Lee Jung-jae [2026]: From Squid Game to Global Superstar

Korean Actor Profile

July 13, 2026 AINBlogger Editorial 7 min read

When Squid Game launched on Netflix in September 2021 and broke every viewership record the platform had ever set, Lee Jung-jae became the most recognizable Korean actor in the world overnight. What made his story remarkable is that he was already one of the biggest stars in Korea — he just hadn't been seen outside of it yet.

The Netflix Role That Changed Everything

🎬 Netflix Original

Squid Game (오징어 게임) — 2021–2025

as Seong Gi-hun / Player 456 — Main Protagonist

Seong Gi-hun is a middle-aged, cash-strapped divorcee drowning in debt who accepts a mysterious invitation to play children's games for a prize of ₩45.6 billion. What begins as a desperate gamble becomes a survival horror in which 456 players compete to the death. Gi-hun is not a hero in the conventional sense — he's flawed, weak at times, and morally compromised. That complexity is exactly what makes the character compelling and what made Lee's performance extraordinary. The show became Netflix's most-watched series of all time, and Lee became the first Asian man to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Before Squid Game: Three Decades of Excellence

What Western audiences rarely understood when Squid Game launched is that Lee Jung-jae was already a household name in Korea — a star of the highest tier for 30 years before Player 456 made him global. He debuted as a fashion model before transitioning to acting, and his breakthrough came with the 1995 television drama Sandglass, one of the highest-rated Korean dramas ever made, which earned him Best New Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

His film career cemented his status: Il Mare (2000) was remade in Hollywood as The Lake House (2006) with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. The Thieves (2012) was South Korea's highest-grossing film of its year. New World (2013), a crime epic often compared to The Godfather, is considered one of the greatest Korean films ever made. Assassination (2015), a WWII-era action thriller, broke box office records. These are the films of a genuine A-list career spanning multiple decades and genres.

In 2022, he made his directorial debut with Hunt, a spy action film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival — the same year he won his Emmy. He followed his Netflix success with a role in The Acolyte, the Star Wars Disney+ series, marking his Hollywood debut.

Major Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Type
1995	Sandglass	Yoo In-ho	TV Drama
1998	An Affair	Lead	Film
2000	Il Mare	Han Sung-hyun	Film
2010	The Housemaid	Lead	Film
2012	The Thieves	Macau Park	Film
2013	New World	Ja-sung	Film
2015	Assassination	염석진	Film
2019	Chief of Staff	Lead	TV Drama
2021–25	Squid Game	Seong Gi-hun	Netflix Series
2022	Hunt	Lead / Director	Film
2024	The Acolyte	The Stranger	Disney+ Series

Historic Achievement: In 2022, Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian man to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series — for Squid Game Season 1. He also won the Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for the Golden Globe, becoming the first Asian actor nominated across all three of those major awards simultaneously.

Beyond Acting

Lee Jung-jae is also a successful entrepreneur. He co-founded Artist Company with his longtime friend and fellow actor Jung Woo-sung in 2016 — the talent agency now manages some of Korea's biggest stars including Park So-dam (Parasite) and Go Ah-sung (The Host). He owns upscale restaurants in Seoul and has a real estate business. His personal life has been mostly private; he has been in a confirmed relationship with businesswoman Im Se-ryung since 2015.

His signing with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 2022 — the same agency representing Brad Pitt and George Clooney — was a clear signal that his post-Squid Game ambitions extended well beyond Korea. He is, at this point, genuinely one of the most significant figures to emerge from the Korean entertainment industry internationally.

Why he matters: Lee Jung-jae represents the best argument that Korean cinema has been producing world-class performances for decades — the rest of the world just wasn't watching. Squid Game changed that.

Tags: Lee Jung-jae Squid Game Netflix Korean actor Emmy Award Player 456

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