# Song Chang-eui

Song Chang-eui (born January 24, 1979) is a South Korean actor. Though better known as a musical theatre actor, notably in Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Gwanghwamun Love Song, Song has also starred in television dramas such as The Scales of Providence and Life Is Beautiful.

## Career

Song Chang-eui began his career in musical theatre in 2002's Blue Saigon. Most famous for playing a transgender rocker in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, he also starred in the stage adaptation of Hollywood film The Graduate, the musical adaptation of romantic comedy 200 Pounds Beauty with Bada, a musical based on The Sorrows of Young Werther, popular German musical Elisabeth with Ock Joo-hyun, and Korea's first jukebox musical Gwanghwamun Younga (younga is the Korean word for "love song" or "sonata") featuring the hit songs of the late composer Lee Young-hoon.
After doing small roles on television starting 2005, Song gained fame in 2007 when he starred in Golden Bride, a drama about an inter-cultural marriage between an elite Korean man (Song) and a young Vietnamese woman (played by Lee Young-ah). He followed that with leading roles in the revenge court thriller The Scales of Providence, and the post-war film Once Upon a Time in Seoul. The latter, titled Boys Don't Cry in Korean, is about two orphaned friends (played by Song and Lee Wan) who become involved in the black market to escape poverty. Song had to lose 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds) and shave his head for his role. In 2009 he was cast as the antagonist in the Kwon Sang-woo starrer Cinderella Man, a Prince and the Pauper tale set in the world of fashion merchandising, which drew lackluster ratings.
Penned by renowned drama writer Kim Soo-hyun, the 2010 weekend family drama Life Is Beautiful became memorable and somewhat controversial for its depiction of a loving, functional relationship between two homosexual men, the first Korean show to do so in the primetime slot of a public network. The drama was a hit with average ratings of 20%, and Song earned praise for his portrayal of a gentle, kind doctor of internal medicine, who happens to be openly gay and in love with Lee Sang-woo's divorcee character.
Song and Seo Ji-hye played a married couple in melodrama A Lone Tree (the Korean title Tree that Sleeps Standing speaks to the theme of a person's desire to stay next to and support a loved one), then he had a supporting role in A Reason to Live, a contemplative film on grief and forgiveness starring Song Hye-kyo.
He returned to television in the 2011 campus romance Heartstrings (also known as You've Fallen for Me). The drama was co-produced by the Seoul Institute of the Arts, which provided its campus for filming. Song, a graduate of the arts-specialized university, said the classrooms, library and the atmosphere made him feel nostalgic. He and co-star Park Shin-hye had previously worked together as voice actors for the local hand-drawn animated film Green Days: Dinosaur and I.
Song starred in two series in 2012: Syndrome, a medical drama on cable about neurosurgeons, and The Great Seer, a historical epic about the founding of the Joseon Dynasty. Kim Soo-hyun cast him again in her 2013 weekend drama Thrice Married Woman, in which his character has lingering feelings for his ex-wife.
In 2014, Song played the titular character in police procedural Dr. Frost, adapted from the webtoon of the same title. He was then cast as a widowed father with a troubled son in the Make a Woman Cry (2015).

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2002 | Emergency Act 19 | adviser 2 | |
| 2005 | My Girl and I | Park Jong-goo | |
| 2007 | Pacchigi! Love & Peace | Jin-sung | |
| 2008 | Once Upon a Time in Seoul | Tae-ho | |
| 2010 | A Lone Tree | Jung Gu-sang | |
| 2011 | Green Days: Dinosaur and I | Kim Cheol-soo | animated, (voice) |
| 2011 | A Reason to Live | Ji-suk | |
| 2020 | Beyond That Mountain | Kim Ik-hyun | |
| 2021 | The Recon | Kang Sung-gu | |

### Television series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | Rainy Day on the Tenth | Yoon-seok | |
| 2005 | Wedding | Yoon Hyung-chul | |
| 2005 | The Youth in Barefoot | Hwang Joon-hyuk | |
| 2005 | Drama City: "My Sweet Bloody Lover" | Jin-woo | one act-drama |
| 2006 | The 101st Proposal | Seo Hyun-joon | |
| 2007 | Golden Bride | Kang Jun-woo | |
| 2007 | Lee San, Wind of the Palace | Jeong Yak-yong | |
| 2008 | On Air | Himself | Cameo (episode 11) |
| 2008 | The Scales of Providence | Jang Joon-ha | |
| 2009 | Cinderella Man | Lee Jae-min | |
| 2010 | Life Is Beautiful | Yang Tae-sub | |
| 2011 | Heartstrings | Kim Suk-hyun | |
| 2011 | A Thousand Days' Promise | Noh Young-soo | |
| 2012 | Syndrome | Cha Yeo-wook | |
| 2012 | The Great Seer | Lee Jung-geun | |
| 2013 | Thrice Married Woman | Jung Tae-won | |
| 2014 | Dr. Frost | Baek Nam-bong | |
| 2015 | Make a Woman Cry | Kang Jin-woo | |
| 2017 | The Secret of My Love | Han Ji-seob / Kang Jae-wook | |
| 2018 | Hide and Seek | Cha Eun-hyuk | |
| 2023 | Twinkling Watermelon | adult Kang Hyeon-yul | Cameo (episode 16) |
| 2024–2025 | The Kind Miss Seon-joo | Kim So-woo | |

