The enormity of what Lee Byung-hun has been able to achieve over his three-decade career is difficult to fully grasp, much less summarize in a few hundred words.
Photo from HanCinema
Birthday: July 12, 1970
Instagram: @byunghun0712
He’s been called the “James Dean of Asia'' by Western publications. He’s been rightfully described as one of Korea’s greatest screen performers and biggest international actors. His name is on the cast of five of South Korea’s highest-grossing films. In Hollywood, he has acted alongside legends such as Bruce Willis and Al Pacino. Ten years ago, he and veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki became the first Koreans to leave their handprints at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
It’s almost impossible to believe that he only joined a KBS talent audition in 1991 because he didn’t really know what he wanted to do. Or that he was so bad in his first role, the director told him that would be his last acting job.
But Lee Byung-hun was instead motivated to learn and improve, until his breakthrough big screen role in the critically acclaimed film Joint Security Area (2000). In 2005, his powerful performance in the neo-noir action film A Bittersweet Life caught the attention of Hollywood casting agents in Cannes, leading to his big Hollywood break — the role of Storm Shadow in the action movie G.I. Joe (2009) and its 2013 sequel.
Though he’s known in the west for his action prowess, it is in dramas where his mastery of his craft truly shines, when he’s given the space to explore and dive into the complex emotions of multi-layered characters. Take, for example, his performance as a depressed fund manager in A Single Rider (2017), or as a conflicted Korean-American soldier in Mr. Sunshine (2018), or as the president’s assassin in The Man Standing Next (2020).
As he turns 54 today, his career shows no signs of slowing down. He starred in the films Emergency Declaration and Concrete Utopia, and the highly successful dramas Squid Game and Our Blues.
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