[4] Gong attended Dongin High School, and pursued undergraduate studies at Kyung Hee University's Department of Theater and Film.

[19][20] He did eight months of frontline active service in Cheorwon and was transferred to the Defense Media Agency, where he served in the public relations department and hosted as a DJ for the army radio station.

[31][32] In November 2013, Gong Yoo was appointed as a special representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Korea, in conjunction with a celebration of the 24th year since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted.

[33] On July 7, 2014, Gong Yoo was named as an ambassador for the National Tax Service (NTS), alongside actress Ha Ji-won.

[41] In December 2016, Gong Yoo returned to television in Kim Eun-sook's fantasy-romance drama Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, playing the titular goblin.

[citation needed]In 2021, Gong Yoo starred in Lee Yong-ju's action thriller film Seo Bok alongside Park Bo-gum.

Gong plays a former intelligence agent who is caught up in the chase of catching the first human clone to uncover the secret to eternal life.

[48] In December 2021, Gong Yoo appeared as team leader Han Yoon-jae alongside Bae Doona, Lee Joon, Kim Sun-young, and others in the Netflix original sci-fi thriller series The Silent Sea.

Set in a distant dystopian future where Earth faces acute water shortage, the series follows an expedition team to an abandoned station on the moon.

"[50] In 2024, Gong Yoo starred in the South Korean television series The Trunk, a mystery melodrama based on the novel of the same name by Kim Ryeo-ryeong.