Lee Sun-kyun was born in Seoul on March 2 1975 and studied theatre at the Korea National University of Arts, making his stage debut in a production of The Rocky Horror Show in 2001. Two years later he appeared in Grease. His first film role was as the doctor in Scent of Love (2003), about a Korean woman who becomes pregnant only to discover that she has stomach cancer and must choose between her own life and that of her unborn child.
Until Parasite, Lee was best known in the West for Nobody’s Daughter (2013), featuring a cameo by Jane Birkin. Here he was a married movie director and film studies professor who resumes an on-off affair with a depressed student (Jung Eun-chae). He also appeared in the acclaimed Korean television series My Mister (2018) as a structural engineer who is bullied by his colleagues and develops a relationship with an impoverished young woman.
His next major role was in the 2021 Apple TV+ show Dr Brain as the brain scientist Sewon searching for the missing son he thought he had buried but who may still be alive. In so doing he taps into the brain waves of recently dead humans and, in one instance, a dead cat that might have witnessed a kidnapping.
One of Lee’s last roles involved wearing hair extensions, smoky eyeliner and a moustache to play Jonathan, a self-obsessed business executive who manipulates and abuses his actress wife in Killing Romance (2023), an absurdist work that blends fantasy, comedy, drama and musical. “Jonathan is a narcissist and lacks empathy. He’s like a cartoon character,” Lee told The Korea Times. “It was like presenting a masque.”
Lee, who told CNN that he was an admirer of the entrepreneur Elon Musk, was an investor in Tesla. At the time of his death, apparently by suicide, he was being investigated by the South Korean authorities over suspected drug use. He is survived by his wife, the actress Jeon Hye-jin, and by their two sons.
Lee Sun-kyun, born March 2 1975, died December 27 2023