---
name: "Park Chan-wook"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/park-chan-wook"
fi1m_id: "park-chan-wook"
imdb_id: "nm0661791"
tmdb_id: 10099
wikidata_id: "Q315484"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "23 August 1963"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 8
average_fi1m_score: 80
average_as: "director"
average_over: 6
updated: "2026-09-30T21:30:30.746168+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."
---

# Park Chan-wook

## Identity

Park Chan-wook

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/park-chan-wook
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** park-chan-wook
- **IMDb ID:** nm0661791
- **TMDB ID:** 10099
- **Wikidata ID:** Q315484
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chan-wook, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q315484, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661791/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10099

Director and producer. Born 23 August 1963 in Seoul, South Korea.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 23 August 1963, Seoul, South Korea
- **Active:** 2003–present
- **Also known as:** Chan-wook Park
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 8: 6 directing, 2 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Don McKellar](https://film.one/person/don-mckellar.md), [Jeong Seo-kyeong](https://film.one/person/chung-seo-kyung.md), [Lim Seung-yong](https://film.one/person/syd-lim.md)
- **Cannes Film Festival:** 2 Cannes prizes (2 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as director, over 6 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 85 (1), 2010s 80 (3), 2020s 74 (4)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 80 to 77 across 6 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Thriller 4, Drama 3, Mystery 2, Romance 2, War & Politics 2, Comedy 1
- **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $113m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chan-wook, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q315484, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661791/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10099

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Decision to Leave*](https://film.one/film/decision-to-leave.md) (82)
- **Disney+:** [*No Other Choice*](https://film.one/film/no-other-choice.md) (78)
- **HBO Max:** [*The Sympathizer*](https://film.one/tv/the-sympathizer.md) (72)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Park Chan-wook

> Park Chan-wook makes cruelty funny and complicated thrillers unexpectedly tender. We admire his control of the frame, but his films work best when he gives us someone to care about amid all the scheming.

In *No Other Choice* (2025), a redundant paper-company employee decides that his prospects would improve if there were fewer applicants for the next job. Lee Byung-hun’s Man-su has a garden, a wife and two children; Park Chan-wook starts his murderous comedy with the ordinary fear of losing what we have. We laughed at the dreadful practicality of treating rival candidates as a problem to be removed. This is Park working well: the black humour comes from a recognisable worry pursued beyond reason.

His breakthrough came with *Joint Security Area* (2000), before the unofficial Vengeance Trilogy of *Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance* (2002), *Oldboy* (2003) and *Lady Vengeance* (2005). Revenge and guilt recur, while the graphic violence in the trilogy divided critics. The more restrained romantic mystery of *Decision to Leave* (2022) makes a useful counterweight to those films. His interest in people under extreme pressure does not require the same treatment every time.

*The Handmaiden* (2016) makes the strongest case among the films we have reviewed for looking beyond the brutality. Park and co-writer Chung Seo-kyung adapt Sarah Waters’ *Fingersmith* with an appetite for complicated schemes, but they give us a reason to follow them. The attraction between the women matters, and Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri give the romance feeling. We could do with less of the camera’s pleasure in what it is allowed to show. Still, the plotting never makes the women’s feelings seem incidental.

Chung Chung-hoon’s cinematography, including on *Oldboy*, has helped give Park’s films their precision of framing. Editor Kim Sang-bum, production designer Ryu Seong-hie and composer Jo Yeong-wook are recurring collaborators; the care in these films is not his achievement alone. That care does not always extend to knowing when to stop. At 139 minutes, *No Other Choice* repeats its strongest joke, with the pictures carrying stretches the script cannot sustain. Start with *The Handmaiden*, and resist the urge to spend the whole evening trying to guess ahead.

## Biography

Park Chan-wook is a South Korean film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Seoul on 23 August 1963, he studied philosophy at Sogang University and began his career as a film critic before directing his first features in the 1990s.

He came to prominence with *Joint Security Area* (2000), which he regards as his directorial debut. The film was followed by the Vengeance Trilogy—*Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance* (2002), *Oldboy* (2003) and *Lady Vengeance* (2005)—and later works including *Thirst* (2009), *The Handmaiden* (2016) and *Decision to Leave* (2022), the last of which won him the Best Director prize at Cannes.

