Bong Joon Ho — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Bong Joon-ho (Korean: 봉준호, Korean pronunciation:[poːŋ tɕuːnho → poːŋdʑunɦo]; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his work is characterised by emphasis on social and class themes, genre-mixing, dark comedy, and sudden tone shifts.

He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), before achieving both critical and commercial success with his subsequent films: the crime thriller Memories of Murder (2003), the monster film The Host (2006), the science fiction action film Snowpiercer (2013), which served as Bong's English language debut, and the acclaimed black comedy thriller Parasite (2019), all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea, with Parasite also being the highest-grossing South Korean film in history.

All of Bong's films have been South Korean productions. However, Snowpiercer, Okja (2017) and Mickey 17 (2025) are Hollywood co-productions with significant use of the English language. Two of his films have been screened in competitions at the Cannes Film Festival — Okja in 2017 and Parasite in 2019; the latter earned the Palme d'Or, the first for a South Korean film. Considered an immediate favourite by the Academy Awards, Parasite became the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award nominations, with Bong winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making Parasite the first film in the award's history not in English to win Best Picture. In 2017, Bong was included on Metacritic's list of the 25 best film directors of the 21st century. In 2020, Bong was included in Time's annual list of 100 Most Influential People and Bloomberg 50.

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