Jin Seon-gyu began his acting career as a stage actor before making his big screen debut in 2008 with a minor role in director Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Since then, he has become a regular in movies and dramas. In 2015, he appeared in the SBS sageuk Six Flying Dragons, which was nominated for Best Drama at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards. His breakthrough came in 2017 when he was cast as a villainous Korean-Chinese gangster in the hit action thriller film The Outlaws. His performance in the movie won him Best Supporting Actor at the 38th Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 9th Korea Film Reporters Association Film Awards. In 2019, he played his first starring role in the blockbuster action comedy film Extreme Job, which earned him the Best Supporting Actor trophies at the 56th Grand Bell Awards and the 39th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. Also in 2019, he joined the cast of the popular Netflix zombie sageuk Kingdom.

Jin Seon-gyu studied acting at the Korea National University of Arts. In 2011, he married actress Park Bo-kyung, whom he first met in college.