Bong Joon-ho
Biography
Bong Joon-ho (Korean: 봉준호, Korean pronunciation:[poːŋ tɕuːnho → poːŋdʑunɦo]; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his work is characterised by emphasis on social and class themes, genre-mixing, dark comedy, and sudden tone shifts.
He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), before achieving both critical and commercial success with his subsequent films: the crime thriller Memories of Murder (2003), the monster film The Host (2006), the science fiction action film Snowpiercer (2013), which served as Bong's English language debut, and the acclaimed black comedy thriller Parasite (2019), all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea, with Parasite also being the highest-grossing South Korean film in history.
All of Bong's films have been South Korean productions. However, Snowpiercer, Okja (2017) and Mickey 17 (2025) are Hollywood co-productions with significant use of the English language. Two of his films have been screened in competitions at the Cannes Film Festival — Okja in 2017 and Parasite in 2019; the latter earned the Palme d'Or, the first for a South Korean film. Considered an immediate favourite by the Academy Awards, Parasite became the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award nominations, with Bong winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making Parasite the first film in the award's history not in English to win Best Picture. In 2017, Bong was included on Metacritic's list of the 25 best film directors of the 21st century. In 2020, Bong was included in Time's annual list of 100 Most Influential People and Bloomberg 50.
Most directed genres
Recurring actors
- Byun Hee-bong 5
- Yoon Je-moon 5
- Kim Roi-ha 4
- Song Kang-ho 4
- Ko Asung 3
- Koh Soo-hee 3
- Bae Doona 2
- Daniel Henshall 2
Awards and nominations
- 2020 Academy Award for Best Picture
- 2020 Academy Award for Best Director
- 2020 Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
- 2020 Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay Nominated
- 2019 Palme d'Or
- 2016 Officer of Arts and Letters
- — Grand Bell Awards
- — Ho-Am Prize in the Arts
The career in numbers
- US$ 237 mi Total budget from 7 film(s) with data
- US$ 611 mi Total box office from 7 film(s) with data
- US$ 34 mi Average budget from 7 film(s) with data
- US$ 87 mi Average box office from 7 film(s) with data
- 7.3 Average rating from 9 film(s) with data
- 3.3× Return on investment from 6 film(s) with data
Budget and box office do not exist for every film in our records. Averages are computed over the films that carry the figure, and the count beside each one says how many.
Films directed
| Film | Year | Budget | Box office | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mickey 17
|
2025 | US$ 118 mi | US$ 134 mi | 6.8 |
Incoherence
|
2025 | — | — | 6.4 |
Parasite
|
2019 | US$ 11 mi | US$ 258 mi | 8.5 |
Okja
|
2017 | US$ 50 mi | — | 7.3 |
Snowpiercer
|
2013 | US$ 39 mi | US$ 87 mi | 6.9 |
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
|
2011 | — | — | 6.5 |
Mother
|
2009 | US$ 5 mi | US$ 17 mi | 7.7 |
Tokyo!
|
2008 | — | US$ 1 mi | 6.9 |
The Host
|
2006 | US$ 11 mi | US$ 88 mi | 7.0 |
Influenza
|
2004 | — | — | 6.8 |
Sink & Rise
|
2004 | — | — | 5.4 |
Jeonju Digital Project 2004
|
2004 | — | — | 3.0 |
Memories of Murder
|
2003 | US$ 3 mi | US$ 26 mi | 8.1 |
Barking Dogs Never Bite
|
2000 | — | — | 6.8 |
White Man
|
1994 | — | — | 5.5 |
The Memories in My Frame
|
1994 | — | — | 5.2 |
