Lee Sun-kyun

Lee Sun-kyun (1975–2023) was a South Korean actor who achieved broad recognition across television, theater, and cinema. Globally, he became prominent for his performance in Bong Joon-ho's Academy Award-winning 2019 feature film Parasite. Over a career spanning more than two decades, he earned acclaim for his versatile portrayals in popular television series, critically praised independent films, and major commercial thrillers.

Born in Seoul on March 2, 1975, Lee pursued acting at the Korea National University of Arts starting in 1994. He was part of the inaugural graduating class of its School of Drama, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Lee officially began his screen acting career in 2000 by starring in the short film Psycho Drama. The following year, he made his theatrical debut in the musical The Rocky Horror Show and entered television with the sitcom Lovers. He achieved widespread public recognition in 2007 through his roles in the acclaimed medical series White Tower and the romantic drama Coffee Prince. During this period, he also supported short-format television projects like Drama Special and starred in low-budget arthouse productions, including Paju, which won him the Best Actor award at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival.

Expanding his range, Lee took on diverse roles in television dramas such as Pasta, Golden Time, and Miss Korea, as well as feature films like the romantic comedy Petty Romance and the action comedy Officer of the Year. He collaborated extensively with director Hong Sang-soo on realistic arthouse features such as Night and Day, Oki's Movie, and Nobody's Daughter Haewon. In 2012, he headlined the successful film releases Helpless and All About My Wife. He later starred in the 2014 thriller A Hard Day, which was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival and earned him a Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor.

In 2018, Lee earned praise for his lead role in the television series My Mister, followed by projects like the action thriller Take Point and the legal series Prosecutor Civil War. His global visibility surged in 2019 with Parasite, in which he portrayed family patriarch Park Dong-ik; the cast received a Screen Actors Guild Award. Subsequently, he starred in Dr. Brain (2021), the first Korean-language original series for Apple TV+, earning an International Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor. His late career included roles in the political feature Kingmaker, the comedy Killing Romance, and the horror film Sleep.

Lee married actress Jeon Hye-jin in May 2009, and the couple had two sons born in 2009 and 2011. In late 2023, he became the subject of a high-profile police investigation regarding alleged drug consumption. On December 27, 2023, Lee passed away in Seoul at the age of 48.