Kim Yoon seok

Career

Kim Yoon-seok was trained on stage as a member of the renowned Theater Yeonwoo Company (Yeonwoo Mudae), and he made his acting debut in 1988 with A Streetcar Named Desire. After many years in theater, he began acting in film and television late in his career, at first appearing in minor roles. Then in 2006, Kim had his breakthrough in Choi Dong-hoon's Tazza: The High Rollers, with audiences praising his performance in the supporting role as ruthless gambler Agwi (meaning "starving demon" in Buddhism). A leading role followed in 2008 with The Chaser, directed by Na Hong-jin. He successfully portrayed the morally ambiguous character of a retired-cop-turned-pimp hunting down a serial killer who murdered the call girls due to his impotence. The thriller was a critical and commercial hit, becoming one of the classic films in thriller genre, and Kim's excellent performance brought him 8 awards totally, made him a major player in the Korean film industry.. He transitioned from one of the finest character actors in the industry into a popular leading actor: Kim played a middle-aged man following his lifelong dream to play in a rock band in The Happy Life, a rural detective trying to capture a legendary prison breaker in Running Turtle, and a rival Taoist wizard in Jeon Woo-chi. In 2010 Kim reunited with The Chaser costar Ha Jung-woo in Na's ambitious sophomore film The Yellow Sea.. In The Yellow Sea, Kim played a crime boss named Myung Gah, whose killing offer led Ku Nam (played by Ha Jung-woo) to serial tragedies. The year after, Kim costarred Yoo Ah In in Punch, in which he portrayed ill-tempered teacher name Lee Dong Ju, giving courage to a youth from the slums to define, nurture, and pursue dreams.. Punch is the third highest-grossing film of 2011, attracted 5.3 million admissions to cinema, a huge hit socially, critically, and commercially since it mentioned many dark sides of modern Korean society, such as loveless intercultural marriages, immigrant labour, education system focused on college matriculation exams, unfavoured and vulnerable disabled... Kim once again triumphed in 2012, as his heist movie The Thieves became the second best-selling Korean film of all time. In 2013, he continued working with one of Korea's leading directors, in Yim Soon-rye's South Bound,, in which he screen wrote and played a middle-aged, leftist man named Choi Hae-Kab, along with his wife always posed rebels to every action of the government. Kim then played a brutal yet attractive crime leader Seok-tae, who kidnapped, raised, and trained a baby boy to become professional criminal like him in Hwayi: A Monster Boy, directed by Jang Joon-hwan, In 2014, Kim had a stellar performance in the arthouse Sea Fog directed by Shim Sung-bo where he played captain Kang, a gritty man who struggled smuggling illegal people from China to Korea, resulted in tragic ending. Sea Fog was chosen by Korean Film Council to compete in 87th Academy Awards and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in Best Foreign Language Film section. In 2015, Kim collaborated with director Kwak Kyung-taek in The Classified File., played detective Kong Gil-yong cooperating with a shaman to find out and save a kidnapped girl. Kim then reunited with Kang Dong-won in The Priests by director Jang Jae-hyun. The Priests is the first hit in supernatural mystery thriller genre in South Korea, attracting 5.44 million admissions to cinema. Kim then briefly shown off in retro film C'est Si Bon by Kim Hyun-seok, where he is a middle-aged man retrospecting his youth in 1980s. In 2016, Kim had only one show in drama film Will You Be There?, directed by Hong Ji-young, a film transformed from the same novel of Guillaume Musso. Kim portrayed middle-aged pediatric surgeon Han Soo-hyun, whose last wish before death was to see his first love once again. In 2017, Kim completed filming with director Hwang Dong-hyuk, actor Lee Byung-hun in history film Namhansanseong Fortress, where he played leading role Kim Sang-hun along with Lee Byung-hun as Choi Myung-kil. He also reunited with director Jang Joon-hwan, actor Ha Jung-woo, Yoo Hae-jin, Kang Dong-won, Yeo Jin-goo in 1987, another history film about pro-democratic movement in South Korea in 1987.

Personal life

Kim was born in Danyang County, North Chungcheong Province but grew up in Busan, then moved to Seoul for acting career.

He married actress Bang Joo-ran in 2002, and has 2 daughters.