Choi Dong-hoon

Choi Dong-hoon (Hangul: 최동훈; born 1971) is a South Korean film director. He ranks as one of the most consistently successful directors working in contemporary Korean cinema, with all five of his films becoming commercial hits -- The Big Swindle attracted 2.12 million viewers, Tazza: The High Rollers at 5.68 million, Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard at 6.13 million, The Thieves at 12.9 million, and Assassination at 11.79 million.

After graduating from the prestigious Korean Academy of Film Arts, Choi Dong-hoon first worked as an assistant director on Im Sang-soo's Tears (he subsequently appeared in acting cameos in several of Im's films).

After working on the screenplay for two years, Choi made his feature film directorial debut in 2004 with The Big Swindle and single-handedly re-imagined the heist and crime thriller genre into something uniquely Korean. His follow-up Tazza: The High Rollers, a gambling flick adapted from Huh Young-man and Kim Se-yeong's manhwa, was the third highest grossing Korean film of 2006, and producer/Sidus FNH CEO Cha Seung-jae praised Choi as "a genius storyteller for his spectacular ability to develop elaborate stories." 2009's Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard was lauded as the first Korean fantasy/superhero blockbuster movie, earning Choi a reputation as an artistically innovative and commercially successful writer-director.

He returned to the heist genre in 2012 with the star-studded crime caper The Thieves, which attracted almost 13 million viewers in 70 days to become the second all-time highest grossing movie in Korean film history. In 2015, Choi made his first period film with Assassination, about freedom fighters during Japan's colonial rule, and it was once again a box office hit, crossing the 10 million admissions milestone on the 70th anniversary of South Korean independence.

Tazza and Thieves leading lady Kim Hye-soo described him as "a genius who also works extremely hard. I think he knows who he is, the exact kind of films that he wants to make, and how to make them."

• Overheard (director, screenwriter; 2018)
• Assassination (director, screenwriter, producer; 2015)
• The Thieves (director, screenwriter; 2012)
• Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (director, screenwriter; 2009)
• Tazza: The High Rollers (director, screenwriter; 2006)
• The President's Last Bang (cameo; 2005)
• Boy Goes to Heaven (screenwriter; 2005)
• The Big Swindle (director, screenwriter; 2004)
• A Good Lawyer's Wife (cameo; 2003)
• Tears (assistant director, cameo; 2000)
• A Short Trip (short film, director; 2000)

• 2007 6th Korean Film Awards: Best Screenplay (Tazza: The High Rollers)
• 2007 8th Busan Film Critics Awards: Best Screenplay (Tazza: The High Rollers)
• 2007 43rd Baeksang Arts Awards: Best Director (Tazza: The High Rollers)
• 2005 SBS Gayo Daejeon: Music Video of the Year
• 2004 3rd Korean Film Awards: Best Screenplay (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 3rd Korean Film Awards: Best New Director (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 25th Blue Dragon Film Awards: Best Screenplay (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 25th Blue Dragon Film Awards: Best New Director (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 7th Director's Cut Awards: Best New Director (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 24th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards: Best New Director (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 41st Grand Bell Awards: Best Screenplay (The Big Swindle)
• 2004 41st Grand Bell Awards: Best New Director (The Big Swindle)