Actor You Need to Know: Choi Woo-shik

Choi Woo-shik has matured into an acting maestro with top honors to his name since the Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019) catapulted him to worldwide fame (though his first shot at international recognition came with Train to Busan in 2016). He is a natural in every role, even in tense circumstances, whether it be in an autobiographical coming-of-age story, an action horror K-Zombie, or a black comedy thriller. The Chungmuro actor is a prime example of a dependable and trustworthy asset in Korean entertainment who has lately blossomed more into a superb romantic hero, bringing life to an unfathomable emotional struggle of profound love in Our Beloved Summer (2021–2022), an intense powerhouse of a romance drama.

With a degree in cultural studies from Chung-Ang University, Choi made his acting debut in 2011 with the period drama The Duo, subsequently appearing in films like Flu and Secretly, Greatly in 2013. Meanwhile, he played bit parts in television projects before landing his first lead role as Yeong-jae (a foster kid), who, as a teenager, resorts to lying to avoid being sent to his real father, in the film Set Me Free (2014). Choi was excellent in displaying the frailty and frustration of the character. It was clear that he could elicit the most intense emotions most innately. As a result, at the 19th Busan International Film Festival, he won the Actor of the Year award and went on to portray a braniac hacker in the action-comedy film Big Match (2014), the eponymous character in the romantic comedy series Hogu’s Love (2015), and also worked in the R-rated Hong Kong-Singaporean film In the Room later that year.

I recall recognizing the actor as “that guy, the baseball player from Train to Busan” when I first saw him in Parasite; I didn’t know much about him then and was oblivious that by the time the credits rolled, he would leave me totally speechless. I realized that Choi is an actor—who can easily switch between scenes of playful humor and lethal severity—deftly morphing into anybody—the unique quality that may have ramped up his evolution.

If you examine his collection of work, from Train to Busan to Parasite, you’ll see that the time period is distinguished by his one-of-a-kind performances. Whether he played a supporting or starring role, what mattered was his commanding on-screen presence and compelling displays that stole moments. It could be his brief but noteworthy appearance as a truck driver in Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi action-adventure film Okja (2017), his portrayals in movies like The Princess and the Matchmaker (2018) and Monstrum (2018), or his role as an enigmatic executioner identified as the “Nobleman” in the action film The Witch: Subversion (2018).

He and director Bong Joon-ho collaborated once more for Parasite, in which Choi played Ki-woo, the son of an impoverished family that plots to work for an affluent family by invading their home and acting as competent individuals. The end credits song, “Soju One Glass” (music by Jung Jae-il), which was nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Original Song, had Choi performing in addition to his role in the film. Parasite is indeed a marvel, and Choi was brilliant in it. Its final stretch offers a shock of deep emotions that underpin the social satire with the most unexpected turn of events.

When Ki-woo peeks inside the Park mansion (now occupied by a different family) and sees his father’s Morse code message, I thought it was a great way to highlight the father-son relationship. It hits home when he writes a letter to his father, vowing to work hard enough to save enough money to buy the house and reunite with him. The performance demonstrated Choi’s knack for expressing sincerity and poignancy, all while keeping his sense of charm in check.

He is a powerhouse, embracing all genres with ease and clearly breaking the pattern by dabbling with styles and taking on fascinating projects. His range has grown more recently thanks to roles in the wildly popular drama Our Beloved Summer and the crime thriller The Policeman’s Lineage (2022). In the upcoming science fiction fantasy film Wonderland, Choi will co-star with Bae Suzy, Jung Yu-mi, Park Bo-gum, and Tang Wei. Using artificial intelligence simulations, visitors to Wonderland can reconnect with people they might not see otherwise. The coordinator for this virtual realm will be portrayed by Choi.