The author of this article is a copywriter @C-chan
"I have several movies I want to see."
It's another week of [New Year's Year] time, and today's birthday star is a well-deserved "Korean film industry brother".
He was not good-looking, but he gained a firm foothold in the industry with one good work after another, and eventually became a Cannes actor. He is the good actor "Uncle Cake" Song Kanghao, who has won numerous awards, and today is his 56th birthday.
On January 17, 1967, Song Kang-ho was born in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. He has enjoyed showing himself in front of people since he was a child, and his dream of being an actor was planted in junior high school.
Although he entered the acting department as he wished in college, there was no very professional acting course in Korea at that time, so Song Kang-ho dropped out of school and joined the army. After being discharged from the army, he did not return to school, but entered the theater and began his acting career on the stage.
In 1991, after four failures, he finally joined his favorite "Friends Stage" theater, where he spent six years as a supporting actor.
The far right is Song Kanghao during the stage play
His first film appearance was in 1996, when he was introduced to star in director Hong Shangxiu's debut film "The Day the Pig Fell into the Well", and entered the film industry at the same time as Hong Shangxiu.
The second work is "Green Fish" directed by Lee Cangdong, and by playing a small minions in this film, Song Kang-ho finds himself seemingly more suitable for acting in front of the camera, after which his focus began to shift to film.
Song Kang-ho in "Green Fish"
Since the third film "The Winner is King's Ah San", Song Kang-ho has become a popular winner at major Korean film festivals, which won him the Best New Actor Award at the 35th Grand Bell Awards and the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 18th Blue Dragon Awards.
The rookie actor emerged so quickly that it is never an exaggeration to call Song Kang-ho a "genius".
Fans often say that Song Kang-ho is the man who best represents Korean cinema, and his path as an actor is closely tied to the two decades of the rise of Korean cinema.
And the beginning of all this starts with his participation in "Life and Death Spy" in 1999.
At that time, South Korean filmmakers were fiercely protesting to protect the local film quota, and a large number of filmmakers took to the streets and even shaved their heads to demonstrate, and the mood of the people was also extremely high.
The Korean film industry has decided to make a film that can represent the level of Korean commercial blockbusters, this film is "Life and Death Spy".
Two months later, it broke the box office record of "Titanic" in South Korea, setting a record of 6.6 million viewers, becoming a milestone in Korean film history that cannot be ignored.
Actor Song Kang-ho also withstood many skeptical voices and became a hot actor in Chungmuro with this movie.
A year later, "JSA Joint Security Area" directed by Park Chan-wook was released, and this uncharacteristically Korean friendship film was not only nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival, but also won numerous awards in South Korea, and naturally became the Korean box office champion that year.
For Song Kang-ho personally, "JSA Common Security Area" made him the first actor - the Best Actor Award at the 38th Korean Film Grand Bell Awards, coupled with strong box office appeal, Song Kang-ho officially became the new "first brother" of Chungmuro this year.
But for more overseas audiences, Song Kang-ho's "canonization" has to be his first collaboration with director Bong Joon-ho in 2003 for "Memories of Killing".
This live-action film adaptation is still one of the masterpieces of Korean crime movies, and the look in Song Kang-ho's eyes staring at the camera at the end has also become an irreplaceable highlight of his actor career.
There is also a good story circulating about the cooperation of this golden pair:
Song Kang-ho auditioned for a certain film when he was a newcomer and was rejected, but after the audition, Bong Joon-ho, who was an assistant director in the crew at the time, sent a text message, saying, "You are a very good actor, I hope to have the opportunity to work together in the future."
This led to the first collaboration between Chungmuro brother Song Kang-ho and newcomer director Bong Joon-ho in "Murder Cooperation", and later more glorious moments of Korean movies created by them.
Song Kang-ho's resurgence was in 2013, the year he had three works, "Snowpiercer", "Looking" and "The Defender", which not only represented Korean films entering the world again ("Snowpiercer"), but also created new box office and award records in China ("The Defender").
In 2019, he and Bong Joon-ho collaborated for the fourth time to bring "Parasite", which changed Korean film history, and after numerous awards around the world, this film became the first Korean film to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
Three years later, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda helped Song Kang-ho win the Best Actor trophy at the Cannes Film Festival through the movie "The Broker", and he made history again - becoming South Korea's first Cannes actor.
So far, the actor, who never eats by his face, has successfully left other Korean actors far behind.
What's more, Song Kang-ho has hardly been tired of nearly three decades in the industry, and he still maintains a strong energy and desire like the Korean film industry.
Today, it's just his 56th birthday.
Let's hope that the beloved "Uncle Cake" will continue to create more miracles belonging to powerful actors.