Yoon Na-moo

Kim Tae-hoon (; born August 13, 1985), better known by the stage name Yoon Na-moo , is a South Korean actor under SM C&C. He is best known for his roles in the Korean television series Dr. Romantic (Season 1–3).

Early life Yoon was born on August 13, 1985, in Seoul, South Korea as Kim Tae-hoon. He graduated from Department of Theater Dongguk University.

Career

2011: Beginnings In 2011, Kim Tae-hoon made his theater debut in the play "Private First Class," which was produced by the 12th Language Theater Studio. This play, written and directed by Seong Ki-woong, was selected as a program of the 2011 Seoul Cultural Foundation's Performing Arts Creation Promotion Project. Kim performed alongside Park Hyuk-min, Kim Sung-hyun, and Lee Hyun-gyun from June 23, 2011, to July 10, 2011, at the Hakjeon Blue Theater on University Road, which was also hosted by the Korean Culture and Arts Council and Hakjeon.

In that same year, Kim also took part in another production by The 12th Language, "Scientific Mind - Deep in the Forest," which was performed at Daehakro Information Small Theater from September 30 to October 16. The play was an adaptation of Oriza Hirata's Scientific Mind series, which had was premiered in Japan in 2009. It was set at an ape research center in Congo and questioned the differences between humans and other animals. The play won the Best Theater award at the 2011 Korean Theater Awards.

2012–2015: Stage name and Kim Soo-ro Projects Shortly after completing "Scientific Mind," Kim Tae-hoon participated in the 2nd Kim Soo-ro Project, the musical "Coffee Prince 1st Store." Yoon Na-mu and Kim Soo-ro met while attending university together. Kim Soo-ro played a significant role in expanding Yoon Na-mu's acting career by recognizing his talent early on. Due to a lot of similar names among actors, Kim Soo-ro suggested that Kim Tae-hoon consider a stage name. After careful thought, Kim Soo-ro proposed the name "Namu," derived from the musical practice room name, which means "tree," as it aligned with Kim Tae-hoon's image. Kim Tae-hoon embraced the name, explaining that it symbolized his aspiration to become a sturdy tree, providing shelter and comfort to others through his acting.

Kim Tae-hoon debuted with the stage name Yoon Na-moo in the musical "Coffee Prince 1st Store." The production ran from February 24 to April 29, 2012, at Daehakro Cultural Space Feeling Hall 1. Yoon had a double cast role as Seon-gi alongside Kim Dong-hyuk.

Yoon Na-mu was also recruited into Kim Soo-ro's management agency, Ro Brothers, which included other members like Kim Jae-beom, Seong Du-seop, Jo Kang-hyeon, Yoon So-ho, and Jeong Haru. Ro Brothers was a management company that focused on training and promoting musical stars under Kim Soo-ro's guidance. When Kim Soo-ro acquired the Mango Six Apgujeong branch, and Ro Brothers worked as the operators and brand ambassadors for the establishment.

Yoon Na-mu's was introduced to director Seo Yoon-mi through Kim Soo-ro. Impressed by the content and songs of "Black Mary Poppins," Yoon Na-mu decided to join the production. He played the role of Jonas, the youngest child who struggled with panic disorder and a speech impediment. "Black Mary Poppins" was a psychological mystery thriller musical, created as a collaboration between Kim Soo-ro and Seo Yoon-mi. Yang Joo-in served as the music director, and Cho Moon-soo designed the costumes. The show ran from May 8 to July 8 at the Daehakro Art One Theater.

After completing "Black Mary Poppins," Yoon joined the 4th Kim Soo-ro Project, a play called "Lee Ki-dong Gymnasium." The play originally premiered in 2009. In this production, Yoon Na-mu had the opportunity to act alongside Yoon Kyung-ho and Lee Ki-dong. The play premiered on October 26 at the Noonbit Theater, located in the Mimagi Art Center in Daehakro.

In 2013, Yoon Na-mu joined the fifth season of the musical 'The Bachelor's Vegetable Store', which was performed at Daehakro Arts Plaza 1 in Seoul from April until July 28, 2013. The musical is based on the true story of Mr. Lee Young-seok, the protagonist of a marketing success story. It premiered in 2008 and received rave reviews.

