Bong Joon-ho Age, Wife, Family, Children, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Nickname(s)	Bong Tael-il [1]KoreanFilm.org
Profession(s)	Film Director, Producer, and Screenwriter
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 183 cm in meters- 1.83 m in feet & inches- 6’
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Debut	Short Film: Baeksaekin (White Man)(1994) Feature Films As a Screenwriter: Motel Cactus (1997) As a Director: Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) TV: Snowpiercer (as Executive Producer) (American; 2020) Acting: In the short film "Incoherence" (1994) as 'Delivery Boy'
Awards, Honours, Achievements	• 2020: British Academy Film Awards - Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Not in the English Language for "Parasite" • 2020: Writers Guild of America Awards - Best Original Screenplay for the film "Parasite" • 2020: Critics' Choice Movie Awards - Best Director for the film "Parasite" • 2020: Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards - Best Asian Film for "Parasite" • 2019: Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit (the second highest class of national cultural medals) by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (South Korea) • 2019: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award - Best Director for the film "Parasite" • 2019: Asia Pacific Screen Awards - Best Feature Film for "Parasite" in 2019 • 2019: Cannes Film Festival - Palme d'Or for the film  "Parasite" • 2016: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Officier in 2016 Academy Awards • 2020: Best Picture for "Parasite" • 2020: Best Director for the film "Parasite" • 2020: Best Original Screenplay for the film "Parasite" Blue Dragon Film Awards • 2019: Best Director for the film "Parasite" • 2019: Best Film for "Parasite" • 2013: Best Director for the film "Snowpiercer" • 2009: Best Film for "Mother" • 2006: Audience Choice Award for the film "The Host" • 2006: Best Film for "The Host" • 2003: Audience Choice Award for the film "Memories of Murder" Buil Film Awards • 2019: Best Screenplay for the film "Parasite" • 2019: Best Film for "Parasite" • 2013: Best Film for "Snowpiercer" • 2009: Best Film for "Mother" Grand Bell Awards • 2007: Best Director for the film "The Host" • 2003: Best Film for "Memories of Murder" • 2003: Best Director for the film "Memories of Murder" Korean Association of Film Critics Awards • 2019: Best Director for the film "Parasite" • 2019: Best Film for "Parasite" • 2017: FIPRESCI Award for the film "Okja" • 2013: Best Director for the film "Snowpiercer" • 2013: Best Film for "Snowpiercer" • 2009: Best Screenplay for the film "Mother" • 2009: Best Film for "Mother" • 2003: Best Director for the film "Memories of Murder" • 2003: Best Film for "Memories of Murder"
Personal Life
Date of Birth	14 September 1969 (Sunday)
Age (as in 2019)	50 Years
Birthplace	Bongdeok-dong, Nam District - Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.
Zodiac sign	Virgo
Signature
Nationality	South Korean
Hometown	Jamsil-dong, Seoul, South Korea
School	Jamsil High School, Songpa-gu, Seoul
College/University	• Yonsei University, Seoul • Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), Busan
Educational Qualification	• Major in Sociology from Yonsei University, Seoul • A Two-Year Course in Filmmaking from Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), Busan
Religion	Catholicism [2]BFI-Sight & Sound
Food Habit	Non-Vegetarian
Political Inclination	• New Progressive Party (South Korea; now, dysfunctional) • Democratic Labour Party (South Korea)
Hobbies	Watching Film & Collecting Blu-rays
Controversies	• At the screening of the black and white version of the film "Mother" (2009), actress Kim Hye-ja said that Bong Joon-ho had allegedly asked the actor, Won Bin to touch her breast; when the scene was not in the script. The issue was brought up later in 2019 when social media users and various media outlets turned the scenario into her 'MeToo Story.' When the things went out of hands, Hye-ja clearing the air, said, [3]Soompi I was absolutely flabbergasted when I saw the articles and comments. I have blisters on my lips because I’ve been so upset. It was my mistake trying to explain it in a fun way, but to say that it was ‘Me Too’ as if I had witnessed something big? To say that director Bong and Won Bin planned to fool me and sexually harassed me? I feel scared and embarrassed even saying this. Mother’ was a film where I talked a lot with director Bong and he said to me, ‘I’m not a mom so I think you’ll probably know the mind of the mom in the film more than me.'” Explaining the situation at the time, she said, “Now that I think about it, director Bong said to me before filming began, ‘Do Joon could put his hand on his mom’s breast,’ and I said, ‘So what if he puts his hand on it. A mentally challenged son can sleep while touching his mom’s breast.'” According to the actress, she spoke with the director before filming the scene, and it proceeded after it was discussed in advance." • In 2012, the distribution rights to the film "Snowpiercer" (2013) was given from CJ Entertainment to The Weinstein Company, with a plan of a wide release in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Harvey Weinstein, an owner of The Weinstein Company, requested 25 minutes of the footage from the film to be edited, to which, Bong disagreed. As a result, the release of the film was delayed. Eventually, Bong succeeded in getting the film released in an uncut form. However, the distributor of the film was later switched to TWC. [4]Indiewire
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Year	1995
Family
Wife/Spouse	Jung Sun-young
Children	Son- Bong Hyo-min Daughter- none
Parents	Father- Bong Sang-kyun (Graphic Designer & Professor at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul; died in 2017) Mother- Park So-young (Homemaker)
Siblings	Brother- Bong Joon-soo (elder; English Professor at Seoul National University) Sister(s)- Bong Ji-hee (elder; Fashion Designer & Professor of Fashion Designing at Hanyang University) & 1 more (elder)
Favourite Things
Food	Ramen, Jjapaguri
Filmmaker(s)	Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Shohei Imamura, John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet, and John Schlesinger
Film	The Wages of Fear (1953)
Money Factor
Net Worth (approx.)	Rs. 214. 53 crores (as in 2020) [5]International Business Times

Some Lesser Known Facts About Bong Joon-ho

• Bong Joon-ho artistic perception comes from his family; as his father was a graphic designer, and his maternal grandfather, Park Taewon, was a renowned Korean writer.

