trainee) and trained to sing.

13. He spent his first paychecks on drinking at a karaoke with friends from Daegu and his girlfriend at the time.

14. He took arts high school, majored in painting.

15. When he was 14 years old, he wrote for his high school assignment:

“I want the light to shine on me, and I want people to see me shining brightly”

16. He was popular among girls in high school, but he said it was only because there were a lot of girls in arts school, so he kind of naturally came to have many girlfriends 🙂

17. He decided to become a celebrity, left his arts high school in the middle of 10th grade (age 15) and came up to Seoul by himself and became independent.

18. He managed to graduate high school and entered the college with GED test.

19. He lived in poverty with a studio-type apartment during his early career in Seoul.

20. His first agency is Star-K Entertainment and he signed 8 years exclusive contract in August 2005. He joined Song Hye Kyo and Kang Dong Won at UAA early 2014.

21. He took arts major in Konkuk University and Dun Gook University, but we’ll never know when he will graduate :p

22. He’s been writing a diary and poems since early age, and he occasionally posted short essays on his mini-hompy (personal blog) since his début days.

23. He appeared on Kang Ho Dong’sYashimanman in 2009 and recited a poem he had written. [Click the Video]

24. His writings have been published in some magazines such as Arena Homme, Bazaar, Elle, Dazed & Confused, 10Asia, Z-Zin, and many more.

25. First TV début was a crackers CF in 2003. He appeared with Jang Geun Suk and SNSD Sooyoung in Skoolook CF, and also in T.O’s 발자국 (Footprints) MV in 2005.

26. First acting debut in TV drama Banolim (Sharp) with Go Ara, as “Ah In Oppa”, 17th January 2004.

27. Banolim reached highest ratings during his appearances.

28. When he was starting Banolim, he suffered a lot because of his intonation and pronunciation. He was able to fix it after he practiced a lot.

29. Now he switches his dialect back and forth between Daegu (satoori) and Seoul effortlessly. When he speaks with his family or Daegu friends, he switches to satoori accent.

30. His first fan cafe reached over 300,000 members during the broadcast of Banolim.

31. His first movie/wide screen début is a hit indie film Boys Of Tomorrow (2007). He received his first Best New Actor award for his role in this movie.

32. Koreans give him a nick name “people’s rebel”, “sexy brain”, and just recently he became “The Nation’s Favorite Younger Boyfriend”.

33. Known as a method actor and “conceptual” actor, he refuses to take on a role of a rich and perfect young chaebol.

34. He turned down the casting offer to play as one of the 4 main characters in drama Boys Over Flowers.

35. He dozed off twice in the middle of the dramas shooting in: Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love 😀

36. Known as one of the most outspoken and articulate actors in Korea who talks about politics and social issues openly on his twitter. In 2012 the independent party DUP Representative Moon Jae In and ex-candidate Ahn Cheol Soo replied Yoo Ah In’s political tweets, saying that they listened to what he said and took note on it.

37. He won “Best New Actor” awards 4 times during his career which he takes it as a mean that people consider him as always fresh 😀

38. Body part he’s most confident about is a slope between his waist and butt, aka the S-line 😀

39. Three food items he can’t live without: tteokbokki (spicy Korean rice cake), chicken feet, and milk.

40. He spends most of his money on alcohol, cigarettes, groceries and electronic devices.

41. He has iPhone and 2 other cellphones, but he hardly has any overages, and out of 300 free texting he only uses about 50. He considers these phones windows to the world not as “telephones”. He’s not really a talking on the phone type a guy.

42. He carries around these three cellphones. On one phone he has 300 contacts stored. The second one has 20 contacts. The third has his closest friends stored and is never off.

43. He’s a tech savvy, and he taught twitter to Park Min Young 🙂

44. He doesn’t really use cash for things (he’s a debt card/check card person), and once couldn’t pay the taxi fare because of that. He publicly apologized to the cab driver about this incident at twitter.

45. He doesn’t have many close celebrity friends except for actress Jung Yumi, whom he had a crush on in his early 20s. He cherishes his friends the most ♥

46. He admires stage actress and former Fin.K.l. member Ock Joo Hyun and often comes to her theatrical performance.

47. He made a plea to sing a song on twitter if his movie ‘Punch’ reached 3 million admissions. Turned out, it reached 5.3 millions. So he belted out a Christmas song at twitter! 

 

48. He promised to go all naked if his movie ‘Punch’ and ‘Tough As Iron’ reached 10 million admissions. He also promised to sing SNSD’s song if Fashion King rated 20%. Too bad, it didn’t happen :p 😀

49. He cooks well all the Korean dishes. He makes galbi jjim (braised ribs), baeksook (chicken soup) and other things for himself. He likes using good sugar and organic kind when cooking.

50. He won the cooking battle in Running Man, September 2013.

51. He made a perfect score in Star Golden Bell Quiz 2005.

 

52. Launch My Life (April 2011) was his first (and last?) reality show.

53. The perfume he’s using now is Frederic Malle’s Dominique Ropion Carnal Flower.

54. He likes Fornasetti interior design and its home fragrance product.

55. He likes Smurfs. He has a Smurf collection.

56. He has a home library. He’s an avid reader, one of his favorite authors is Andre Gide, and he reads Slavoj Žižek’s books too.

