Johnny Yune was born 1936 in Eumseong County, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, South Korea. His Korean first name is Jong-seung and got an American name 'John' from its phonetic similarity when he became a US citizen in 1978. First, he graduated from Sungdong High School in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, came over from South Korea to Massachusetts, US as a student of Ohio Wesleyan University on ROK Navy scholarship in 1962, and played a Mongolian under the name of "Jon Yune" in the movie Meteor, also did work as a Stand-up Comedian in the 1980s. Johnny Yune appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" 34 times in the 1970s and 1980s, one of the most appearances by a stand-up Comedian, and as the first among the Asians. He married a Korean-American named Julia Yune in 1999.