Heo Sung-tae Height, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Heo Sung-tae

• Heo Sung-tae is a South Korean actor who is most famous for his portrayal of negative characters in South Korean films and television series.

• He was born and brought up in Busan, South Korea.
  

  A childhood picture of Heo Sung-tae

• From 2000 to 2010, for ten years, he was in a relationship with a woman, his college sweetheart. In 2010, he joined the wedlock with his college sweetheart.

• After completing his graduation, he began working in the overseas sales department of LG Electronics, in charge of selling television in the Russian market.

• He then worked at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd., ‘Big Three’ shipbuilders of South Korea, in their planning and coordination department in Geojedo, South Korea.

• After years of working office-job, one night in 2011, aged 35, he returned home drunk from a dinner party and started his TV. On the TV, there was an advertisement running of the SBS reality TV show ‘Miracle Audition’ (2011) with subtitles ‘Cast your Dreams.’ Out of 1000 Busan applicants, Sung-tae made it to the selected 15 contestants from Busan. In the first episode, he was selected by all the judges. After being selected on the show, he straightaway filed his resignation with his company. He soon gained recognition in the show for his wonderful acting skills. Unfortunately, he was placed fifth in the show after he faced the elimination in episode 16.
  

  Heo Sung-tae during his audition in Miracle Audition (2011)

• None of his family members were supportive of his decision to quit his office job and pursue acting. Only his wife was understanding and encouraged his decision. After leaving his job, he faced financial difficulties. After failing in almost 300 auditions, he bagged an uncredited role in a film.

• He starred in many South Korean short films like Jjajangmyeon-ui Yuhok (2013), Ak-su (2013), Reboot (2013), and Kahaejadeul (2013), and Red Blind (2014).

• At the beginning of his career, he played uncredited and small roles in the South Korean dramas Reply 1994 (2013), Gu Family Book (2013), God’s Gift: 14 Days (2014), You’re All Surrounded (2014), Jeong Do-yeon (2014), and Saimdang, Light’s Diary (2017).

• In 2016, he began gaining popularity after his portrayed of ‘Ha Il-soo’ in the South Korean feature film ‘Age of Shadows’ (2016). The film is centered around the game of cat-and-mouse chase between a group of resistance fighters (who are trying to bring explosives from Shanghai to destroy the key Japanese facilities in Seoul) and Japanese agents (who are trying to stop the resistance fighters). In the film, there is a scene in which Song Kang-ho‘s character slabs Il-soo, which made Heo Sung-tae famous. The scene was never a part of the original script and was proposed by Sung-tae. Kang-ho didn’t want to slap Sung-tae, which is why it took him 3-4 days to convince Kang-ho to perform the scene.
  

  Heo Sung-tae in a scene from Age of Shadows (2016)

• In 2017, Sung-tae made an appearance as ‘Jung Ho-young’ in the South Korean television series ‘Tunnel.’ Jung Ho-young was the character appearing from episode 1 to 3 in the women mass murder case.
  

  Heo Sung-tae in a scene from Tunnel (2017)

• In the 2017 Kdrama ‘Witch at Court,’ he played his first recurring role as ‘Baek Sang-ho’ of Brother Law Firm. The series focuses on a materialistic female prosecutor who can go to lengths, be it manipulating evidence or doing personal attacks, to win a case. She indulges in solving cases when she is assigned to a special task force on sex-related crimes with a rookie prosecutor.
  

  Heo Sung-tae in a scene from Witch at Court (2017)

• Heo Sung-tae was seen in the South Korean short films ‘ITAEWON’ in 2017 and ‘Miracle’ in 2018.

• Heo Sung-tae played supporting roles in the Kdrama Cross (2018), Watcher (2019), Psychopath Diary (2019), and Beyond Evil (2021), and South Korean feature films The Royal Tailor (2014), The Fortress (2017), The Swindlers (2017), Mal-Mo-E: The Secret Mission (2019), and Hitman: Agent Jun (2020).

• In 2021, he portrayed ‘Jang Deok-su’ (numbered 101) in the Netflix survival drama TV series ‘Squid Game,’ which was created, written, and directed by South Korean filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk. In the series, Jang Deok-su is a gangster who participated in Squid Game to settle his massive gambling debts from his boss and underlings. The Squid Game is a contest consisting of children’s games with the death penalty for the losers to win prize money of ₩45.6 billion. Other main roles in the series were played by Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Jung Ho-Yeon, Wi Ha-joon, O Yeong-su, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung. The series was streamed on and distributed by Netflix worldwide, and it became the first Korean drama to peak at number one on Netflix’s top ten weekly most-watched TV show charts globally. Within the first 28 days of its availability, the series garnered 111 million viewers worldwide, becoming Netflix’s most-watched series at its launch.
  

  Heo Sung-tae in a scene from Squid Game (2021)

• In the same year, she was seen in the South Korean TV series ‘The Silent Sea,’ which follows a special team sent to acquire a mysterious sample from an abandoned research facility, Balhae Base research station, on the moon. In the series, he plays ‘Kim Jae-sun,’ the chief of Resource Group of Aviation Administration.
  

  The Silent Sea (2021)

• He has been featured in the advertisements for SONY, Kia Motors, and Coupang Eats (2021).

• To get rid of his stress from work, he likes to take lower body baths while watching his favorite show and sipping herbal tea.

• Sung-tae is skilled in cooking. He often cooks at his home or his mother’s home. Apart from them, he daily prepares breakfast for his wife.

• Heo Sung-tae has acrophobia, meaning he is scared of high places. ^[4]Ilgan Sports

• Sung-tae is good friends with the South Korean actors Jin Seon-gyu, Jeon Mi-do, and Kim So-jin.
  

  Jin Seon-gyu (up), Kim So-jin (down), and Jeon Mi-do (right)

• He is an animal lover. He owns two pet cats named Namhan and Naju, who he found abandoned. Namhan was found while he was shooting for The Fortress (romanized trans. Namhansanseong), therefore, he named the cat Namhan. He found his second cat while filming in Naju, so, he named the cat Naju.
  

  Heo Sung-tae talking about his cats in an Instagram post