South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun has been found dead at the age of 48.
The actor, who was one of South Korea's most prominent TV and film talents, had been under investigation for suspected drug use. As the news hit social media, fans and colleagues lined up to pay their respects. "Awful news," one wrote. "Lee Sun-kyun was one of the best actors working in Korean cinema.''
"Lee Sun-kyun was such a great talent in everything I’ve seen him in," another added, "but I can’t even think up any tribute because all I can think of is the tragic and heartbreaking circumstances leading up to his death and how this road is such a common story you hear from the industry.''
Though he came to the attention of Western audiences through his work in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, Sun-kyun has been a household name in Korea since the mid-Noughties, starring in everything from hard-hitting dramas (Behind the White Tower) to light-hearted romances (Pasta). Here we’ve rounded up some of his best roles, as a starting point for exploring his work.
Behind the White Tower (2007)
Behind the White Tower broke stereotypes and records when it first aired: at last, a K-drama that didn't feature a central romance between its two main characters. Adapted from the Japanese book Shiroi KyotÅ, it took place in a busy hospital, and its protagonists were mostly doctors, dealing (Grey’s Anatomy-style) with both workplace drama and patient care.
The show itself starred many of South Korea’s best actors – Kim Myung-min, Cha In-pyo, Byun Hee-bong – and also featured a young Sun-kyun as Choi Do-young, a top doctor who puts patient wellbeing first, often leading to clashes with the hospital’s staff. He develops a fierce enmity with rival Jang Joon-hyuk (Myung-min) when the hospital’s president decides to resign. The role brought him widespread popularity for the first time and several award nominations to boot, including the Golden Acting Award at the 2007 MBC Drama Awards – and it’s easy to see why. When he and Myung-min are on screen, it’s impossible to look away.
Paju (2009)
One of the most fascinating things about Paju is the way that the film focuses on what it means to be a woman in modern-day South Korea. That said, it's all seen through the lens of Joong-skid (Sun-kyun), a young man who flees to the remote city of Paju after a disaster and ends up marrying a local woman. Years later, she disappears and her sister Eun-mo (Seo Woo) is convinced he did it. Unfortunately, he also ends up being her sole guardian.
This film has layers: the backstory between Joong-shik and Eun-mo only becomes apparent over time, the contrast between their younger selves (seen in flashback) and them as older, more mature adults is fascinating, while Seo Woo draws the eye like a magnet: a perfect foil for Sun-kyun's more reserved Joong-shik.
A Hard Day (2014)
This breakneck thriller debuted to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014, and it’s not hard to see why. Written and directed by Kim Seong-hun, it features Sun-kyun in the lead role of Detective Go, a corrupt police officer who discovers his squad is being investigated for bribery charges… and then manages to accidentally run over a bystander on the way back from his mother’s funeral.
As might be apparent, the film is unrelentingly manic, and Kim’s rather twisted sense of humour means the audience has to contend with everything from a pepper-spray nightmare to transporting a corpse using some yellow balloons and a remote-control toy soldier. In the middle of the madness, Sun-kyun’s performance grounds the viewer, switching between frazzled and horrified one minute to instigator of madness the next. A Hard Day could have been a mess; Sun-kyun’s screen presence makes it engaging.
Dr Brain (2021)
As the first Korean-language show to be produced for Apple TV+, the stars seemed to align for Dr Brain. Based on the Korean webtoon (online cartoon) of the same name, it starred Sun-kyun as Koh Se-won, a brain scientist trying to solve the mysterious death of his family by hacking into the brains of the already-dead.
Capitalising on a rising interest in Korean-language dramas, the show was a hit: The Verge called it a “genre-bending piece of work”, while the New York Times pronounced it “your new South Korean TV crush”. As the traumatised Se-won, Sun-kyun managed to walk the line between exploring his character’s grief and the surgeon’s colder, more calculating side – and kudos for committing to the series’ sillier side. Not everybody could pull off hacking into the brain of a dead family cat and gaining a penchant for acrobatics.
In 2022, it was reported that the show would be renewed for a second season.
Parasite (2019)
This was the role that helped propel Sun-kyun, as well as his castmates, to international stardom. In this sharply-observed social satire, Sun-kyun played the snobbish Park Dong-ik, the head of a wealthy South Korean family, who are targeted by the calculating Kims, a family on the hunt for wealth and prestige.
It was a huge success – the entire cast won a SAG award for the best motion picture ensemble cast in 2020, and it went onto win Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars (making it the first non-English language film to win in the history of the awards). In a film full of excellent performances, Sun-kyun still stands out, adding depth and nuance to a role (the clueless nouveau riche) that could have easily been shallow.
My Mister (2018)
Cited by Sun-kyun as his favourite work, My Mister has a time-honoured hook – two lost souls find solace in each other – and the end result is sweet, if a tad bleak.
Sun-kyun plays Park Dong-hoon, a successful structural engineer who finds himself at odds with the 21-year-old Ji-an (Lee Ji-eun). As the series progresses, we see the pair slowly form a bond and support network of sorts, using each other to help explore and overcome their past. With themes like domestic abuse, trauma and job insecurity, it was praised for its screenplay and performances. True to form, Sun-kyun plays a blinder as the warm-hearted and exhausted Park: a man tired of conflict and weighed down by life’s woes.