The play "Model Students" (playwriting Ji Yi-sun, directed by Kim Tae-hyung) was successfully completed until the 2012 season after its premiere in 2007, and was reborn more sophisticated work with new actors and refined directing in 2013. Yoon was triple-cast with Jang Hyeon-deok and Jeong Soon-won as Myeong-jun, a character with a cold appearance hiding a false sense of inferiority, in 7th encore performance of the play "Model Students." From May 31 to September 1, 2013, they took turns performing at Daehakro Jayu Theater (formerly PMC Jayu Theater).

Yoon was double-cast with Shin Seong-min as Young-min in the musical "Puberty." Directed by So-young, the musical is an adaptation of the German playwright Frank Wedekind's "Spring Awakening," portraying Korean teenagers. The story revolves around Young-min, who achieves top grades in school shortly after transferring, and Seon-gyu, an innocent child who loves dancing but is seen as problematic. The performance showcases the concerns and sorrows that today's youth experience through captivating music.

In 2015, Yoon played the role of boy prisoner Ro Ki-su in the musical ‘Ro Ki-su (directed by Kim Tae-hyung).

Yoon acted opposite Kim Ji-hyun in the play Capone Trilogy.

He worked for the third time alongside Kim Ji-hyun in the omnibus play "Almost, Maine." In the episode titled "Her Heart," they portray lovers, which is the only episode out of the nine where they work together in that setting.

The play "Kill Me Now," the 6th work of "Theatre Passion," features Yoon in the role of Joey, a 17-year-old boy with a congenital disability who aspires to become an "adult." The story revolves around Jake, a father who has dedicated his life to his son Joey.

2016: Television debut In 2016, he made his debut on television through the SBS drama Dr. Romantic and received recognition for his stable acting skills in his first work. It was his first experience with drama auditions, and because there is a significant difference between stage and camera acting, he practiced with his two juniors before the first shoot, thinking about various scenarios and movements to avoid making mistakes.

"When I go to the filming set, I think of the staff as the first audience. The staff set up the cameras, and I act on stage as if performing a play. Whether it's a stage performance or a drama, I start acting within myself, and there is the joy of discovering something new within myself. I think it's my responsibility to show that to the viewers or the audience," he expressed his acting philosophy.

In November 2017, he portrayed Song Gil-chun in the SBS drama Oh, the Mysterious. His intense acting drew viewers' attention as he portrayed a psychopathic character. His dialogue delivery, unfocused gaze, and eerie expressions with no visible thoughts intensified the tension of the drama. Particularly, his emotionless singing and smiling scene created a creepy atmosphere. Yoon Namu described how he encountered a character named Lee Hoseong in the process. After finishing the play Capone Trilogy, Yoon, who was contemplating between theater performances, dramas, and movie auditions, happened to audition for drama Your Honor. Yoon said, "I had seen a lot of auditions, and it seemed like they couldn't find an actor to play this role. At that time, I didn't know about the situation and went for the audition. Initially, the acting was pleasing to the director, but he mentioned that he envisioned a character with a certain aura. He asked us to come back the next day, and there were about four of us, including myself. Everyone was of large build. I thought they were looking for people like that, so I cleared my mind and did the audition. Then, he said, 'Let's do it together.'"

In April 2019, through JTBC's Beautiful World, he delivered a strong message to viewers as the Korean language teacher 'Lee Jin-woo,' who is angry at the school's indifferent attitude towards covering up the death of Park Sun-ho (played by Nam Da-reum). And in tvN's 'Melting Me Softly,' he played the role of the older brother figure 'Go Nam-tae,' captivating viewers with his innocent charm.

Yoon worked with director Min Sae-rom in play based on the 2013 novel Réparer les vivants (Mend the Living) by Maylis de Kerangal. The play "Mending the Living" depicted Simon Rambert's heart transplant journey over a 24-hour period. Simon, a 19-year-old who suffered a brain death diagnosis from an accident, had his life's fate determined. The play didn't solely revolve around the moment of the heart transplant, but rather captured the 24 hours leading up to it, during which 16 characters were involved. Yoon participated in the production, serving as a commentator, a hospital doctor, the parents of the young man, the patient receiving the heart transplant, and becoming Simon and his girlfriend. Yoon stated, "You can consider the commentator as Yoon Na-mu himself." He personally interviewed each character that appeared in the work or embodied that person, thus becoming the focal point of the play. After its premiere at the Wooran Cultural Foundation in 2019, "Mending the Living" continued its run at the National Jeongdong Theater.