### Television shows

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2021 | The Cultural History of Spoons and Pots | Narrator | documentary history | |

### Music video

| Year | Song title | Artist |
| 2005 | "What My Tears Are Saying" | Kyun-woo |
| 2005 | "Sad Diary" | Kyun-woo |
| 2006 | "Alcohol" | Vibe |
| 2007 | "Yesterday is Different From Today" | Kim Ji-eun |
| 2007 | "Your Love is Enough" | Baek Ji-young |
| 2007 | "Please Find Her" | The Name |
| 2008 | "It Was You" | Kyun-woo |
| 2015 | "She Has Come" | 99 (NINTYNINE) |

## Theater

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2002 | Blue Saigon | |
| 2002 | The Play | |
| 2003 | Songsan Yahwa | Kim Hyun |
| 2003 | Jesus Christ Superstar | Jesus Christ |
| 2004 | The Play X | |
| 2004 | Singin' in the Rain | Don Lockwood |
| 2004 | Funky Funky | |
| 2006 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Hedwig |
| 2007 | The Graduate | Benjamin Braddock |
| 2008 | 200 Pounds Beauty | Han Sang-jun |
| 2009 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Hedwig |
| 2010 | Turandot | |
| 2010 | The Sorrows of Young Werther | Werther |
| 2011 | Gwanghwamun Love Song | Sang-hoon |
| 2012 | Elisabeth | Death |
| 2012 | Gwanghwamun Love Song | Sang-hoon |
| 2013 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Joseph |
| 2013 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Hedwig |
| 2014 | Blood Brothers | Mickey |
| 2015 | Rebecca | Maxim de Winter |
| 2016 | Mata Hari | Armand |
| 2019 | I Loved You | Lee Joon-hyuk |

## Discography

| Album information | Track listing |
| I Love You - Golden Bride OST Single Released: January 7, 2008 | Track listing 사랑합니다 (I Love You) - Song Chang-eui 사랑합니다 (Instrumental) 사랑합니다 - Kim Ji-hoon |
| Love 101 EP Released: March 28, 2008 | Track listing 사랑이라는 이유로 (Virtue of Love) - Song Chang-eui 4월이 왔어 (April Has Come) - Wax |
| 우주에서 Track 15 from Green Days: Dinosaur and I OST Released: June 3, 2011 | Track listing 15. 우주에서 (featuring 철수) - Song Chang-eui and Park Shin-hye |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 2007 | SBS Drama Awards | Top 10 Stars | Golden Bride | Won |
| 2007 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | Golden Bride | Nominated |
| 2008 | 44th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actor (TV) | Golden Bride | Won |
| 2008 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Drama Special | The Scales of Providence | Nominated |
| 2009 | 45th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actor (Film) | Once Upon a Time in Seoul | Nominated |
| 2009 | 17th Chunsa Film Art Awards | Best New Actor | Once Upon a Time in Seoul | Won |
| 2009 | 46th Grand Bell Awards | Best New Actor | Once Upon a Time in Seoul | Nominated |
| 2009 | 30th Blue Dragon Film Awards | Best New Actor | Once Upon a Time in Seoul | Nominated |
| 2010 | 26th Korea Best Dresser Swan Awards | Best Dressed, Culture/문화인 category | — | Won |
| 2010 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend/Daily Drama | Life Is Beautiful | Won |
| 2011 | 6th Asia Model Festival Awards | BBF Popular Star Award | — | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Drama Special | The Great Seer | Nominated |
| 2014 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | Thrice Married Woman | Won |
| 2015 | 4th APAN Star Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | Make a Woman Cry | Nominated |
| 2015 | MBC Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | Make a Woman Cry | Won |
| 2017 | KBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | The Secret of My Love | Won |
| 2018 | 6th APAN Star Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | The Secret of My Love | Nominated |
| 2018 | MBC Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend Special Project | Hide and Seek | Nominated |
| 2020 | 14th SBS Entertainment Awards | Best Teamwork Award | Same Bed, Different Dreams 2: You Are My Destiny | Won |