--- name: "Choi Min-sik" canonical: "https://film.one/person/choi-min-sik" fi1m_id: "choi-min-sik" imdb_id: "nm0158856" tmdb_id: 64880 wikidata_id: "Q484575" roles: ["Actor"] born: "22 January 1962" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 72 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-05T13:19:42.806336+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Choi Min-sik ## Identity Choi Min-sik - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/choi-min-sik - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** choi-min-sik - **IMDb ID:** nm0158856 - **TMDB ID:** 64880 - **Wikidata ID:** Q484575 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choi_Min-sik, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q484575, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0158856/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/64880 Actor. Born 22 January 1962 in Seoul, South Korea. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 22 January 1962, Seoul, South Korea - **Active:** 2003–2014 - **Also known as:** Choi Min-shik, Min-sik Choi, Choe Min-sik, Choe Min-Shik - **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 85 (1), 2010s 58 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choi_Min-sik, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q484575, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0158856/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/64880 ## Fi1m on Choi Min-sik > Choi Min-sik is compelling when he lets us see the distress beneath a violent man's anger. *Oldboy* gives the clearest reason to watch him: he refuses to make desperation attractive. In *Oldboy* (2003), Choi Min-sik's Oh Dae-su eats a live octopus with an appetite that looks desperate. We found it difficult to watch because Choi makes the hunger so unpleasantly urgent. The scene could have been merely a provocation, but his performance keeps our attention on the man doing the eating. Even when Oh Dae-su lashes out, Choi makes him seem too troubled for us to settle into enjoying it. His breakthrough came with *Shiri* (1999), before *Oldboy* brought international recognition. Between them, he played the painter Jang Seung-eop for Im Kwon-taek in *Chihwaseon* (2002). The later parts include the antagonist Kyung-chul in *I Saw the Devil* (2010) and Admiral Yi Sun-shin in *The Admiral: Roaring Currents* (2014). Those parts suggest why reducing him to the furious outsider is limiting. But the troubled, flawed men remain central to his work, and *Oldboy* makes a strong case for their appeal. Park Chan-wook gives that performance useful company. Yu Ji-tae's Lee Woo-jin is cooler and more controlled, while Kang Hye-jung's Mi-do supplies warmth without seeming to have wandered in from a kinder film. Beside them, Choi's anguish has room to register without becoming the only thing we notice. The elaborate plotting sometimes strains belief, but Choi gives its cruelty a human cost even when the story asks a great deal of our patience. The risk is that another intense outsider becomes a familiar assignment, however demanding the preparation. Choi's work on *Oldboy* included weight changes and stunt work. What stays with us is the pain beneath the aggression, which makes a violent man difficult to dismiss and harder to cheer. Start with *Oldboy*, provided the appeal of a revenge thriller does not depend on enjoying the revenge. ## Biography Choi Min-sik is a South Korean actor. He trained in theatre while studying at Dongguk University and made early screen appearances in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including *Our Twisted Hero* (1992). He also worked in television dramas such as *The Moon of Seoul* (1994). His film breakthrough came with *Shiri* (1999). He played Oh Dae-su in *Oldboy* (2003), directed by Park Chan-wook. Subsequent roles include parts in *Lady Vengeance* (2005), *I Saw the Devil* (2010), *New World* (2013), *Lucy* (2014) and *Exhuma* (2024). *Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Lucy* (2014), Fi1m 58, as Mr. Jang — [page](https://film.one/film/lucy.md) - *Oldboy* (2003), Fi1m 85, as Oh Dae-su — [page](https://film.one/film/oldboy.md) ## Complete filmography (44) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Intern* (2026), as Kim Ki-ho - *Notes from the Last Row* (2026), series, as Heo Mun-oh - *Exhuma* (2024), as Kim Sang-duk - *Big Bet* (2022), series, as Cha Mu-sik - *In Our Prime* (2022), as Ri Hak-sung - *Heaven: To the Land of Happiness* (2021), as 203 - *Forbidden Dream* (2019), as Jang Yeong-sil - *The Battle: Roar to Victory* (2019), as Hong Beom-do - *Heart Blackened* (2017), as Lim Tae-san - *The Mayor* (2017), as Byeon Jong-gu - *The Tiger* (2015), as Man-deok - *The Admiral: Roaring Currents* (2014), as Admiral Yi Sun-Shin - *Lucy* (2014), as Mr. Jang — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/lucy.md) - *In My End Is My Beginning* (2013), as Doctor (voice) (cameo) - *New World* (2013), as Kang Hyung-chul - *Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen* (2012), as (archive footage) - *Nameless Gangster* (2012), as Choi Ik-hyun - *Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild* (2011), as Wanderer (voice) - *I Saw the Devil* (2010), as Kyung-chul - *Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells* (2009), as Choi - *The Making of Lady Vengeance* (2005), Actor - *Lady Vengeance* (2005), as Mr. Baek - *Crying Fist* (2005), as Gang Tae-shik - *Autobiography of Oldboy* (2004), Actor - *Springtime* (2004), as Hyeon-woo - *Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War* (2004), as North Korean Captain - *Oldboy* (2003), as Oh Dae-su — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/oldboy.md) - *Chihwaseon* (2002), as Jang Seung-up - *Failan* (2001), as Kang-jae - *Happy End* (1999), as Seo Min-ki - *Shiri* (1999), as Park Mu-young - *The Quiet Family* (1998), as Chang-goo - *No. 3* (1997), as Ma Dong-pal - *The 4th Republic* (1995), series, as Kim Dae-jung - *Mom, the Star, and the Sea Anemone* (1995), Actor - *The Moon of Seoul* (1994), series, as Park Chun-seob - *Sara Is Guilty* (1993), Actor - *May Our Love Stay This Way* (1992), as Jun-hyeok - *Our Twisted Hero* (1992), as Mr. Kim - *All That Falls Has Wings* (1990), as Tae-sik - *Kuro Arirang* (1989), as Jin-seok - *On the Way to the Winter* (1989), as Gi-dal - *Vapor* (1988), Actor - *Gyosan*, Actor ## Gallery - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-5f00b1fe7e77.jpg) Choi Min-sik — che (Please credit as "Petr Novák, Wikipedia" in case you use this outside Wikimedia projects.), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Choi_Min-sik.jpg/1280px-Choi_Min-sik.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![New York Asian Film Festival - 6/30/12 - 27 (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-a2a76effbcc8.jpg) New York Asian Film Festival - 6/30/12 - 27 (2012) — May S. Young from Metro NYC, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Choi_Min-sik_at_New_York_Asian_Film_Festival_-_6-30-12_-_27.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-56f6a7dffb2c.jpg) Choi Min-sik — Image via TMDB - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-11f09695158e.jpg) Choi Min-sik — Image via TMDB - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-c53fbe405525.jpg) Choi Min-sik — Image via TMDB - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-fc1c81855fe8.jpg) Choi Min-sik — Image via TMDB - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-e5deb86442d4.jpg) Choi Min-sik — Image via TMDB - ![Choi Min-sik](https://film.one/media/person/94151/gallery-1c7cea3cf598.jpg) Choi Min-sik — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/choi-min-sik