Park Hae-soo is a South Korean actor known for his work in the South Korean television series Prison Playbook (2017-2018) and Squid Game (2021).
Wiki/Biography
Park Hae-soo was born on Saturday, November 21, 1981 (aged 41; as of 2022) in Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea. His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. He was educated at Bundang Jungang High School, Buljeong-Ro, Gyeonggi, South Korea. He graduated in Theater and Film from Dankook University, Yongin, South Korea. [1]Daum
Physical appearance
Family & Ethnicity
In 2017, he met a woman who he eventually started dating. On January 14, 2019, the couple tied the knot in a private ceremony after a year of dating. His wife is not a celebrity and is six years younger than him. The moderator of their wedding was Lee Ki-Seop, an old friend of Hae-soo and a musical artist.
Park Hae-soo’s wedding picture
On September 29, 2021, Park’s agency announced the birth of his son. [4]Naver
Relationships/Affairs
He met South Korean actress Lim Kang-hee while working in the musical The Chorus – Oedipus (2013). They soon started dating and after three years of dating, they broke up at the end of 2016.
Lim-Kang-hee
Religion/Religious Opinions
He is a Protestant Christian. [5]Naver He was an ambassador for the Seoul International Love Film Festival (Seoul Christian Film Festival). It also has a Bible study group with musical comedians.
Career
Agencies
- BH Entertainment (from 2021)
- DMCC Entertainment
Theater
In 2007, he made his theater debut with the play “Chuigang Comedy Mr. Robbie” (lit. The Strongest Comedy Mr. Robbie). He then appeared in the stage play “Annapurna” (2007) before appearing in his first musical “Puberty” (2008) as “Yeongmin”. He also appeared in musicals.
Kdramas
In 2012, he made his television debut with MBC’s Kdrama “God of War” as “Kim Yun-hu”.
Park Hae-soo in God of War (2021)
In 2013, he played the role of “Appa” (father) in the South Korean drama ‘Me and Mom and Dad and Grandma and Anna.’
Park Hae-soo in Me and Mom and Dad and Grandma and Anna (2013)
In 2015-2016, he played the role of “Yi Ji-ran”, the founder of the Chonghae Yi clan of the Joseon Dynasty, in “Six Flying Dragons”.
Park Hae-soo in Six Flying Dragons (2015)
He then appeared in the Kdrama super hit “Legend of the Blue Sea” (2016) as “Hong Dong-Pyo”, a detective investigating antagonist Dae-young’s crimes and leading Joon-Jae’s scams.
Park Hae-soo in Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)
In 2017-2018, he appeared in the Kdrama “Prison Playbook” in his first-ever lead role as “Kim Je-hyuk”, a superstar baseball player who is convicted of assault.
Park Hae-soo in Playbook (2017)
In 2019, he appeared in the anthology TV series “Persona” in the “Collector” segment directed and written by Yim Pil-sung. He played the lead role of ‘Baek Jeong-U’ in the series.
Park Hae-soo in Persona (2019)
He also made appearances in the Kdramas films The Liar and His Lover (2017), Memories of the Alhambra (2018), and Racket Boys (2021). In 2021, he appeared in the Netflix survival drama television series “Squid Game”, which was broadcast and distributed by Netflix. He played the lead role of ‘Cho Sang-woo’ (#218), the former head of an investment team at a securities firm and classmate of Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae), who is wanted by the police for stealing money from his clients and failing to pay massive debts from investments. The series was a huge hit around the world as it became Netflix’s most-watched series when it launched. The series is also the first South Korean drama to top Netflix’s ten most-watched weekly TV shows worldwide.
Park Hae-soo in Squid Game (2021)
He also played the lead roles in Kdramas like Chimera (2021) as “Cha Jae-Hwan” and Money Heist (2022) as “Berlin”.
Movies
In 2014, he made his film debut with the South Korean film “The Pirates” as “Hwang Joong-Geun”.
Park Hae-soo in The Pirates (2014)
He then had minor roles in the South Korean films Minority Opinion (2015) and Master (2016). In 2019, he played his first leading role as “Lee Chan-woo” in “By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture” (South Korean).
Park Hae-soo in By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture
He also appeared in lead roles in the South Korean films Time to Hunt (2020) and Yacha (2021).
Prizes/Honors
- Korea Drama Award for New Male Lead in 2011.
- Dong-A Theater Award for Yoo In-chon Rookie of the Year in 2012.
Park Hae-soo with his Dona A Theatre award
- The Seoul Award for Best New Actor – Drama for ‘Prison Playbook’ in 2018.
Park Hae-soo at The Seoul Awards
- Blue Dragon Film Award for Best New Actor for the film “By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture” in 2019
Park Hae-soo at the Blue Dragon Film Award
- Chunsa Film Art Award for Best New Actor for “By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture” in 2020
Park Hae-soo at the Chunsa Film Art Awards
Autograph
Park Hae-soo’s autograph
Facts / Anecdotes
- His hobbies include physical exercise, playing the piano, and swimming.
- In an interview, when asked what convinced him that he was in the right profession (actor), he replied that while performing in the play “Puberty”, a high school student watching his performance started crying. Seeing the reaction, Hae-soo started to cry and walked off stage towards the student and hugged him. The student’s friend said Hae-soo,
I thought I wanted to end my life, but when I saw the show, that feeling disappeared.
Hearing this, Hae-soo claimed that he wanted to stay on as an actor.
- In an interview, Hae-soo confessed that he was once jealous of South Korean actor Park Ho-san who he previously worked with within the stage play “Seagull” and then in Prison Playbook (2017). He explained that in the play “Seagull”, he was given the role of Treplef, a rookie writer, while Ho-san played “Tri Gorin”, a genius writer. He said,
He’s a genius writer and a new writer, but I just didn’t want to see him. I just didn’t want to see him. He changed the long monologues written by the best writer Anton Chekhov to his liking. But it’s true. I was jealous.”
Later, he said he no longer felt that way.
- He is good friends with South Korean actress Choo Ja-Hyun.
Park Hae-soo with Choo Ja-hyun
- In 2021, after his appearance in Squid Game, many began to suspect him of wearing a wig or having had a hair transplant. This was due to the circulation of his photos from the past in which he had thinning hair in the front. As more and more images began to circulate, there were theories that he lost his hair and underwent treatment before filming for “Prison Playbook”.
A photo of Park Hae-soo after and before hair treatment
- He blew up the internet by posting his picture on Instagram with the British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.
A photo of Park Hae-soo with Benedict Cumberbatch
- He made his first official presence on Instagram on October 2, 2021, by posting a selfie of himself for his show, Squid Game. He was able to gain over 800,000 Instagram followers in a single day. [6]Malay Mail
The first official post of Park Hae-soo on Instagram
