Parasite Actor Was 48 – The Hollywood Reporter

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Lee Sun-kyun, the South Korean actor who starred in Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning movie Parasite and the Apple TV+ collection Dr. Brain, has died in an obvious suicide. He was 48.

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South Korean information company Yonhap stories that Lee was discovered useless inside a automotive at a park in Seoul on Wednesday morning, native time. Yonhap stories that Lee’s spouse reported to police that the actor had left residence and that she had discovered what seemed to be a suicide notice.

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Local media stories famous that Lee had been below investigation over allegations that he had used unlawful medicine. In latest weeks, the South Korean authorities’s ongoing crackdown on exhausting medicine has led to a collection of allegations towards high-profile individuals together with actors, singers, socialites and heirs to the nation’s richest households. The Ok-pop singer G-Dragon is amongst those that have been swept up within the crackdown, although he was cleared of any wrongdoing final week.

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Yonhap stories that Lee had been questioned thrice by police, together with for 19 hours over the weekend over his use of marijuana and psychoactive medicine. Lee is reported to have visited Seoul’s Gangnam district on a number of events since early this 12 months, together with final Saturday, the place he allegedly took medicine. The actor reportedly mentioned he was tricked into taking medicine by a bar hostess, who then tried to blackmail him.

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South Korea’s drug legal guidelines are notoriously powerful, and crimes are sometimes punishable by at the very least six months in jail or as much as 14 years for repeat offenders and sellers.

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Dubbed “The Voice” by his followers in Korea for his deep voice, Lee is finest recognized to Western audiences for taking part in Park Dong-ik, the patriarch of the wealthy household that owns the home that’s the setting of Bong’s 2019 black comedy thriller Parasite. Lee acquired a Screen Actors Guild Award together with the remainder of the Parasite solid.

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Born in Seoul in 1975, Lee studied drama on the Korea National University of Arts. He made his tv breakthrough within the medical drama White Tower (2007) and was positively acquired within the youthful drama Coffee Prince (2007).

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On tv, Lee was recognized for his collaborations with author Seo Sook-hyang, with the pair working collectively on Drama City; the favored office romantic comedy Pasta (2010), during which the actor performed an conceited chef at an Italian restaurant; and the 1997-set drama Miss Korea (2013).

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He transitioned to options and in 2012 starred in two of the most important Korean movies of that 12 months, taking part in the lead in Byun Young-joo’s psychological thriller Helpless and the timid husband in Min Kyu-dong’s romantic comedy All About My Wife.

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A flexible actor, Lee moved seamlessly between main movies and large tv dramas and likewise carried out in theater productions. He starred in three indie movies for prolific Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo: Night and Day (2008), Oki’s Movie (2010) and Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013).

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His different notable movie credit embrace the lead function in A Hard Day (2014), Kim Seong-hun’s motion thriller that was screened within the Directors’ Fortnight part of the Cannes Film Festival, and Park Chan-ok’s Paju (2009), which performed the worldwide pageant circuit.

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In 2021, Lee starred in Dr. Brain, Apple TV+’s first Korean-language authentic collection. In the six-episode sci-fi thriller, he performed Koh Se-won, a chilly, calculating neurologist who tries to garner clues through mind experiments to unravel a household thriller.

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Lee is survived by his spouse, the actress Jeon Hye-jin, and their two sons.

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If you or somebody you already know wants assist, name the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255.