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.
The Best Cooking Secrets (최고의 요리비결, EBS)
Culture & Art 36.5 (문화예술 36.5, EBS)
Friday Night Theater (금요극장, EBS)
FUN FUN Board Games (FUN FUN 보드게임, Brain TV)
TV Scoop! Surprising World (TV 특종! 놀라운 세상, MBC)
The UCC Scientific Expedition (UCC 과학탐험대, SBS)
The World of My Friends (내 친구들의 세상, MBC)
The audio drama of the Oops! My Prince (How to Grow a Man : Turning Chumps to Hunks); Sound of Prince ~The Acclaimed Morning Kiss~ (어이쿠! 왕자님 오디오 북 《사운드 오브 왕자님 ~호평받는 모닝키스~》)
Nickelodeon Korea Kids' Choice Awards
Although born in 1971, he looks younger than his actual age, and that is why many fans of Um tend to call him 상현소년 (Sang-hyun-so-nyeon) meaning "The Boy Named Sang-hyun", or its shortened form, 상현손 (Sang-hyun-son).
Um Tae-jun (Korean: 엄태준), the son of Um, also has worked as a voice actor, participating in dubbing of various television shows for children, including Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, and Tickety Toc. He recently voiced young Mike on the Korean dub of Pixar animated film Monsters University.
Um also sang some theme songs of his works, such as the opening theme for Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and "Clumsy Love (Korean: 서투른 사랑; RR: Seo-tu-reun Sa-rang)", the ending theme for the third season of Chobits.
In the South Korean version of the 2012 KCAs, a new award called "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie (Best Voice Actor/Actress)" was featured along with "Favorite TV Actor/Actress (Best Actor/Actress)". In the following year, however, the former was excluded from the show, and thus Um currently remains the first and only recipient ever to win that category.
As of October 2013, the total number of tickets sold for animated films which Um has participated in dubbing is about 38 million.