Portrait of Um Sang-hyun

Birthday profile

Um Sang-hyun

Um Sang-hyun, South Korean voice actor

Born
December 29, 1971
Age in 2026
55
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1971

About Um Sang-hyun

Um Sang-hyun (Korean: 엄상현; born December 29, 1971) is a South Korean voice actor who began his career by joining Educational Broadcasting System's voice acting division in 1998. Before making his debut as a voice actor, he used to work in theaters, including performing his roles as a Japanese assassinator and a royal servant in a 1997 South Korean musical The Last Empress and working as the assistant director for South Korean musicals Gaeddongi and Moskito the same year. In 1992, he also appeared in a South Korean independent film called Opening the Closed School Gates. After his exclusive work at EBS, Um has been a freelancer since 2001. In the early 2000s, he came to prominence after voicing Kira Yamato on the Korean dub of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Since then, Um has dubbed a number of television animation series such as Chrono Crusade, Digimon Frontier, Fullmetal Alchemist, InuYasha and School Rumble. As a result of his popularity among children audiences, the voice actor won a Nickelodeon Korea Kids' Choice Award in 2012 for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie (known as Best Voice Actor/Actress in South Korea). He became the recipient of the award for his role as Po in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, gaining 3,121 votes, which is about 38% of the entire poll. Although having been highly active as a freelancer for more than a decade, Um is also still one of the main voice actors representing EBS. He is best known for his roles as Calcifer on the Korean dub of the Studio Ghibli animated movie Howl's Moving Castle, L Lawliet on the Korean dub of the Japanese television animation series Death Note, Po on the Korean dub of the DreamWorks Animation film series Kung Fu Panda and even more recently, Poli on the South Korean animated children's television series Robocar Poli.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Um Sang-hyun was born

Um Sang-hyun was born in 1971. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1971

  • #1 song"Joy to the World" – Three Dog Night
  • Top movieThe French Connection
  • Top TV showAll in the Family
  • Best-selling bookThe Exorcist – William Peter Blatty

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMuhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier "Fight of the Century"
  • Top headlinePentagon Papers published
  • Technology milestoneFirst email sent by Ray Tomlinson
  • Defining fadHot pants
  • Notable inventionEmail (Ray Tomlinson)
  • World population3.78 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
  • Sports championPittsburgh Pirates (World Series)
  • Also wonMilwaukee Bucks (NBA)
  • U.S. population207.7M

1971 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Um Sang-hyun's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19712026
Gas$0.36$3.45/gal
Average home$18,100$435,000
Average income$11,800$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.65$11.95
Postage stamp$0.08$0.73
Population207.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.