Yoo Jae-Seok - Biography

Biography

Yoo Jae-suk was born as the oldest child out of three (he has two younger sisters) on August 14, 1972 in Seoul, South Korea. Yoo Jae-suk attended the Seoul Institute of the Arts, but was unable to graduate due to his busy schedule as an up-and-coming comedian.

His television debut was on the KBS Comedian Festival (for college students) in 1991, performing a parody of a commercial with Choi Seung-gyung (Hangul: 최승경). In Infinity Challenge, his dancing to a cover of the song "Step by Step" by New Kids on the Block was one of his early memorable moments. In 2002, after nine hard years as a relatively unknown comedian, he hosted a program called Live and Enjoy Together (Dong-guh-dong-lak), thanks to a recommendation by Choi Jin-sil. The program became instantly popular, and since then, Yoo began to host many other variety programs. His potential was fully realized when he co-hosted a program called The Crash of MCs (MC 대격돌 – 공포의 쿵쿵따) with Kang Ho-dong, Lee Hui-jae and Kim Han-seok.

His first Grand Prix was for a program called Happy Together Friends. The show's concept was for TV personalities to try and find their school friends (five of them) out of many (false friends) who are sitting behind a desk. The show was intended to bring back nostalgic memories about one's days in school, and the show became very popular. This Grand Prix was especially memorable, not just because it was Yoo's first, but because it was from the broadcasting station where he made his debut.

He hosted the show X-Man, which soon grew to be one of the most popular and most viewed shows in Korea. During that time, he became increasingly more popular and many programs began to nickname Yoo as the "MC of the Nation." However, after a few years, the program was canceled due to falling ratings as well as an absence of new and innovative ideas. Yoo went on to host various replacement shows, New X-Man, Old TV (in which guests would re-enact classic TV serials), and Haja! Go! (Let's Do It) for SBS, which were all shortly canceled due to low ratings on Sunday evenings. However, X-Man has found success in international syndication.

Yoo is a part of the cast of the top-rated comedy variety program Muhan Dojeon (무한도전), as the host-in-chief since 2005. Initially a six-member cast, Haha left the program to fulfill his mandatory military service and was replaced by Shinhwa's Junjin. The program wasn't popular when it first aired, but by the time Season 3 aired in 2006, the concept and format of "variety & reality program" became very popular, and Infinite Challenge became the forerunner of many programs that followed with the same or similar format. Infinite Challenge is seen as Yoo's favorite and best program as he met his wife, Na Gyoung-eun (나경은), during season 2, and with the rising popularity of the show and it's significant effect on the general public, Yoo was able to gain even more popularity. He ended up winning a total of three Grand Prix's (2006, 2007 and 2009) with the program.

Yoo also co-hosts Come and Play (놀러와) with Kim Won-Hee and Happy Together Season 3 (해피 투게더 3) with Park Myung-Soo, Park Mi-Seon and Shin Bong-Seon. Yoo hosted these talk shows for a long period of time (both over 5 years), and the ratings have been consistently high throughout his tenure. Yoo tries his best to differentiate his hosting styles, both based on who his guests are and on their current situation.

After those replacement shows on SBS, on June 15, 2008, Yoo, along with Lee Hyori, Yoon Jong-Shin, Kim Soo-ro, Lee Chun-Hee, Kang Dae-sung, Park Ye-jin and Kim Jong-kook (since episode 19) are the hosts and family members of Family Outing (Korean: 패밀리가 떴다), part of SBS's Good Sunday lineup. Since then, Family Outing has become one of the top-rated shows in Korea, consistently achieving the highest ratings at the Sunday mid-afternoon time-slot (especially during the first and second quarters of 2009) However, with various problems and scandals regarding the program, and by the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, a rumor of Yoo not continuing his contract with Family Outing was raised. By the time of his contract expiration, Family Outing rating wasn't the same as that of early 2009, and Season 1 was brought to an end (on 2010.02.14 with Family Awards).

On July 6, 2008, Yoo Jae-seok married MBC announcer Na Gyoung-eun (나경은) who has also worked with him on the show Infinite Challenge. Yoo and his wife welcomed their first child, a son, on May 1, 2010. He is a Buddhist. Since July 11, 2010, he has hosted a variety show called Running Man together with Ji Suk-jin, Kim Jong-kook, Kang Hee-gun/Gary (LeeSsang), Ha Dong-hoon, Song Ji-hyo, Lee Kwang-soo and Song Joong-ki (who has since left the show as of episode 41 to focus on his acting career).

In 2012, Yoo Jae-Seok appeared in the music video for PSY's hit single "Gangnam Style.". In the video, he was reprising the retro disco dancing character he created for the mock-band "Drooping Snail" in Muhan Dojeon (무한도전) episode 256, a special episode with a musical competition where he also appears with PSY.