1. Song Kang-ho is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award, three Baeksang Arts Awards, four Blue Dragon Film Awards, and five Grand Bell Awards.
53 Facts About Song Kang-ho
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Song Kang-ho is known for his collaborations with filmmaker Bong Joon-ho in Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer, and Parasite.
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Song Kang-ho rose to international prominence for his performance in Parasite, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Picture.
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Song Kang-ho worked extensively with director Kim Jee-woon, starring in five of his films: The Quiet Family, The Foul King, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, The Age of Shadows, and Cobweb.
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Song Kang-ho has been named Gallup Korea's Film Actor of the Year four times.
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Song Kang-ho graduated from Gimhae High School and had aspirations of becoming an actor since his second year at Garak Middle School.
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In 1990, Song Kang-ho attended a performance of "Mr Choi," a play by Yeonwoo Theater Company in Busan.
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Song Kang-ho approached Ryu Tae-ho, the director of Yeonwoo Theater Company, and humbly pleaded for an opportunity to stay and contribute, even if it meant working as a theater cleaner.
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In 1991, Song Kang-ho made his stage debut in play of "Dongseung".
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In 1995 Song Kang-ho joined Theater Company Chaimu, founded by theater director Yi Sang-woo.
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Song Kang-ho became an early member of the troupe alongside Moon Seong-geun, Yu Oh-seong, Ryu Tae-ho, film director Yeo Gyun-dong, and drama writer Jeong In-ok.
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Song Kang-ho gained cult notoriety for his performance as Jopil, a stuttering gangster who trained a group of young recruits in Song Kang-ho Neung-han's No 3.
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Song Kang-ho became the most notable actor of 1997, sweeping the Best New Actor Award at the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
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Director Kim Jee-woon opened a new path for Song Kang-ho, who had been cast mainly as bullies and gangsters, by casting him as Young-min, the eldest son of Park In-hwan and Na Moon-hee, in his debut film, The Quiet Family In this film, Song Kang-ho showed the essence of comic cruelty acting.
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Song Kang-ho then took on his first leading role as agent Lee Jang-gil, Han Suk-kyu's partner, in Kang Je-gyu's blockbuster thriller Shiri.
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However, it was director Kim Jee-woon who elevated Song Kang-ho into leading actor status in his film The Foul King.
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The movie was released in cinemas in February 2000, with Song Kang-ho portraying Lim Dae-ho, a bank clerk turned professional wrestler, for which he did most of his own stunts.
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Song Kang-ho's comic acting was topped with deep pathos, and his popularity increased.
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Song Kang-ho always said that this role was his hardest role as an actor.
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Song Kang-ho won the Best Actor Award at the 38th Grand Bell Awards for this performance.
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Song Kang-ho starred in the first installment of Park Chan-wook's acclaimed Vengeance trilogy, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, which centers on a father's pursuit of his daughter's kidnappers.
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In 2002, Song Kang-ho starred in another major production by Myung Films, YMCA Baseball Team, which is about Korea's first baseball team formed in the early 20th century.
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In 2003, Song Kang-ho played a leading role as Park Doo-man, an incompetent rural detective, in another critically acclaimed hit, Memories of Murder, from young director Bong Joon-ho.
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In 2004, Song Kang-ho starred in The President's Barber by debut director Im Chan-sang, which imagines the life of South Korean president Park Chung Hee's personal barber.
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In 2006, through director Bong Joon-ho's film The Host, Song Kang-ho rose to the ranks of 10 million actors.
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Song Kang-ho starred opposite Jeon Do-yeon in Lee Chang-dong's film Secret Sunshine, as local mechanic in Miryang Kim Jong-chan and won Best Actor in 6th Korean Film Awards,10th Director's Cut Awards, and Palm Springs International Film Festival.
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In 2008, Song Kang-ho acted in Kim Jee-woon's western film set in 1930s Japanese-occupied Manchuria, The Good, the Bad, the Weird.
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In 2009, Song Kang-ho acted in Park Chan-wook's vampire film Thirst, opposite Kim Ok-vin.
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However, in 2013, Song Kang-ho made a splendid resurrection by becoming an actor of 20 million through three films in which he appeared.
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The period drama The Face Reader, where Song Kang-ho acted as Nae-kyeong, the greatest face reader of Joseon, who can see through people by looking at their faces, reached 9.13 million viewers.
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Song Kang-ho continued to star in a number of critically acclaimed films, including Lee Joon-ik's period film The Throne.
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Song Kang-ho played as King Yeongjo, the Korean ruler who infamously had his belligerent son, the Crown Prince Sado, suffocated to death in a large wooden chest filled with rice.
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Later, Song Kang-ho reunited with director Kim Jee-woon after eight years period action film The Age of Shadows.
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Song Kang-ho won Best Actor in 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards for his role as Lee Jung-chool, a Korean police captain that has been charged by the Japanese colonial government with rooting out members of the country's resistance movement.
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In 2016, Song Kang-ho starred in film A Taxi Driver, as Kim Man-seo, a widowed taxi driver.
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In 2019, Song Kang-ho starred as Kim Ki-taek in the critically acclaimed film Parasite, directed by his frequent collaborator Bong Joon-ho.
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Song Kang-ho is known as Bong's muse, having featured in four of his films.
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Song Kang-ho started filming in 2021, acted as Ha Sang-hyeon, the owner of a hand laundry who takes babies from a baby box at a nearby church and sells them with the help of his partner Dong-soo.
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In 2021, Song Kang-ho was selected as one of the nine judges in the competition section of the 74th Cannes Film Festival to be held from July 6 to July 17.
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Song Kang-ho was awarded Best Actor at the 75th Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Broker.
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Song Kang-ho was first Korean to win Best Actor Award at Cannes.
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Song Kang-ho acted in title role in blockbuster disaster film Emergency Declaration.
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In May 2023, it was reported that Song Kang-ho would be the male lead in a Korean remake of the Indian film Drishyam.
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In 2022, it was reported that Song Kang-ho will act alongside Byun Yo-han in his television series debut with Uncle Samsik.
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In 2001, Song Kang-ho was signed by traditional liquor company Kooksoondang to promote a traditional liquor called baeksaju.
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The contract was renewed for five years from 2001 to 2005, and in 2009, Song Kang-ho signed a three-year exclusive CF model contract with Kooksoondang.
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Song Kang-ho did advertisements for other products such as food, electronics, and finance.
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In 2005, Song Kang-ho received a 100 million won guarantee as a model for an air purifier brand.
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In 2008, Song Kang-ho appeared in a CF movie for Hyundai Card with Jung Woo-sung and Lee Byung-hun.
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Song Kang-ho did an overseas CF for China's Lilith Games popular strategy game Rise of Kingdoms.
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Song Kang-ho married Hwang Jang-sook, a fellow theater actress, in November 1994, amid a time of great financial difficulty.
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On March 6,2022, Song Kang-ho donated 100 million won to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to assist recovery efforts from a massive wildfire that started in Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province, and spread to Samcheok, Gangwon Province.
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Song Kang-ho joined the Honors Club, a large donor group.