In 2025 he directed, co-wrote and produced *No Other Choice*, a black comedy thriller adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s novel *The Ax*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (8)

### Directed (6) — the average rests on these

- *No Other Choice* (2025), Fi1m 78, Screenplay, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/no-other-choice.md)
- *The Sympathizer* (2024), Fi1m 72, Director, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sympathizer.md)
- *Decision to Leave* (2022), Fi1m 82, Producer, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/decision-to-leave.md)
- *The Little Drummer Girl* (2018), Fi1m 76, Director, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-little-drummer-girl.md)
- *The Handmaiden* (2016), Fi1m 85, Director, Writer, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-handmaiden.md)
- *Oldboy* (2003), Fi1m 85, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/oldboy.md)

### Produced (2)

- *Snowpiercer* (2020), Fi1m 63, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/snowpiercer-2020.md)
- *Snowpiercer* (2013), Fi1m 80, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/snowpiercer.md)

## Complete filmography (53)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *No Other Choice* (2025), Producer, Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/no-other-choice.md)
- *인생이 영화* (2025), series, Actor
- *Uprising* (2024), Writer, Executive Producer
- *The Sympathizer* (2024), series, Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sympathizer.md)
- *Kultur-King Korea* (2022), Actor
- *Decision to Leave* (2022), Producer, Writer, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/decision-to-leave.md)
- *Snowpiercer* (2020), series, Executive Producer — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/snowpiercer-2020.md)
- *The Little Drummer Girl* (2018), series, Executive Producer, Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-little-drummer-girl.md)
- *Believe It or Not* (2018), Producer
- *Reawakening of memories* (2017), Editor
- *Decades Apart* (2017), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Truth Beneath* (2016), Writer
- *The Handmaiden* (2016), Director, Writer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-handmaiden.md)
- *Making of The Handmaiden* (2016), Actor
- *The Shameless* (2015), Creative Producer, Executive Producer
- *A Rose Reborn* (2014), Director, Writer
- *Bitter, Sweet, Seoul* (2014), Director, Producer
- *Oldboy* (2013), Original Film Writer
- *Snowpiercer* (2013), Executive Producer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/snowpiercer.md)
- *V* (2013), Director
- *Lee Jung Hyun: V* (2013), Director
- *Stoker* (2013), Director
- *Day Trip* (2012), Director, Writer, Producer
- *A Boy with Arms* (2012), Editor
- *60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero* (2011), Writer, Director
- *Night Fishing* (2011), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Making of Thirst* (2010), Actor
- *Too Fragile to Be Loved* (2010), Editor
- *Thirst* (2009), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Crush and Blush* (2008), as Passerby · Screenplay, Producer
- *I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK* (2006), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Zinda* (2006), Original Film Writer
- *The Making of Lady Vengeance* (2005), Actor
- *A Boy Who Went to Heaven* (2005), Writer
- *Lady Vengeance* (2005), Director, Screenplay
- *Autobiography of Oldboy* (2004), Actor
- *Katanas, yakuzas y cintas de video* (2004), as (archive footage)
- *Three... Extremes* (2004), Director, Writer
- *Oldboy* (2003), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/oldboy.md)
- *If You Were Me* (2003), Director, Writer
- *Never Ending Peace and Love* (2003), Director, Writer
- *A Bizarre Love Triangle* (2002), Writer
- *Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance* (2002), as Bus Passenger (uncredited) · Director, Screenplay
- *The Humanist* (2001), Writer
- *Joint Security Area* (2000), Director, Screenplay, Production Assistant
- *The Anarchists* (2000), Writer
- *Judgement* (1999), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Trio* (1997), Director, Writer
- *Mascara* (1995), Actor
- *The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream* (1992), Director, Writer
- *The Brigands of Rattlecreek*, Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *Genocidal Organ*, Director, Writer
- *The Jailbreaker*, Director, Writer

