Choi Min-sik (; born April 27, 1962) is a South Korean actor. He received critical acclaim for his roles in Oldboy (2003), I Saw the Devil (2010) and The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014).
For his role in Oldboy, he won the Best Actor prize at the 40th Baeksang Art Awards, the 24th Blue Dragon Awards, and the 41st Grand Bell Awards. In 2014, he was listed as Gallup Korea's Film Actor of the Year.
Early life
Choi was born on April 27, 1962, in Seoul, South Korea. In the third grade of elementary school, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and told that he could not be cured. However, he claims to have regained his health after spending a month at a Buddhist temple in the mountains.
While attending his third year of Daeil High School in Seoul, Choi began acting as a research student at a theater company. The young Choi was deeply moved by Ha Gil-jong's films and initially aspired to become a director. After graduating from high school, Choi enrolled in the Department of Theatre and Film at Dongguk University in 1982. He eventually changed his career path to become an actor while studying under Professor Ahn Min-soo, whom he had long admired.
Career
Early career
Choi began his professional career as a theatre actor by joining a theater company named 'Ppuri' (극단 뿌리) in 1982. His debut was a play named Our Town. Choi was so engrossed in theater that he spent nearly every day in the small theater. In 1984, he was offered the role of Alan in Equus, but was forced to hand it over to the actor Choi Jae-seong because Choi was drafted for mandatory military enlistment.
Choi and Han Suk-kyu were classmates at Dongguk University's Department of Theater and Film. During their time in school, they had the opportunity to perform together in plays like Ecstasy and For My Son. In 1988, while Choi was in his fourth year at the university, his college senior Park Jae-ho invited him to audition for Park Jong-won's early film Kuro Arirang. The film, released in 1989, was an adaptation of Lee Mun-yeol's 1987 novel of the same name, portraying the harsh working conditions of female workers in the sewing factory at the Kuro Industrial Complex. During that same year, Choi acted alongside Son Chang-min, who portrayed law student Hyung-bin, in director Jang Gil-soo's youth melodrama All That Falls Has Wings. In the film, Choi played the role of Hyung-bin's friend, an art student, and he eagerly put a lot of thought to his character's costumes.
After six years, in 1990, Choi was back onstage with the role of Alan in the Korean adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Equus. With this play, Choi Min-sik's name began to be known in Daehak-ro. Writer Na Yeon-suk saw his play, fell in love with Choi, and insisted on giving him a role in her next drama The Years of Ambition. The role of Lee Hwi-hyang's son, who is called 'Ku-chong' in the drama, was originally set to be played by Yoon Da-hoon. The Years of Ambition was a KBS hit weekend drama with an average viewer rating of close to 40%, and it aired for one year starting in October 1990. Choi, who practiced method acting in his portrayal of a tough rebellious child with a human side, 'Ku-chong', enjoyed popularity for the first time in his life. He quickly vaulted from a career as an unknown actor who was lucky to receive 500,000 won a month for a play to a talent who received 7 million won per advertisement.
Aside from his role as Teacher Kim in Park Jong-won's second film Our Twisted Hero (1992), in which he received the Best Actor Award at the 38th Asia-Pacific Film Festival, his activities in films were not particularly successful. The French location shoot film "Our Love as It Was" (1991) was a dark chapter he wanted to forget, and although he had a special appearance, the film "Sara Is Guilty" (1993), where his face prominently appeared on the poster, only taught him the lesson of not choosing projects lightly. After appearing in director Yoo Hyun-mok's "Mom, the Star, and the Sea Anemone" (1995), he spent four years away from films.
Although busy acting onstage as well as on the small and big screens, Choi was able to finish his studies at Dongguk University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Theater and Film.