Park Chan-wook

After two unsuccessful films in the 1990s which he has since largely disowned, Park came to prominence with his acclaimed third directorial effort, Joint Security Area (2000), which became the highest-grossing film in South Korean history at the time and which Park himself prefers to be regarded as his directorial debut. Using his newfound creative freedom, he would go on to direct the films forming his unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), a financial failure that polarized critics, followed by Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005), both of which received critical acclaim and were financially successful. Oldboy in particular is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and helped establish Park as a well-known director outside his native country. Most of Park's work following The Vengeance Trilogy was also commercially and critically successful both in South Korea and internationally, such as Thirst (2009), The Handmaiden (2016), which earned Park the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and Decision to Leave (2022), which won the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He directed the English-language miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018) and The Sympathizer (2024). His 2025 film No Other Choice was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Park Chan-wook studied at Sogang University. The recorded working language is Korean. The field of work recorded is film. Employment is recorded with Dong-Ah Institute of Media and Arts. Works named in the authority record are Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Work by Park Chan-wook is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art. Distinctions recorded are Golden Lion, Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival, Jury Prize and Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix.

• Name — Park Chan-wook • Born — 23 August 1963 • Birthplace — Seoul, South Korea • Other Names — Bakridamae (박리다매) • Education — Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea • Occupation — * Film director • producer • screenwriter • Works — * Filmography • bibliography • Children — 1 • Relatives — * Park Chan-kyong (brother) • Years Active — 1988–present • Awards — Full list • Honours — Bogwan Order of Cultural Merit (2002) Eun-gwan Order of Cultural Merit (2022) Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2026) Park Chan-wook (born 23 August 1963) is a South Korean filmmaker and former film critic. Widely regarded as a leading figure in South Korean and 21st-century world cinema, he is known for films that blend crime, mystery, and thriller elements with other genres. His films are noted for their cinematography, framing, black humor, and often brutal subject matter. After two unsuccessful films in the 1990s which he has since largely disowned, Park came to prominence with his acclaimed third directorial effort, Joint Security Area (2000), which became the highest-grossing film in South Korean history at the time and which Park himself prefers to be regarded as his directorial debut. Using his newfound creative freedom, he would go on to direct the films forming his unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), a financial failure that polarized critics, followed by Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005), both of which received critical acclaim and were financially successful. Oldboy in particular is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and helped establish Park as a well-known director outside his native country. Most of Park's work following The Vengeance Trilogy was also commercially and critically successful both in South Korea and internationally, such as Thirst (2009), The Handmaiden (2016), which earned Park the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and Decision to Leave (2022), which won the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He directed the English-language miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018) and The Sympathizer (2024). His 2025 film No Other Choice was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Park Chan-wook was born in Seoul on 23 August 1963. He comes from a prominent, multi-generational local family. His father, Park Don-seo, was an architecture professor and dean at Ajou University, and his mother is a poet. Although Park originally dreamed of becoming a painter, he later shifted his aspirations toward becoming an art critic, believing that while he shared his brother's aesthetic sensibility, he lacked the technical drawing skills that his brother possessed. His passion for cinema developed in his youth, influenced by foreign films he watched on his family black-and-white TV, broadcast by AFKN (American Forces Korea Network). As these programs were intended for U.S. personnel, they were mostly aired without Korean subtitles, requiring him to interpret the films purely through their cinematic elements and narrative structure. Park also credits his early experiences watching the James Bond franchise in theaters as an influence. Aiming to become an art critic, Park enrolled in the Department of Philosophy at Sogang University. However, the university did not have a formal arts program, so he joined the campus photography and film clubs. In the film club, screenings of foreign films from VHS tapes became a significant turning point in his life. After watching Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), Park decided to pursue a career in filmmaking.

After graduating, he began a career in film criticism and wrote articles on the subject for various publications. In 1988, he gained experience as an assistant director on Yu Yeong-jin's film Kkamdong. It was followed by 1989 film Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day, directed by Kwak Jae-yong (who later gained fame for My Sassy Girl). Park's feature film debut, The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream was released in 1992. Five years later, he directed his second film, Trio, but neither film performed well at the box office. Because his first two films were commercial failures, Park had to support himself by working as a film critic across television and radio platforms.

