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Song Kang-ho

Song Kang-ho is a leading South Korean film actor.
He was born January 17, 1967 in Gimhae (South Korea).
A graduate of Busan Kyungsang College, he started his career in theatre groups without professional training as an actor. He made his stage premiere in 1991, in the play Dongseung.

In 1996 Song started appearing in film roles and his 1997 part in No. 3, as a gangster training a group of recruits, won him his first acting award, at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. Song's cachet rose with his high-profile supporting role in the 1999 box-office hit Shiri.

In 2000, Song received his first leading roles as a wrestler in The Foul King and as a North Korean sergeant in Joint Security Area.
In recent years he has received critical acclaim for his portrayals of a vengeful father in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002); an incompetent rural detective in Memories Of Murder (2003); a barber who dotes on his only son in The President's Barber (2004); and a semi-intelligent but doting father in the The Host (2006). He won Best Actor in the 2007 Asian Film Awards.
He plays the lead role as Priest Sang-hyeon in Chan-wook Park's film Thirst 2009 (aka Bakjwi).

What members say | Filmography

Song Kang-ho - what members say

The Host review by SAI81 from Tonbridge, Kent

The Host 2 December 2006
.... Aiding Bong immesurably is an excellent cast. Bong recasts his Memories star Song Kang-ho, a fine and versatile dramatic actor, as the layabout father at the centre of t... Read customer review

Thirst review by A customer from Wallsend

Bloody good movie 12 October 2009
...A beautiful film, the set pieces are always amazing and Song Kang-ho is brilliant as the blood thirsty priest. A must see for all Chan-wook Park and Vampire fans a like.... Read customer review

Song Kang-ho - filmography

Thirst on DVD (2009)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-gyun
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Certificate:
Sang-hyun is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But, the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun ..read more »

60% from 7,321 members

Thirst - Blu-ray (2009)
Starring: Kim Ok-bin, Song Young-chang, Kang-Ho Song
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Certificate:
Director Park Chan-Wook (OLDBOY) and his SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE star Kang-ho Song reunite for this thriller about a young priest who turns into a vampire. When the highly religious Sang-Hyun volunteers himself to be a test subject for a new vaccine, the procedure turns him into a vampire with ..read more »

60% from 2,870 members

The Good, the Bad, the Weird on DVD (2008)
Starring: Woo-sung Jung, Byung-hun Lee, Song Kang-ho
Director: Ji-woon Kim
Certificate:
Set in the 1930’s Manchurian desert where lawlessness rules, three Korean men fatefully meet each other on a train. Do-Won (Jung Woo-sung - The Warrior) is a bounty hunter who tracks down dangerous criminals. Chang- yi (Lee Byung-hun - GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra) is the leader of a group of tough-as-..read more »

67% from 5,674 members

The Good, the Bad, the Weird - Blu-ray (2008)
Starring: Woo-sung Jung, Byung-hun Lee, Song Kang-ho
Director: Ji-woon Kim
Certificate:
The story of three Korean outlaws in 1930s Manchuria and their dealings with the Japanese army and Chinese and Russian bandits.

68% from 2,061 members

Secret Sunshine (2007)
Starring: Do-yeon Jeon, Song Kang-ho
Director: Chang-dong Lee
Certificate:
Sin-ae moves with her son Jun to Miryang, the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to come to herself and set out on new foundations, another tragic event overturns her life.

