Park Hae-il

Park Hae-il (; born 26 January 1977) is a South Korean actor. He began his acting career in theater, but soon gained the film industry's attention in 2003 with Scent of Love and Memories of Murder. Park's film career took off, with leading roles in notable films, including Rules of Dating, The Host (2006), Moss (2010), Eungyo (2012), Whistle Blower (2014), The Last Princess (2016), The Fortress (2017), and Hansan: Rising Dragon (2022).

For his performances in the historical drama War of the Arrows (2011) and romantic thriller Decision to Leave (2022), Park received multiple Best Actor honors including the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Grand Bell Awards.

Career Park Hae-il began appearing in theatre productions ever since childhood, and he first established himself on stage rather than on the screen. In 2000 he was awarded the Best New Actor award in the theatre category of the Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in the play Cheongchun-yechan ("Ode to Youth"). His film debut was in a minor role in Yim Soon-rye's Waikiki Brothers, however he left a major impression in his second film Jealousy Is My Middle Name, in which he played a conflicted young man who develops a fascination/hatred for his boss, who has stolen two women from him. The film won the top prize at the Busan International Film Festival in 2002, and was released commercially the following spring.

Throughout his career, Park has been cast in two different types of roles: innocent-looking, boyish characters, or else men who hide a dark streak under a nice-looking exterior. After Jealousy, Park would take on his darkest role of all in the acclaimed smash hit Memories of Murder, where he portrayed a man suspected of committing serial murder. Yet the following year he was just as effective appearing in a romantic role opposite Jeon Do-yeon in time-travel drama My Mother, the Mermaid.

In 2005, he once again played characters of completely opposite temperament. In Rules of Dating, he plays a dirty-minded, scheming high school instructor who sets his mind on a pretty student teacher played by Kang Hye-jung, while in Boy Goes to Heaven he plays a young boy who suddenly finds himself an adult one day, like Tom Hanks in Big.

2006 saw him return to work with acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho in the big-budget monster movie The Host which went on to become the best-selling Korean film of all time.

Murder mystery Paradise Murdered was a surprise hit in 2007, with Kyu Hyun Kim of Koreanfilm.org calling Park "an inspired choice for the ostensible protagonist, projecting fatigued compassion and cold calculation in equal measure, his obsidian pupils glistening with streaks of chilling obsession."

In 2008, he starred in the period drama Modern Boy, a dramatic love story set in 1930s Gyeongseong or old Seoul, when Korea was under Japanese colonization (1910–45). Park played the role of a rich, hedonistic playboy who does not care that his country was colonized, then falls head over heels in love with a beautiful and mysterious independence fighter (Kim Hye-soo).

After small supporting roles in Shim's Family (also known as Skeletons in the Closet), and Good Morning, President, Park joined the ensemble cast of A Million as one of eight participants who take part in a TV reality show in Perth, Australia but discover that they must literally survive to win the prize of 1 million dollars.

In 2010, Park headlined Kang Woo-suk's blockbuster mystery thriller Moss, playing a young man who comes to a rural village after hearing about his father's death and later becomes embroiled in its hidden secrets. Park's casting was received enthusiastically by fans of the source material, Yoon Tae-ho's hugely popular online graphic novel series.

Heartbeat explores a familial love battle of wills, as Yeon-hee (played by Yunjin Kim of Lost fame) whose daughter is in desperate need of a heart transplant, tries to convince a brain-dead patient's son (Park) to sign off on the transplant, but he refuses and instead investigates his mother's fall. He then appeared in the low-budget indie End of Animal, because he found the script "very interesting."

Park next starred in War of the Arrows, a fictional tale set in the Joseon period, which follows Nam-yi (Park) on his search for younger sister Ja-in after she is kidnapped by Qing Dynasty soldiers during an invasion. As he slays enemy soldiers with his bow and arrow, he is confronted by Jushinta, a Manchu enemy commander also well known for his archery prowess. Arrow made headlines by selling to distributors from six countries at the Cannes film market and becoming the highest-grossing Korean film of 2011. Park won Best Actor honors at the prestigious Grand Bell Awards and Blue Dragon Film Awards.