57. He loves chocolate ice cream, he especially likes Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche flavor, and Chup-a-Chup lollipop.

 

58. He loves sweets so much he has a cabinet as tall as him filled with sweets!

59. He goes to nightclubs occasionally to release stress.

60. He likes going to karaoke, dancing and drinking, watching concerts, and he doesn’t hide that he smokes [that’s a bad habit though].

61. His favorite wines are Dom Perignon and Cloudy Bay Te Koko Sauvignon Blanc.

62. He listens to indie music, but he still likes listening to Tablo/Epic High and Akdong Musician.

63. First experience in watching adult movie (R-rated film) was when he was 20, and it was a French film.

64. He likes watching Jimmy Kimmel Live – Celebrity Read Mean Tweets.

65. “I had an ex-girlfriend, but we both had fiery personalities. Once, we started arguing about something trivial and ended up fighting by an 8-lane boulevard and I lost my mind and tore the clothes I was wearing to shreds.” – Yoo Ah In, 2009.

66. He ordered 1,000 lighters engraved with the words “From —‘s Best Friend, Prince Uhm Hong Shik.” for his friend’s birthday present and still has a ton left at home!

67. He just got his driving license in October 2011.

68. He likes to pop zits in front of a mirror, quietly singing to himself and zones out.

69. He likes fashion, and he’s touted as a trendsetter, “men’s fashion bible”, and fashionista in Korea.

70. He never hires a fashion coordinator. He dresses himself even for big events.

71. He started designing with Nohant in 2014 for “Love City” and “New Kidz” sub-brands.72. His self-designed Nohant “Love City” tee is a hot item in Korea right now that many people and celebrities wearing this shirt in various occasions.

73. He likes wearing black more than white.

74. He doesn’t usually throw his old stuff away, he will wear/use them till they are totally worn-out.

75. He cares about children’s well-being. He donates regularly to St. Mary Orphanage & Disabled Home, and he quietly donated $71,000 to the Beautiful Foundation Korea in early 2013.

76. He made the surprise visits by secretly coming to St. Mary Orphanage and doing social works on Christmas day in 2010 and in January 2012.

77. He arranged a company’s surprise birthday party for his ex-manager in 2012.

78. His first twitter profile’s motto was “serva me serva bo te” (save me, and I will save you) by Gaius Petronius Arbiter.

79. He admitted to feel more comfortable acting with actresses older than him. Aside his work, he’s very comfortable being with older women as well, and all his ex-girlfriends were older than him.

80. He’d been asked out by a woman 10 years older than his age when he was 20 years old.

81. He would date older woman as long as she doesn’t have a cane 😀

82. He’s been in love 3 times that he regards as his real love.

83. He never dated another celebrity after the age of 19.

84. He wanted to act opposite Lee Mi Sook (54 years old actress) for an unconventional melodramatic romance, and also Gong Hyo Jin for a melodrama. He finally got to act opposite Kim Hee Ae, who’s 19 years older than him.

85. When a fan asked which part of a woman he notices first, he told the fan, “You turn around”, and answered, “I [first] look at their backsides.” 😀

86. He doodled a caricature of actress Uhm Jung Hwa in 2009.

87. Historical dramas always excite him more than regular dramas can do.

88. He is the 9th and youngest actor of all time who played King Sukjong in both big and small screens.

89. He took a picture among the plastic bags after the fans visiting the drama location. On the plastic bag fans printed an interesting message. It reads “If you decide to throw away Yoo Ah In, we will happily take him away.” He took a picture among the plastic bags as a reply to this sentence! 

 

90. Singer BoA said he was her ideal type and personally asked him to appear in her music video “Only One”.

91. In 2010 singer IU chose him as her ideal type. Yoo Ah In responded in Golden Disc Awards Ceremony by saying, “IU, I love you too”.

92. He and famous rocker Yoon Do-hyun are friends on twitter. Yoo Do-hyun once tweeted that he’s Yoo Ah In fan.

93. He did his first bungee jumping in one of the most famous bungee spot AJ Hackett Bungy, 10 meters above Queenstown, New Zealand in 2013.

94.  He’s not fond of workout but he can do kickboxing and likes swimming.

 

95. His favorite personal items: his snapback cap (the one he wore in SBS Power FM Gong Hyung Jin’s Cinetown Interview), Nohant “NEㅠYORK” tee, scented candle, wine, and perfume.

96. He likes winter better than summer. He likes winter sports such as snowboarding and skiing.

97. Kim Hee Ae recommended him very strongly to cast as Lee Seon Jae character in Secret Love Affair, because he is close to 20 years of age and plays the piano.

98. He took a 2 months lesson of classic piano for his role as the genius pianist Lee Seon Jae in Secret Love Affair.

99. Kim Hae Suk, his mother in Tough As Iron, often sends bread and crab dishes to his (mother) home. She said she was jealous with Kim Hee Ae for romancing him in a drama.

100. He gave up police promotional team enlistment, and instead will likely serve as an active military duty soon!

101. He wishes to open an exhibition that shows his painting works in the future, using an alias name. Hope it comes true!

FIN!

 

Once again, Happy 10th Years Anniversary of Acting Career & Happy 28th Birthday to YOO, Master Sik!

Thanks to JamieK and Jaeshinah for some helping hands^^

 

Photos: Yoo Ah In International Fans Community and DC

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