Gong Yoo is a South Korean actor known for his work in the South Korean films Silenced (2011), Train to Busan (2016), and The Age of Shadows (2016) and South Korean dramas Coffee Prince (2007) and Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (20162017).Gong Yoo was born and brought up in Dongnae-gu, Busan, South Korea. A childhood picture of Gong Yoo.Gong Yoos father, who attended the famous baseball high school of South Korea Gae-sung High School, was the head of the professional baseball team Lotte Giants Busan office in 1982. Between 1983 and 1985, his father managed the first team of the Lotte Giants.Due to an ongoing trend in the industry in the 1990s, where actors only used two syllables for their names, he changed his name to Gong Yoo by combining the family names of his parents, Gong from his father and Yoo from mother. A typical Korean name has three syllables.In the 1990s, there was a trend in actors to use two syllables for their names. His stage name is the combination of both his parents family names, where Gong comes from his father and Yoo from his mother.In 1999, he started his career as a model in magazines and TV commercials. He worked as a video jockey for a Mnet program the following year.After making his debut with Golbaeng-i in 2001, the same year, he played minor roles in South Korean sitcoms Lipstick in episode 21, Why Cant We Stop Them in episode 108, Ssangdongine in episode 87, and Twins in episode 87.2001 also brought him his first noteworthy role of Hwang Tae-young in the South Korean anthology School 4 from episodes 29 to 48. The drama aired on KBS2 and explored the issues faced by South Korean high school students, such as corrupt education system, suicide, tutoring culture, career prospects, and bullying. He earned the monicker Candy Boy as he carried a lollipop in the series. Gong Yoo in a scene from School 4.In 2001, he made an appearance in the South Korean singer Whys the music video of Haengbokhage-seyo..Gong Yoo then played supporting roles in the South Korean dramas Whenever the Heart Beats (2002), Hard Love (2002), Screen (2003), and My Room, Your Room (2003).