Song Kang

The Boy Who Didn't Want to Be an Actor

Song Kang didn't grow up dreaming of the spotlight or rehearsing speeches in front of the mirror in his bedroom in Suwon. His initial plan involved architecture or interior design, but cinema caught him by accident after he saw Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. That image changed his focus and pushed him to enroll in the Department of Film Arts at Konkuk University.

In 2017, he landed his first supporting role in the series The Liar and His Lover. There were no fireworks or immediate burst of popularity. During those early months, the young actor mostly watched how a real film set worked while accumulating screen time in small productions such as Man in the Kitchen.

And the gamble paid off.

His entry into the industry was not the result of luck but of an almost obsessive persistence at auditions. In 2018, he tried his luck as a host on the music show Inkigayo and took part in the variety show Village Survival, the Eight. These jobs gave him the experience he needed to lose his fear of the camera before the project that would change everything arrived.

The Algorithm of Global Fame

The production of Love Alarm in 2019 was a technical turning point in his career. Director Lee Na-jung was looking for a face that fit the mold of Sun-oh, and Song Kang managed to beat 900 candidates in an exhausting casting process. The series was Netflix's first original Korean production, which gave him international exposure that conventional television could not offer.

But the actor did not want to be stuck playing the high school heartthrob with family problems. So in 2020, he agreed to star in Sweet Home, an apocalyptic horror bet with a budget of 2.4 million dollars per episode. To play Cha Hyun-su, he had to work in a much darker and more physical register, where makeup and digital effects were the stars.

Those were months of silence.

Filming that first season forced him to isolate himself to understand the loneliness of a character who lives surrounded by monsters. In 2021, he took another risky leap by playing a ballet dancer in Navillera. For six months, he took intensive classical dance classes so his movements would look believable on screen without relying exclusively on stunt doubles.

Technical Risks and the Mandatory Break

In 2021, he starred in Nevertheless, and a year later in Forecasting Love and Weather. In both productions, specialized critics praised his ability to handle the rhythm of romantic drama, but the actor kept looking for projects with a greater physical demand. In 2023, he returned to the fantasy genre with My Demon, where he played a supernatural being in a story that blended comedy and suspense.

Filming for seasons two and three of Sweet Home was carried out back to back between 2023 and 2024 to optimize production costs and the cast's availability. This strategy allowed the story to wrap up coherently before the actor had to fulfill his civic obligations. In April 2024, Song Kang entered the army training center to begin his mandatory military service.

His absence from the industry will last until the end of 2025.

Before leaving, he recorded all of his scenes for the final episodes of his monster series, ensuring his presence in the digital catalog during his time in the military. On April 2, 2024, his latest photo shoot with a shaved head was made public, strictly following the enlistment protocol of the Republic of Korea. His professional profile at the agency Namoo Actors lists a height of 186 centimeters and a weight of 76 kilograms.