70% from 16 members
Currently unavailable

The Host - Blu-ray (2006)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Bae Du-na, Bae Du-Na
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Certificate:
Selling his wares to passers by along Seoul's Han River, life is peaceful for a small-time snack bar owner and his dim-witted son. However, the tranquillity of their day-to-day lives is shattered when a mutant creature emerges from the depths of the Han and embarks on a blood-thirsty rampage. While ..read more »

61% from 1,840 member

The Host - HD (2006)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Bae Du-na, Bae Du-Na
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Certificate:
Selling his wares to passers by along Seoul's Han River, life is peaceful for a small-time snack bar owner and his dim-witted son. However, the tranquillity of their day-to-day lives is shattered when a mutant creature emerges from the depths of the Han and embarks on a blood-thirsty rampage. While ..read more »

60% from 291 members
Not currently released

The Host on DVD (2006)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Bae Du-na, Bae Du-Na
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Certificate:
The Park family seem to lead a quite ordinary and peaceful life; well, maybe a little poorer than the average Seoul citizens. Park Hee-bong (played by Byun Hee-bong) is a man in his late 60s running a small snack bar on the banks of the Seoul's Han River and, living with his two sons, daughter and ..read more »

62% from 15,645 members

Memories Of Murder on DVD (2003)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Sang-Kyung Kim, Roe-Ha Kim
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Certificate:
This shocking tale is designed to repulse viewers, chiefly because it's based on a horrific true story. Following the activities of South Korea's first serial killer, MEMORIES OF MURDER tracks the gruesome events through the eyes of the two detectives investigating the case. The murders unfolded in ..read more »

72% from 3,145 members

Shiri on DVD (2003)
Starring: Han Suk-Kyu, Choe Min-Sik, Song Kang-ho
Director: Jacky Kang, Je-gyu Kang
Certificate:
In 1992, Hee was trained by a secret North Korean terrorist organisation to be a deadly assassin. Six years later, her extreme accuracy has taken the lives of many in South Korea, and Ryu--a special agent of OP, Korea's top secret intelligence agency--along with his cohort Lee, have devoted years ..read more »

59% from 2,871 members

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Hyun-Joon Shin, Bae Du-Na
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
A deaf-mute man, Ryu, works in a smelting factory and inhabits his own silent world, oblivious to the din both at work and in his downscale apartment building. He idolizes his sister, who urgently needs a kidney transplant, and when he's laid off and then tricked out of his savings by organ ..read more »

73% from 676 members

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance on DVD (2002)
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Hyun-Joon Shin, Bae Du-na
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
A deaf-mute man, Ryu, works in a smelting factory and inhabits his own silent world, oblivious to the din both at work and in his downscale apartment building. He idolizes his sister, who urgently needs a kidney transplant, and when he's laid off and then tricked out of his savings by organ ..read more »

69% from 11,011 members

Joint Security Area - JSA on DVD (2000)
Starring: Yeong-Ae Lee, Song Kang-ho, Tae-Woo Kim
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
JSA (Joint Security Area) tells the story of two North Korean soldiers who have apparently been killed by a South Korean soldier in the de-militarised zone between North and South Korea. The mystery of why a total of 16 bullets are found when one magazine only holds 15 forms the film's central ..read more »

68% from 3,198 members

The Quiet Family (1998)
Starring: In-hwan Park, Mun-hee Na, Song Kang-ho
Director: Ji-woon Kim
Certificate:
A family decides to buy a lodge in a remote hiking area. Their first customer commits suicide and the distraught family buries his body to avoid the bad publicity.

63% from 565 members
Not currently released

Song Kang-ho facts

5 most recent films

Thirst - 3.0 stars
Thirst - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - 3.5 stars
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Secret Sunshine - 3.5 stars

5 highest-rated films

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance - 3.5 stars
Memories Of Murder - 3.5 stars
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance - 3.5 stars
Joint Security Area - JSA - 3.5 stars
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Secret Sunshine - 3.5 stars
Shiri - 3.0 stars
Thirst - 3.0 stars
Thirst - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars
The Host - HD - 3.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Bae Du-Na - 6 times - show films
Ha-Kyun Shin - 5 times - show films
Tae-Woo Kim - 4 times - show films
Shin Ha-gyun - 4 times - show films
Shin Ha-Kyun - 4 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Park Chan-Wook - 11 times - show films
Ji-woon Kim - 6 times - show films
Bong Joon-ho - 4 times - show films
Je-gyu Kang - 1 times - show films
Chang-dong Lee - 1 times - show films