He returned to the big screen in A Muse, a film adaptation of celebrated author Park Bum-shin's sensational novel about an old poet who ends up falling for a 17-year-old girl named Eun-gyo. Upon realizing his love for the teenager, the poet goes through emotional turmoil and self-destruction, while willing to give up his fame as one of the nation's most respected literary figures. The 35-year-old actor took on the challenge of nearly eight hours of makeup daily, on top of learning the weary gait and gesture of a man in his 70s.

After Yim Pil-sung's Weekend Prince was delayed, Park starred instead in Song Hae-sung's ensemble black comedy Boomerang Family (2013), and Zhang Lu's introspective romance drama Gyeongju (2014).

In December 2022, Park decided not to renew his contract with the former agency. In April 2023, Park signed with Makestar.

In 2023, Park became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Personal life Park married his longtime girlfriend Seo Yoo-seon on 11 March 2006; they have two children. Seo is a playwright and has also written an episode of KBS Drama Special titled Ji-hoon, Born in 1982.

Filmography

Film

Short film Year Title Role 2003 Audition Yoon Ji-seok 2009 The End Hae-il 2011 Endless Joke

Television series Year Title Role Notes 1997 The Third Man Special appearance 2004 How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird Span Drama episode (TV, MBC) 2014 Plus Nine Boys Nine victims Cameo

Music videos Year Song title Artist 2000 "Dan" Kim Don-gyu 2002 "Forever" G. Gorilla 2003 "Did We Really Love" Brown Eyed Soul 2019 "Light" Bek Hyun-jin

Theater Year Title Role 2000 Ode to Youth 2003 Othello Family Baguette 2003 Generation After Generation

Accolades

Awards and nominations + Year presented, name of the award ceremony, award category, nominated work and the result of the nomination Year Award Category Nominated work ResultRef. 2000 36th Baeksang Arts Awards Best New Actor (Theater) Ode to Youth 200340th Grand Bell AwardsBest New ActorScent of Love 26th Golden Cinematography Awards 4th Busan Film Critics AwardsJealousy Is My Middle Name 11th Chunsa Film Art Awards 23rd Korean Association of Film Critics Awards 6th Director's Cut Awards 24th Blue Dragon Film AwardsBest New Actor 8th Women Viewers Film AwardsBest Actor 2nd Korean Film AwardsBest New Actor Best Supporting ActorMemories of Murder 2004 3rd Korean Film Awards Best Actor My Mother, the Mermaid 2005 26th Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Leading Actor Rules of Dating 4th Korean Film Awards Best Actor 2006 42nd Baeksang Arts Awards Best Actor – Film 9th Director's Cut Awards Best Actor The Host 2007 3rd Andre Kim Best Star Awards Best Star Award 2008 16th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards Best Actor Modern Boy 2011 15th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival Actor's Award 27th Korea Best Dressed Swan AwardsBest Dressed 48th Grand Bell Awards Best Actor War of the Arrows 20126th Asian Film AwardsBest Actor 48th Baeksang Arts Awards Best Actor – Film 7th Asia Model AwardsAsia Special Award 2014 51st Grand Bell Awards Best Actor Whistle Blower 35th Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Leading Actor 23rd Buil Film Awards Best Actor Gyeongju 2015 2nd Wildflower Film Awards Best Actor 2017 37th Golden Cinema Festival Best Actor The Last Princess Korean Screenwriter Association Best Actor 2022 27th Chunsa Film Art Awards Best Actor Decision to Leave 31st Buil Film Awards 58th Grand Bell Awards 43rd Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Actor Asian Journalists Association AJA Awards Hansan: Rising Dragon, Decision to Leave 23rd Busan Film Critics Awards Best Actor Decision to Leave 27th Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor Cine21 AwardsActor of the Year 42nd Golden Cinematography AwardsBest Actor 2022 Kinolights Awards Actor of The Year (Domestic) Hansan: Rising Dragon, Decision to Leave 2023 21st Director's Cut AwardsBest Actor Decision to Leave 16th Asian Film Awards 59th Baeksang Arts Awards Best Actor – Film

Listicles