Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (born 1963 in Seoul, South Korea) is an internationally acclaimed director, screenwriter, producer, and ex-film critic who played a pivotal role in driving the global rise of contemporary South Korean cinema. His cinematic path began while he was studying philosophy at Sogang University, where he ran a student film society. Seeing Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) prompted him to pivot away from art criticism and dedicate his career to filmmaking. His breakthrough came with his third feature (Joint Security Area), a tense thriller set along the North/South Korean border that smashed box-office records to become the country's highest-grossing movie at the time. Park later secured widespread global recognition with his thematic "Vengeance Trilogy" - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003), and Lady Vengeance (2005) - which examined the destructive nature of revenge. He successfully crossed over into international projects, helming the English-language thriller Stoker (2013) and the BBC miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018). His critically adored erotic thriller The Handmaiden (2016) took home a BAFTA, while his romantic noir Decision to Leave (2022) secured him the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He co-created the HBO series The Sympathizer (2024) and directed the highly praised feature film No Other Choice (2025).