From December 2021 to March 2022, after a six-year hiatus, he returned to the musical stage with the musical Fan Letter, playing the role of Kim Hae-jin and receiving accolades as a life-like character from the audience.

Afterward, in the musical The Showman: The Fourth Casting of a Dictator, he played the eccentric old man Nebula, who was the understudy for a former dictator, and showed growth as a musical actor with a wide range of acting skills from the age of 9 to 72. With this work, he won the Best Actor award at the 16th Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) in 2022 and the 7th Korea Musical Awards in 2023.

Filmography Television series Year Title Role Notes Ref. 2016–2023 Dr. Romantic Jeong In-soo Season 1–3 2017 Fight for My Way Si-kyeong Oh, the Mysterious Song Il-chun 2018 Your Honor Lee Ho-sung 2019 Beautiful World Lee Jin-woo Vagabond Kim Ho-sik Melting Me Softly Ko Nam-tae 2021–2022 Now, We Are Breaking Up Kwak Soo-ho 2022 Extraordinary Attorney Woo Jung-nam Cameo (episode 13) One Dollar Lawyer Choi Ki-tae Cameo 2023Miraculous BrothersYuk Chan-seong 2024ConnectionPark Jun-seo

Web series Year Title Role Notes 2019 Love Alarm Kim Min-jae Season 1

Stage

Concert +Concert performances Year Title Role Theater Date English Korean 2015 Musical Talk Concert Who Am I 27 뮤지컬토크콘서트 Who Am I 27 Himself Olympus hall November 30 2016 THE MOMENT - 10 actors, their story THE MOMENT - 배우 10인, 그들의 이야기 Himself SMTOWN THEATRE Jul 25 2016 Zara Island Musical Festival 2016 자라섬 뮤지컬 페스티벌 Himself Gapyeong-gun, Gyeong-do, Jara Island September 3–4

Musical +Musical performances Black Mary Poppins 블랙메리포핀스 Yonas Art One Theatre 1 May 8 – July 29 2013 The Bachelor's Vegetable Store 총각네 야채가게 Tae-sung Art Centre 1 March 26 – Sep 1 2013–2014 Agatha 아가사 Raymond Lee Hae-rang Arts Theatre Dec 31 – Feb 23 2014 Yes 24 Stage 2 Mar 1 – Apr 27 Black Mary Poppins 블랙메리포핀스 Yonas Art One Theatre 1 Jun 10 – Aug 31Shall We Go to the Karaoke and Talk?우리 노래방가서 얘기 좀 할까SonDongsung Art Centre Small Theatre Aug 9 – Oct 19 Oct 6 Gyeonggi Art Centre Small Theatre Dec 24–25 2014–2015 Adolescence 사춘기 Young-min Chungmu Art Centre Middle Theatre Black Nov 21 – Feb 15 2015 Ro Ki-su 로기수 Ro Ki-su Yes 24 Stage 1 Mar 12 – May 31 Cheerful Kyungsung 명랑경성 Sunwoo CJ Azit April 27–28 Pungwolju 풍월주 Saddam Plus Theatre (ex. Culture Space N.U.) Sep 8 – Nov 22 2016 Ro Ki-su 로기수 Ro Ki-su Yes 24 Stage 1 Feb 16 – April 3 Ro Ki-su 로기수 Ro Ki-su Wonju Baekun Art Hall Dec 25–26 2019 Adolescence 사춘기 Young-min Seogyeong University Performing Arts Centre SKON 2 May 27 2022 Fan Letter 팬레터 Kim Hae-jin Online Nov 14 Showman - A Dictator's Fourth Body Double 쇼맨 Nebula National Jeongdong Theatre (Seoul) Apr 1 – May 15 2021–2022 Fan Letter 팬레터 Kim Hae-jin COEX Shinhan Card Atrium Dec 10 – Mar 20 2023 Showman - A Dictator's Fourth Body Double 쇼맨 Nebula National Jeongdong Theatre (Seoul) Sep 15 – Nov 12

Theater

Awards and nominations + Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee of the award, and the result of the nomination Award ceremony Year Category Nominee / Work Result 16th Daegu International Musical Festival Best Actor Award 2022 Best Actor Showman - A Dictator's Fourth Body Double 7th Korea Musical Awards 2023 Best Actor 2023 SBS Drama Awards 2023 Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries Genre/Fantasy Drama Dr. Romantic 3