Choi Woo-shik (최우식)

If you’ve only just started on your k-drama/movie journey, you might know him primarily from his role in the Academy Award-winning movie Parasite. It was as this enterprising (albeit morally suspect) son that the Seoul-born, Canada-raised actor bagged a Screen Actors Guild award in 2020. But Choi Woo-shik was flexing his acting chops well before the 2019 sleeper hit that changed the face of the international moviemaking world.

Photo from HanCinema / Management SOOP

Birthday: March 26, 1990

Instagram: @dntlrdl

In 2011, after a decade of living abroad, Choi took a shot at acting by auditioning for the Korean entertainment industry. He debuted that same year in Duo, a period drama. This was followed by supporting roles for the next few years, as he slowly but steadily built his reputation as an actor with a wide range and strong work ethic. The 2014 coming-of-age film Set Me Free saw him take on a lead role for the first time. It was, in a way, a coming-of-age for the actor too, as critics began to sit up and take notice of his talent.

The role would eventually land him the Actor of the Year award at the Busan Film Festival, as well as several other nominations (and wins). Ironically, it was during filming this movie that the actor was starting to feel that maybe he should quit acting and move back to Canada.

It is a gift to the industry that he decided to stay the course. He has worked steadily since that major big-screen debut, both on the big screen as well as on television. Most notable are his roles in 2016’s Train to Busan and a smaller but quite memorable role in Okja the next year. Fans are quick to mention his appearances in k-pop band Day 6’s music videos “Congratulations” and “You Were Beautiful,” the 2017 series Fight for My Way, and his playing his lovable self on the 2021 reality series Youn’s Stay.

He starred opposite Kim Da-mi in the 2018 action thriller The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion and in the 2021 romantic drama Our Beloved Summer. He was also in the 2022 film The Policeman’s Lineage, and is set to star in a South Korean sci-fi fantasy movie Wonderland.

Immediately likable, amiable, and hardworking, his star can only glow brighter.