## Gallery

- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-e8ca4fd190cb.jpg) Park Chan-wook — YantsImages, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Park_Chan-wook%2C_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Park_Chan-wook%2C_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Park Chan-wook in a photo shoot for Marie Claire Korea in September 2013.](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-3d45aa8c9d0e.jpg) Director Park Chan-wook in a photo shoot for Marie Claire Korea in September 2013. — Marie Claire Korea, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/20130925%E2%80%94Park_Chan-wook_%EB%B0%95%EC%B0%AC%EC%9A%B1_Marie_Claire_Korea_photo_shoot_screenshot_%2800m01s%29.jpg/1280px-20130925%E2%80%94Park_Chan-wook_%EB%B0%95%EC%B0%AC%EC%9A%B1_Marie_Claire_Korea_photo_shoot_screenshot_%2800m01s%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Park Chan-wook in a photo shoot for Marie Claire Korea in September 2013.](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-31ab3bc23a42.jpg) Director Park Chan-wook in a photo shoot for Marie Claire Korea in September 2013. — Marie Claire Korea, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/20130925%E2%80%94Park_Chan-wook_%EB%B0%95%EC%B0%AC%EC%9A%B1_Marie_Claire_Korea_photo_shoot_screenshot_%2800m01s%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-20130925%E2%80%94Park_Chan-wook_%EB%B0%95%EC%B0%AC%EC%9A%B1_Marie_Claire_Korea_photo_shoot_screenshot_%2800m01s%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![영화 아가씨 제작보고회. 왼쪽부터 조진웅, 김태리, 김민희, 하정우, 박찬욱. (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-4afb231d91fa.jpg) 영화 아가씨 제작보고회. 왼쪽부터 조진웅, 김태리, 김민희, 하정우, 박찬욱. (2016) — tenasia10, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/20160502_handmaiden_announcement_for_production.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-700e81d81635.jpg) Park Chan-wook — Image via TMDB
- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-614cbac04cc6.jpg) Park Chan-wook — Image via TMDB
- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-e7a87c6c73c3.jpg) Park Chan-wook — Image via TMDB
- ![Chan Wook Park in a Master Class on the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya 2009](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-c25a48d5f7cf.jpg) Chan Wook Park in a Master Class on the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya 2009 — Baggio, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Chan-wook_Park_-_Sitges.JPG/1280px-Chan-wook_Park_-_Sitges.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 12: Jury Members Demi Moore, Isaach de Bankolé, Laura Wandel, Stellan Skarsgård, Chloé Zhao, Jury President Park Chan-wook, Ruth Negga, Die (2026)](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-1e7b17035429.jpg) CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 12: Jury Members Demi Moore, Isaach de Bankolé, Laura Wandel, Stellan Skarsgård, Chloé Zhao, Jury President Park Chan-wook, Ruth Negga, Die (2026) — YantsImages, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Jury_of_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival_by_YantsImages_01.jpg/1280px-Jury_of_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival_by_YantsImages_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-b43a4d5bd534.jpg) Park Chan-wook — Image via TMDB
- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-6f51d2d10bfe.jpg) Park Chan-wook — Image via TMDB
- ![Park Chan-wook](https://film.one/media/person/7276/gallery-36ef36b10a02.jpg) Park Chan-wook — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Cannes Film Festival — 2 won

- 2022: Cannes Best Director Award (won), for *Decision to Leave*
- 2004: Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix (won), for *Oldboy*

### Venice Film Festival — 1 won

- 2005: Golden Lion (won), for *Sympathy for Lady Vengeance*

### Other awards — 6 won, 2 nominated

- Jury Prize 2009: Jury Prize (won), for *Thirst*
- Time Machine Award 2009: Time Machine Award (won)
- Sitges Film Festival Best Screenplay award 2007: Sitges Film Festival Best Screenplay award (won), for *I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK*
- European Film Award for Best Non-European Film 2005: European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (nominated), for *Sympathy for Lady Vengeance*
- European Film Award for Best Non-European Film 2004: European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (nominated), for *Oldboy*
- Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival 2004: Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival (won), for *Oldboy*
- Order of Cultural Merit, 3rd class 2004: Order of Cultural Merit, 3rd class (won)
- Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award 2004: Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award (won), for *Oldboy*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© 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/park-chan-wook