In 2010, he received the best reviews of his career for his leading role as the slave hunter ("chuno") Dae-gil in the hit fusion period drama "The Slave Hunters". His acting coach of 14 years described Jang as being relentless in his analysis of a character. According to Jang, "It is easy to fail if you don't understand the steps one has to take to be famous." He won several acting awards, most significantly the Grand Prize ("Daesang") at the KBS Drama Awards, and a Best Actor nomination at the 2011 International Emmy Awards.