In 1999, Park was given the opportunity to create a short film titled Judgement, inspired by the Sampoong Department Store collapse. He collaborated with stage actors and held his first script reading, realizing that actors are not just "puppets." He appreciated the creative dialogue with them, acknowledging it as a luxury that novelists do not have. This collaborative spirit continued with his third feature film, Joint Security Area, which tells the story of four soldiers from both North and South Korea who develop an unexpected friendship, leading to tragic consequences. During filming, Park and the actors formed strong bonds, often working late into the night and socializing afterward. Released in 2000, Joint Security Area became a major commercial and critical success, surpassing Kang Je-gyu's Shiri as the most-watched film in South Korea at the time. In 2009, Quentin Tarantino praised it of "the top twenty films made since 1992." In a 2017 interview, Park reflected on this, stating, "Many people think my directorial debut film is JSA, but I want to keep it that way".

In 2014, Park directed a short film A Rose Reborn, commissioned by luxury brand Ermenegildo Zegna, co-written by himself, Ayako Fujitani, Chung Chung-hoon and Michael Werwie, scored by Clint Mansell, and starring Jack Huston and Daniel Wu. It screened at the Rome International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. In October 2014, it was announced that Park had signed on to direct the sci-fi body-swap film, Second Born. • Illustration — Park presenting The Handmaiden at the 2016 Lumière Film Festival In September 2014, it was announced that Park would adapt Fingersmith, a historical crime novel by Sarah Waters. The film entered production in mid-2015 and ended on 31 October 2015. That film ended up becoming The Handmaiden and premiered in competition to rave reviews at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where Artistic Director Ryu Seong-hie won the Vulcain Prize for the Technical Arts, and the film was nominated for both the Palme d' Or and Queer Palm. The film saw box office success in several countries, including South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom. In January 2018, it was stated that Park would direct a TV miniseries adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl, a novel by John le Carré. It aired on BBC One in October of that year and stars Michael Shannon, Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård. At the 24th Busan International Film Festival, Park said that he is writing scripts for feature films, for theater and for TV, including a new installment in the Vengeance Trilogy, and an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Ax. Park had first discussed adapting the book in 2009, when he received approval from Costa-Gavras who owned the rights and directed a previous rendition of the novel.

• Illustration — Park in 2025 In May 2020, it was announced that he was working on his next film, tentatively titled Heeojil gyeolsim (The Decision to Break Up). It is described as a melodrama and stars Tang Wei and Park Hae-il. In October 2020, the title of the film was revealed as Decision to Leave, with the story described as a murder mystery romance. The film was set to begin shooting later that month. In April 2021, A24 optioned Viet Thanh Nguyen's 2015 novel The Sympathizer for a TV adaptation, with Park directing. He was awarded Best Director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for his work on Decision to Leave. In August 2024, Park began filming his adaptation of The Ax, titled No Other Choice. Park wrote the screenplay with previous collaborators Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar and Lee Ja-hye. The film would also see Park reunite with actors Lee Byung-hun and Cha Seung-won. In February 2026, Park was named jury president for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, marking the first time a South Korean had been appointed to head the panel.

Park was raised in a devout Catholic household in Seoul, a city his family has called home for five generations. While his upbringing was rooted in faith, he now identifies as an agnostic. He grew up in an environment focused on intellectual and cultural pursuits; his father, Park Don-seo, was a professor of architecture and dean at Ajou University, and his grandfather, Park Seung-seo, served as president of the Korean Bar Association. His younger brother, Park Chan-kyong, is a multimedia artist. Park met his wife, Kim Eun-hee, through a mutual friend while she was studying at Ewha Womans University. He has since disclosed that when proposing, he misled his in-laws regarding his career by claiming to be a university professor. Park has frequently cited his wife's support as a cornerstone of his career, including during a 2015 tribute at the 15th Marrakech International Film Festival. Their daughter, Park Seo-woo, has followed the family's artistic path, studying at the Korea National University of Arts and later joining the art department for Park's film The Handmaiden. The couple resides in Heyri Art Valley in a residence designed by architect Kim Young-joon. The house utilizes a modern-traditional aesthetic and is configured with separate living quarters to accommodate both Park's immediate family and his parents.

In 2003, he shaved his head to protest the deaths of two South Korean schoolgirls in the Yangju highway incident. Ahead of the 2004 general election, he joined 226 other filmmakers in publicly declaring his support for the Democratic Labor Party and was also a member of its successor, the New Progressive Party. He supported Justice Party candidate Sim Sang-jung in the 2017 South Korean presidential election. In 2014, he joined 100 other South Korean signatories in condemning military action in Gaza and calling in Seoul to halt arms sales to Israel.

• The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992) • Trio (1997) • Joint Security Area (2000) • Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) • Oldboy (2003) • Lady Vengeance (2005) • I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006) • Thirst (2009) • Stoker (2013) • The Handmaiden (2016) • Decision to Leave (2022) • No Other Choice (2025)