PARK HAE-IL

Biography

Park Hae-il was born in Seoul. He made his debut as a theater actor at a very young age, earning the Best New Actor award at the Baeksang Arts Awards in 2000.
In 2001, he had his first film role with Yim Soon-rye's "Waikiki Brothers," where he made a name for himself by laying the groundwork for the title role in "Jealousy Is My Middle Name" two years later. 2003 is also the year of his first collaboration with Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho who directs him in "Memories of Murder". With "My Mother, the Mermaid" (2004) Park Hae-il takes on the role of a young man in love alongside actress Jeon Do-yeon. The blockbuster sci-fi film "The Host" (2006) saw him again directed by Bong Joon-ho and again alongside colleague Song Kang-ho and paved the way for a new starring role in Kim Han-min's feature debut "Paradise Murdered". In 2012 he played the complex character of Lee Jeok-yo, a 70-year-old man in love with a high school student, in the controversial "Eungyo" by Jung Ji-woo, while the following year he starred in the comedy "Boomerang Family". In 2022 he is Admiral Yi Sun-sin in "Hansan: Rising Dragon", a terminally ill man in the drama "Heaven: To the Land of Happiness" and Detective Hae-Jun in Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave" which won the Palme d'Or for Best Director at Cannes.