‘Parasite’ Actor Lee Sun-kyun Dead at 48

Lee Sun-kyun, best recognized for starring in Bong Joon-ho‘s Academy Award-winning black comedy Parasite—for which he won a 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award for “cast in a motion picture”—was discovered dead this morning in a park in Central Seoul, South Korea.

Yonhap News Agency reports that at 10:30 a.m., a man in his 40s was found unconscious in a car in the park. The police subsequently identified him as Lee. A briquette of charcoal was on the passenger seat. Lee had left his house earlier today, leaving what appeared to be a suicide note, according to information provided to the police.

The incident occurred after the actor underwent testing for potential drug use. As noted by Yonhap, there were three rounds of police interrogation for Lee over claims that he had used marijuana and other illegal substances at a bar hostess’ place more than once. Allegedly, Lee said she duped him into doing narcotics.

Last month, Yonhap adds, he cleared both the National Forensic Service’s lab-based drug test and the rapid reagent test in police inquiries. The actor had lately requested a polygraph examination from the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, in charge of the inquiry, claiming innocence.

With popular roles under his belt, including the 2007 romantic comedy Coffee Prince and the medical drama White Tower, which launched him into the public eye, Lee Sun-kyun has had a distinguished acting career. He received a Best Actor award from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival for his role in Paju (2009), the first Korean film to open the International Film Festival Rotterdam and compete at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Other notable roles include the rom-com Pasta (2010), the thriller Helpless (2012), the heartwarming comedy All About My Wife (2012), the love story series Golden Time (2012), the crime/black comedy A Hard Day (2014), and the psychological tragedy drama My Mister (2018).

As much of an art-house favorite as he was, Lee-Sun-kyun stands out also for his work in the genre, including the films Night and Day (2008), Oki’s Movie (2010), and Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) preceding Parasite (2019).

In the first Korean-language series created for Apple TV+, Dr. Brain (2021), Lee portrayed a neuroscientist. He was a nominee for the 50th International Emmy Awards’ Best Actor category for his performance. That same year, Lee was in the political drama Kingmaker, for which he was up for a 58th Baeksang Arts Award nomination for Best Actor.

Lee appeared in the musical romance comedy film Killing Romance earlier this year. Though it received lukewarm reviews at its initial release, it has since gone on to become a household name in Korea, making its North American premiere at the 22nd New York Asian Film Festival in July 2023.