Meet Chang Ryul: The Actor Who Plays Do Gang Jae AKA The Guy You Love To Hate In “My Name”
Content Warning
Spoiler Alert
If like the rest of us, you have finished Squid Game and are looking for your next K-Drama to binge, My Name is the one for you. It’s just as thrilling and will keep you on the edge of your seat!
It focuses on one young woman’s mission to get revenge after her father is murdered. She ends up joining a crime ring that her dad was also involved in before joining the police as a double agent, all in hopes of finding the one responsible for her father’s wrongful death.
The stars of this Netflix K-Drama are phenomenal as well, and you will recognize them from other great dramas too, such as Han So Hee from Abyss and Nevertheless and Ahn Bo Hyun, who is known for Itaewon Class and Yumi’s Cells.
Still, many other outstanding actors might not be as familiar to viewers, such as the newcomer actor Chang Ryul.
If you don’t recognize him. Let us refresh your memory…
This actor had a complete transformation for his role as Do Gang Jae, one of the main antagonists of My Name. When we were first introduced to him in the drama, we never imagined that he would turn out to be quite as evil as he was. In fact, at first, he seemed nice compared to the rest of the guys at Dongcheon gym.
His character takes a major 180 in the negative direction after our heroine, Yoon Ji Woo/Oh Hye Jin, beats him up in a fighting competition at the gym.
After that, he is determined to get his own revenge on her. He goes so far as even to attempt to sexually assault her with his friend.
After failing to do so, he is punished by Park Hee Soo’s character Choi Mu Jin, the boss of Dongcheon. As a result, his face is damaged, and he is exiled from the gym.
Six years later, Do Gang Jae is unrecognizable, but some things have stayed the same as he has clearly not learned his lesson. Instead, he has only gotten worse and harbors hatred and resentment for the protagonist more than ever. Now, he has become the kingpin of his own drug cartel. You know what they say, “if you can’t join them, beat them.”
Do Gang Jae remains to be not satisfied. He still wants revenge on Choi Mu Jin, Yoon Ji Woo, and more.
He is a truly terrifying character. Nevertheless, he is one that you absolutely love to hate. The best protagonists deserve the worst protagonists, and we mean that in the best way.
The actor who portrays him, though, couldn’t be more different.
Just look at this smile…
In fact, his co-star, lead of My Name, Han So Hee said that he was one of the best people to act alongside. She gave testament to how great of an actor he is as that he is the complete opposite of his character in real life!
Ryul oppa is the type of person that can’t even curse so how can he become such a bad guy while filming? It was amazing when I saw him as a senior, and it was also amazing when I saw him as a person.
— Han So Hee
So, allow us to introduce you to Chang Ryul properly…
Born in 1989, he is currently an up-and-coming actor under Starvillage Entertainment, an actor management company founded in 2013. With his breakout role in My Name, they have been sharing many promotions related to Chang Ryul on their social media, such as his appearance at the 26th Busan International Film Festival.
Believe it or not, My Name is actually one of Chang Ryul’s first big roles despite proving himself to be quite a mature and skilled actor. Still, that doesn’t mean you haven’t seen him before. He has been acting for several years now with various small roles in film, TV, and more.
He is credited as early as 2011 with Detective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow with the role of Cho Jay Kyung.
There’s then a big gap until 2016 for the movie Master with an extra role as “Won Network male employee 3.”
2018 was one of his busiest years as he landed a variety of small roles on film and TV. He is credited in tvN‘s Lawless Lawyer, JTBC‘s Something in the Rain, and in tvN’s My Mister as “assistant director” for episodes 5 and 6.
He also returned as Choi Jae Kyung in the movie Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead.
The next year was no different. He appeared in season two of JTBC’s Welcome to Waikiki, then played as Asa Yon in tvN’s Arthdal Chronicles and as Lee Joo Ho in SBS‘s Secret Boutique.
Also, in 2019, Chang Ryul was a “Violent Crimes Investigation Team Member 3” in the movie Jo Pil-Ho: The Dawning Rage. Additionally, he was Black Car/Kim Do Hoon in the KBS2 drama special Tow Truck.
Last year, Chang Ryul had a couple of roles. He appeared as Park Tae Kyung in episodes 1 and 9 of OCN‘s Train.
His next most prominent role was Detective Yoo Jung Oh in season 2 of the Netflix original series Stranger.
Flash forward to today with his most recent role as Do Gang Jae in Netflix’s My Name.
Surely, with his performance, he now has the attention of everyone, and we are sure to see him a lot more in the future!
