Born in 1982, KOO Kyo-hwan is an up-and-coming actor and director of indie films. Having studied filmmaking at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, he has directed a large number of short films, among which <Turtles> (2011), co-winner of the audience award at the Jeongdongjin Independent Film Festival, and <Where is my DVD?> (2013), Best Film in The King of Comedy competition of the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival. After a first collaboration with YI Ok-seop as co-...
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Born in 1982, KOO Kyo-hwan is an up-and-coming actor and director of indie films. Having studied filmmaking at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, he has directed a large number of short films, among which <Turtles> (2011), co-winner of the audience award at the Jeongdongjin Independent Film Festival, and <Where is my DVD?> (2013), Best Film in The King of Comedy competition of the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival. After a first collaboration with YI Ok-seop as co-directors on the short <A Dangerous Woman> (2014), the two made together <Love Docu> (2014), which was later included to the anthology film <Now Playing> (2014). As an actor, KOO appeared in most of his movies, and even had bit roles in the indie favorite <Castaway on the Moon> (2008) and the fantasy romance <A Werewolf Boy> (2012). He made a splash with his debut feature <Jane> (2016), in which he also starred as the titular transgender woman who takes under her wing a group of teen runaways. This standout performance won him the title of Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival that year, as well as Best New Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards. He was also recognized for his directing, with the Best New Director Award granted by the Korea Film Director’s Network and the Best Independent Film prize coming from the Korean Association of Film Critics. In 2017, he took home the Best New Actor Award at the Chunsa Film Festival for his lead role as a far-right internet troll in the dark comedy <Beaten Black and Blue> (2016). He made several more films with YI, such as the short <Girls on Top> (2017). More recently, he co-penned and co-edited YI’s long feature <Maggie> (2018), while also starring in the film alongside MOON So-ri. He was back on the big screen in 2020 in the summer hit action blockbuster <Peninsula>, the much-anticipated follow-up to <TRAIN TO BUSAN> which momentarily revived cinemas during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, he played a North Korean diplomat stuck in a civil war raging in Somalia in <Escape from Mogadishu> (2021)
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