"Lee Byung-hun"

Lee Byung-hun (Korean: 이병헌; born July 12, 1970) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for starring in Joint Security Area (2000), A Bittersweet Life (2005), The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) and I Saw the Devil (2010).

Lee, along with Ahn Sung-ki, are the first Korean actors to imprint their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Lee made his debut in the television drama Asphalt My Hometown after auditioning in a KBS talent audition in 1991.

He made his big breakthrough in 2000 with Joint Security Area directed by Park Chan-wook, which broke the box office record and became the highest grossing film of all time. His portrayal of the border-guard soldier won him Best Actor at the Pusan Film Critics Awards.

In 2001, he gained wide popularity in the drama Beautiful Days as an arrogant businessman who falls for an innocent orphan (Choi Ji-woo). In 2003 he received the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in the poker drama All In.

In 2005, he earned critical acclaim for his performance in A Bittersweet Life directed by Kim Ji-woon which was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee was nominated for Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards and Grand Bell Awards, and won at the Chunsa Film Art Awards, Baeksang Arts Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.

He reunited with director Kim Ji-woon in The Good, the Bad, the Weird, taking on his first villain role. The film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The followng year he appeared in I Come with the Rain opposite American actor Josh Hartnett and Japanese actor Takuya Kimura. He then made his Hollywood debut as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, also starring Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller.

In late 2009, Lee returned to TV in the espionage action thriller Iris as a secret agent who finds himself at the center of an international conspiracy. It was one of the most expensive shows ever produced with filming locations in Hungary, Japan as well as South Korea.  It became one of the highest rated dramas of 2009 and his performance earned him the Grand Prize at the KBS Drama Acting Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

In 2010 Lee starred in I Saw the Devil with Choi Min-sik, his third collaboration with director Kim Ji-woon, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His portrayal of the intelligence agent won him the Grand Prize at the Paeksang Arts Awards.

In 2012, he reprised his role as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. On 23 June 2012, Lee, along with Ahn Sung-ki, became the first Asian actors to leave their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He was recognised as an emerging star in Hollywood for his role of Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation. In October, he won Best Actor at the Grand Bell Awards for his dual role in the lavish period drama Gwanghae. The film was a box office hit, becoming the 7th film in Korean history to surpass 10 million admissions.

Lee was then cast in the American film RED 2, the sequel to the 2010 action-comedy hit RED, alongside Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich.

Lee formed a management company BH Entertainment which manages many actors including Han Hyo-joo, Go Soo, and Han Chae-young. He owns a shop BHNC which sells hats, scarfs and wallets.

Lee Byung-hun most notably in the video game industry provided his likeness for the main character Wayne Holden, in the 2006 instant mega-hit Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, for the Xbox 360, PS3 & PC.

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea. His father was a businessman. He has a younger sister, Lee Eun-hee, who was Miss Korea in 1997. He graduated from Hanyang University with a major in French Literature and the Graduate School of Chung-Ang University with a major in Theater and Cinematography.

Lee dated his All In co-star Song Hye-kyo. They broke up in 2004. In his spare time, Lee Byung-hun practices taekwondo.

As of August 2012, Lee confirmed his relationship with actress, Lee Min-jung.

Film

Year	Title	Role
1995	Who Drives Me Mad?	Lee Jong-du
	Runaway	Lee Dong-ho
1996	Kill the Love	Love
1997	Elegy of the Earth	Park Jong-man
1999	The Harmonium in My Memory	Kang Soo-ha
2000	Joint Security Area	Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok
2001	Bungee Jumping of Their Own	Seo In-woo
2002	My Beautiful Girl, Mari	Adult Nam-woo (voice)
	Addicted	Dae-jun
2004	Everybody Has Secrets	Choi Su-hyeon
	Three Extremes - segment "Cut"	Ryu Ji-ho
2005	A Bittersweet Life	Kim Sun-woo
2006	Once in a Summer	Yun Suk-young
2007	HERO	Kang (cameo)
2008	The Good, the Bad, the Weird	Park Chang-yi, the Bad
2009	I Come with the Rain	Su Dongpo
	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	Storm Shadow
2010	Iris: The Movie	Kim Hyun-jun
	The Influence	W
	I Saw the Devil	Kim Soo-hyeon
2012	Gwanghae	King Gwanghae, Beggar Ha-sun
2013	G.I. Joe: Retaliation	Storm Shadow
	RED 2

Television

Year	Title	Role
1991	Asphalt My Hometown
	Family
	Flower That Never Wilt
1992	Wild Sunflower
	Days of Sunshine	Choi Hyung-man
	Dawn
	Tomorrow Love	Shin Bum Soo
1993	The Sorrow of the Survivor	Ja-myung
	Police	Oh Hae-sung
1994	The Fragrance of Love	Kim Jun-ho
1995	Asphalt Man	Kang Dong-joon
	Son of Wind	Chang Hong-pyo
1997	Beautiful My Lady	Hwang Jun-ho
	I Do
	White Sand
1998	White Night 3.98	Min Gyeong-bin
1999	Happy Together	Suh Tae-poong
	Love Story - Story 1: Sunflower	Tae-sung
	Sally is Back
2001	Road	Woo-sik
	Beautiful Days	Lee Min-chul
2003	All In	Kim In-ha
2009	Iris	Kim Hyun-jun
2011	Diplomat Kosaku Kuroda	John (cameo)

Albums

Year	Album Name
1999	Lee Byung Hun - To Me

Single

Year	Single Name
2008	Itsuka (Someday)

Soundtrack

Year	Track	Album
2010	"Stay"	Iris OST
	"Endless Road"	Iris OST

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org