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Pierce Conran

After kicking off the year opposite Park Bo-young in the Netflix romance series Melo Movie, Korean actor Choi Woo-shik is back on screens this weekend in another romantic tale, this time alongside Jung So-min in Would You Marry Me.
While Choi has increasingly become known for his small-screen roles, mostly stories about love, he earned his early fame for his big-screen parts.
After drawing acclaim for roles in hard-hitting independent films and gaining notice through scene-stealing supporting parts in mainstream projects, Choi made history at the Oscars as part of the award-winning cast of Parasite.
This actually marked a return to North America’s west coast for Choi, who migrated with his family to Canada at the age of 10 and spent the next decade growing up in Vancouver. He is still a Canadian citizen.

When he was 20 years old, while enrolled at Simon Fraser University in Canada, Choi asked his parents if he could travel to Korea for an audition.
He debuted on the small screen in the period drama The Duo, in which he played the younger version of one of the main characters portrayed by series lead Lee Sang-yoon. He has not looked back since.
Why we love him
Part of Choi’s appeal and screen presence is his unassuming charisma. He is handsome and, even at 35, still looks very young, but what sets him apart from other stars his age is his shuffling, goofy and endearingly timid persona.

This persona does not seem far off the mark for the real Choi, who comes across as unpretentious in interviews and empathetic in real life, whether it is acknowledging the pressure he still feels as an actor or saving abandoned dogs in his free time.
The star-making roles
Following a number of small parts in shows such as Deep Rooted Tree and films like Flu and Secretly, Greatly, Choi made his mark when he headlined the indie film Set Me Free in 2014.
He plays a teenager in a group home who pretends to want to become a priest while secretly getting up to mischief. The role instantly marked Choi as a talent to watch, earning him the actor of the year award at the Busan International Film Festival, among many others.

A couple of years later, Choi joined the cast of the breakout zombie smash Train to Busan as a baseball-playing student battling the undead in a speeding train. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.
A year later, Choi was cast by Bong Joon-ho for the first time in a memorable supporting role in his Netflix film Okja, which also screened at Cannes.
The iconic parts
In 2018, Choi appeared in no fewer than four films, among them the sci-fi action-horror The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion.
In the film, he shows a new side of himself as Nobleman, the playful and charismatic villain who leads Kim Da-mi’s character into a dark and dangerous world of laboratories, experimentation and violence.
Shortly after that, Choi joined the cast of Parasite, playing the role of Kim Ki-woo, the son of a poor family who infiltrates the home of a rich family with unexpected and disastrous consequences.

It made history as the first Korean film to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, before becoming the first foreign language film to be named best picture at the Academy Awards. Choi and his castmates also earned the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Choi made his mark on the small screen, once again opposite Kim Da-mi, in the fan favourite romantic comedy Our Beloved Summer.
They play ex-lovers who are forced to reunite after a documentary they filmed 10 years earlier goes viral.

Last year, Choi appeared in the stylish Netflix webtoon adaptation A Killer Paradox, playing an ordinary college student who develops the ability to identify evil people and hunts them down.
The unheralded performances
Early in the pandemic, Choi featured as one of four financially strapped friends staging a heist in the near-future dystopian thriller Time to Hunt.
Despite some controversy over its pivot to Netflix and several reneged contracts, the film is a stylish and moody affair that explores modern malaise and urban disillusionment through the guise of a light sci-fi premise.

Another pandemic-era film that went under the radar was the enjoyable thriller The Policeman’s Lineage, in which Choi plays an undercover police officer delving into a major corruption case.
Tomorrow’s turns
Earlier this year, Choi shot the film Number One, reuniting him with his Set Me Free director Ki Tae-yong and his Parasite co-star Jang Hye-jin.
Adapted from a Japanese short story, the film is about a man who starts to see numbers when he eats his mother’s food – a countdown of how many meals they still have to share together.
Choi has also been linked with the monster disaster series The Waking, a Disney+ production, though as of this writing, his casting has not been confirmed.


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Korean actor Choi Woo-shik recently starred in the Netflix series A Killer Paradox and Melo Movie, and found fame in Parasite and Train to Busan. Photo: Netflix

Choi Woo-shik (left) and Jung So-min in a still from the new drama series Would You Marry Me.

Choi in a still from the drama series Melo Movie. Photo: Ko Nam-hi/Netflix

Choi in a still from the indie film Set Me Free (2014).

Choi in a still from Parasite (2019), the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for best picture. Photo: CJ Entertainment

Choi (front) and Kim Da-mi in a still from Our Beloved Summer (2021).

Choi in a still from A Killer Paradox (2024). Photo: Song Kyoung Sub/Netflix

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Choi Woo-shik as film critic Ko Gyeom in a still from Korean drama series Melo Movie. Photo: Ko Nam-hi/Netflix

Park Bo-young as Kim Mu-bee in a still from Melo Movie. Photo: Ko Nam-hi/Netflix

Lee Jun-young as Ko Gyeom’s friend Hong Si-jun in a still from Melo Movie. Photo: Ko Nam-hi/Netflix

Jeon So-nee as Ko Gyeom’s friend Son Ju-a in a still from Melo Movie. Photo: Ko Nam-hi/Netflix

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Choi Woo-shik as Lee Tang in a still from A Killer Paradox. Son Suk-ku and Lee Hee-joon co-star. Photo: Song Kyoung Sub/Netflix

Son Suk-ku as detective Jang Nan-gam in a still from A Killer Paradox. Photo: Song Kyoung Sub/Netflix

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Appearing now in Would You Marry Me, the young-looking, goofy Choi Woo-shik is best known for his roles in Parasite and Train to Busan


Appearing now in Would You Marry Me, the young-looking, goofy Choi Woo-shik is best known for his roles in Parasite and Train to Busan.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Appearing now in Would You Marry Me, the young-looking, goofy Choi Woo-shik is best known for his roles in Parasite and Train to Busan

Appearing now in Would You Marry Me, the young-looking, goofy Choi Woo-shik is best known for his roles in Parasite and Train to Busan