Lee Byung-hun

Lee's career began in 1991 after a KBS talent audition and making his debut in the television drama Asphalt My Hometown. Lee drew attention with the action drama Asphalt Man and romantic film The Harmonium in My Memory, but it was only in 2000 that he made his big breakthrough with Park Chan-wook's Joint Security Area. The film broke the box office record and became the highest grossing Korean film at the time. Lee's role as a border-guard soldier won him the Best Actor award at the Busan Film Critics Awards.

In 2001, his popularity continued to climb when he starred in melodramas Beautiful Days and Bungee Jumping of Their Own. In 2003, he received the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in the poker drama All In.

At the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

From 2005, he focused on film, earning critical acclaim for his performance in A Bittersweet Life directed by Kim Jee-woon, which was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee was nominated for Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards and Grand Bell Awards, and won at the Chunsa Film Art Awards, Baeksang Arts Awards and the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.

He reunited with director Kim Jee-woon in the "kimchi western" The Good, the Bad, the Weird, taking on his first villain role. The film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year, he appeared in I Come with the Rain opposite American actor Josh Hartnett and Japanese actor Takuya Kimura. He then made his Hollywood debut as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, also starring Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller.

Lee returned to television in late 2009 in the espionage action thriller Iris as a secret agent who finds himself at the center of an international conspiracy. It was one of the most expensive shows ever produced with filming locations in Hungary, Japan as well as South Korea. It became one of the highest rated dramas of 2009 and his performance earned him the Grand Prize at the KBS Drama Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

In 2010, Lee starred in I Saw the Devil with Choi Min-sik, his third collaboration with Kim Jee-woon, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His portrayal of the intelligence agent won him the Grand Prize at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

In 2012, Lee played dual roles in the lavish period drama Masquerade. The film was a box office hit, becoming the 7th film in Korean history to surpass 10 million admissions. Lee won Best Actor at the Grand Bell Awards for his performance. On June 23, 2012, Lee, along with Ahn Sung-ki, became the first Korean actors to leave their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He was recognized as an emerging star in Hollywood for his role of Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and its sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

In 2013, he reprised his role as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Lee then co-starred in the American film RED 2 (2013), the sequel to the 2010 action-comedy hit RED, alongside Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich.

In 2015, Lee played a T-1000 in Terminator Genisys opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. He then starred in Woo Min-ho's political crime thriller Inside Men, which became the top grossing R-rated movie of all-time at the Korean Box Office. Touted as the "star" of the film, Lee received critical acclaim and swept Best Actor awards at various film awards ceremonies.

Lee co-starred as knife-wielding gunslinger Billy Rocks in The Magnificent Seven (2016) with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke. On 28 February 2016, Lee attended the 88th Academy Awards and presented the "Best Foreign Language Film" award with actress Sofia Vergara. He was the first Korean actor to present an award at the Oscars.

Lee will make his television comeback in Mr. Sunshine (2018), written by Kim Eun-sook.

Other work

Lee formed a management company, BH Entertainment, which manages many actors including Han Hyo-joo, Go Soo, and Han Ji-min. He owns a shop, BHNC, which sells hats, scarfs and wallets.

Lee Byung-hun is noted in the video game industry for providing his likeness for the main character, Wayne Holden, in the 2006 game Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, for the Xbox 360, PS3 & PC.

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea. He has a younger sister, Lee Eun-hee, who was Miss Korea in 1996. He graduated from Hanyang University with a major in French Literature and the Graduate School of Chung-Ang University with a major in Theater and Cinematography.

Lee dated his All In co-star Song Hye-kyo; they broke up in 2004. In his spare time, Lee Byung-hun practices taekwondo.

Lee married actress Lee Min-jung on August 10, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. The couple had briefly dated in 2006, then resumed their relationship in 2012. Lee's wife gave birth to their first child, a son, Lee Joon-hoo, on March 31, 2015.

Blackmail scandal

In September 2014, Lee was embroiled in a legal battle with two women, singer Dahee from K-pop girl group GLAM and model Lee Ji-yeon, who blackmailed him for large sums of money in exchange for not revealing a compromising video of the actor Lee making sexual jokes. The two women were sentenced to a year and two months in jail respectively, both suspended for two years.

Film

Television

Other

Albums

Single

Soundtrack