Bong Joon Ho
Birthdate: Sep 14, 1969
Birthplace: Daegu, South Korea
Bong Joon-ho is the only multi-Oscar-winning South Korean filmmaker, the maker of the Best Picture-winning Parasite (2019)—the first non-English-language movie to win the award—and a major force in East Asian cinema, as well as belonging on Metacritic’s list of the 25 best directors of the 21st century.
Bong’s feature filmmaking debut was the dark comedy, Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), co-starring Lee Sung-Jae and Bae Doona, which was released initially in South Korea by Cinema Service after premiering in competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival (as well as its U.S. festival premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival) and only in 2009 was it released in the U.S. by Magnolia Pictures.
Bong’s next film was the extraordinary police murder mystery-thriller produced and released (in South Korea) by CJ Entertainment, Memories of Murder (2003), based on Kim Kwang-lim’s play (Come to See Me), starring Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung, and which won three awards (including best director) in its San Sebastián Film Festival premiere, and later in 2020 released in a restored theatrical print by Neon.
Bong contributed a short film, Sink & Rise, to the Korean Academy of Film Arts’s anthology feature, Twentidentity (2003), and then was commissioned by the Jeonju Film Festival to make a short film, Influenza (2004), for its 2004 Jeonju Film Project anthology project.
Bong Joon-ho’s breakthrough movie was his highly acclaimed $11 million-budgeted monster movie (which also doubled as a family drama), The Host (2006), reuniting the writer-director with lead Song Kang-ho, along with Go Ah-sung, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il and Bae Doona, premiering in competition in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight section and released in the U.S. by Magnolia Pictures while grossing over $90 million globally.
Bong then joined filmmakers Michel Gondry and Leos Carax for a segment of the triptych, Tokyo! (2008), titled “Shaking Tokyo,” marking his first project filmed outside of Korea and featuring Teruyuki Kagawa, Yu Aoi, and Naoto Takenaka, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Bong’s fourth feature is one of his masterpieces, the intensely dark drama, Mother (2009), starring Kim Hye-ja (best actress winner at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s awards), having its world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and its U.S. premiere at AFI Fest Los Angeles, and earning over $17 million globally for distributors including Magnolia Pictures. Bong then made his second short film in Japan, Iki, for the anthology feature which addressed Japan’s 2011 Tohoku earthquake disaster titled 3.11 A Sense of Home (2011).
Bong Joon-ho was director/co-writer (with Kelly Masterson) of his first mainly English-language feature, the post-apocalyptic thriller, Snowpiercer (2013), based on the French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette, starring Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt and Ed Harris, and which grossed nearly $87 million globally.
Bong as director/co-writer (with co-writer Jon Robson) reunited with Swinton, who was a part of his international cast for the part-Korean/part-English $50 million sci-fi romp, Okja (2017), featuring Ann Seo-hyun, Ben Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Woo-shik, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins and Giancarlo Esposito, premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and released theatrically and streaming by Netflix.
Bong enjoyed his greatest triumph to that point in his career with the universally acclaimed black-comic masterwork, Parasite (2019), again starring Song, with the brilliant ensemble of Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun, and with Bong scoring the extremely rare of achievement of winning both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Oscar triple crown of Best Picture, Director and Screenplay (done only once before by Marty (1955)), while grossing a phenomenal $258 million in a global release including in the U.S. by Neon.
Bong was the director/writer/producer of his first completely English-language movie, the sci-fi comedy, Mickey 17 (2025), based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel, Mickey7, starring Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo, released wide by Warner Bros. after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.
Personal life
Bong Joon-ho was born in Daegu, South Korea, and raised in Daegu and Seoul by his mother Park So-young (housewife), and father Bong Sang-gyun (art professor/graphic and industrial designer). Bong has an older sister, Ji-hee, and an older brother, Joon-soo. Bong attended Yonsei University from 1988 to 1995, where he majored in sociology and made short films, including a stop-motion film and a 16mm book titled Baeksaekin (White Man). Bong then attended the Korean Academy of Film Arts, where he made more 16mm films and also was a cinematographer on other student films. Bong has been married to producer Jung Sun-young since 1995; the couple has one child, Hyo-min. Bong’s height is 5’ 11¾ ”. Bong’s estimated net worth is $30 million.
Known For
Bong Joon Ho Movies
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Facts About Bong Joon Ho
Family Heritage: Bong Joon-ho’s maternal grandfather is famed novelist, Park Taewon, who defected to North Korea in 1950.
Co-Founder: Bong co-founded the film club, Yellow Door, whose members included students from Yonsei University and other nearby universities.
Early Struggles: Bong Joon-ho struggled financially during his first decade as a filmmaker, earning only $1900 annually, and being forced to borrow rice from others for his meager meals.
Oscar Elite: Bong is one of only nine filmmakers (and the only Asian filmmaker) to have won the picture, director, and screenplay Oscars for the same movie (Parasite); he joins a list including James L. Brooks, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Peter Jackson, Leo McCarey and Billy Wilder. Bong even more impressively is the only filmmaker in history to have also won the coveted Cannes Festival Palme d’Or for the same movie winning the Oscar Triple Crown.
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