• Bong Joon-ho never got a chance to meet his grandparents, as his family had separated after the Korean War (in 1950). His grandfather, Taewon, lived the rest of his life in Pyongyang, North Korea. His mother’s sisters also lived in Pyongyang and his mother reunited with her sisters in 2006 after 56 years.

• Since his childhood, Bong Joon-ho loved watching movies. When he was in middle school, he decided to become a film director.

• 1988, he enrolled in Yonsei University, Seoul to do his majors in Sociology. Bong returned from his mandatory military service in 1992, and in 1995, he completed his graduation.

• His college, Yonsei University was one of the cradles during the South Korean democracy movement, and Bong was part of the student demonstrations in the movement. The students of South Korea were fighting for the expansion of democratic rights, labour unions, and reunification with North Korea. Talking about it, Bong says,
  

  We hated going to class. Every day was the same: protest during the day, drink at night. Except for a few people, we didn’t have much faith in the professors at the time. So we formed study groups of our own covering politics, aesthetics, history. We’d drink until late at night, talking and debating.” He adds, “I’m not the kind of person who likes to be stuck in a group, so even while we were protesting, I would leave and go watch a movie. The lead organizers probably thought I was a bad activist.”

• As a student activist, Bong, along with the other protesters, used to make Molotov cocktails from a mixture of paint thinner and water, which were visually explosive but less dangerous as compared to those made with gasoline by other protestors. He was even arrested for hurling the explosives.
  

• During demonstrations, the protestors used to throw rocks and explosives, and police used to throw tear gas canisters from cannon back at them. He was also subjected to tear gas in the first two years of his college, describing the experience, Bong said,
  

  It was a very traumatic smell. It’s impossible to describe: nauseating, stinging, hot. It’s strange, sometimes I smell it in my dreams. Usually, dreams are images, but I sometimes have this sensation of smelling it. It’s really horrible, but I guess that’s the way it would be.

• During his college days, Bong Joon-ho formed a film club called “Yellow Door” with the students from neighbouring colleges like Hongik University, Ewha Womans University, and Sogang University. He made many films as a part of “Yellow Door;’ the first ones being “Paradise” (1994) and “Baeksaekin (White Man)” (1994). Out of which, the latter was screened at the Vancouver and Hong Kong international film festivals.

• During his college days, Joon-ho taught the children from a wealthy background in his locality.

• He has made some more short films such as “Incoherence” (1994), “The Memories in My Frame” (1994), Twentidentity (2003; segment- Sink & Rise), Digital Short Films by Three Directors (2004; segment- Influenza), Tokyo! (2008; segment- Shaking Tokyo), and 3.11 A Sense of Home (2011; segment- Iki).

• He also collaborated several times with his classmates including working as a cinematographer in highly acclaimed 2001 Jang Joon-hwan’s short film “Imagine” and Hur Jae-young’s short film “A Hat.” He also worked as a lightening director in “Sounds From Heaven and Earth” by Choi Equan, and “The Love of a Grape Seed.”

• After his graduation, he worked in various filmmaking capacities with other film directors. He received partial credit as a screenwriter for the film “Seven Reasons Why Beer is Better Than My Lover” (1996).

• Bong rose to international fame with his film “The Host” (2006). The film received a rapturous premiere in the Director’s Fortnight section at the 2006 Cannes Festival.
  

• In 2013, his first English-language film “Snowpiercer” was released in 2013.
  

• He has directed and written the screenplay of many films such as Memories of Murder (2003), Antarctic Journal (2005), The Host (2006), Mother (2009), Snowpiercer (2013), Sea Fog (2014), Okja (2017), and Parasite (2019).

• He has also produced the films Okja (2017), and Parasite (2019). He is also the executive producer of the upcoming American TV show “Parasite.”

• In December 2019, he appeared in the American TV show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

• He made cameo appearances in the films like No Blood No Tears (2002), Crush and Blush (2008), Can I Borrow a Light (2009), and Doomsday Book (2012). He also made appearances in the documentaries such as Two or Three Things I Know about Kim Ki-young (2006), Kurosawa’s Way (2011), Ari Ari the Korean Cinema (2012).

• He was once a member of now dysfunctional New Progressive Party and is seen supporting the Democratic Labor Party.

• Many of the American celebrities like Chris Evans, Brad Pitt, and Quentin Tarantino appreciate Bong Joon-ho and express their desire to work with Bong. In an interview, Quentin Tarantino, talking about Joon-ho said,
  Of all the filmmakers out there in the last 20 years, he has something that [1970s] Spielberg has. There is this level of entertainment and comedy in his films. [The Host and Memories of Murder] are both masterpieces … great in their own way.”

• In an interview, Bong confessed that he writes his scripts and does the storyboarding himself. In addition to that, he said that he wanted to become a cartoonist in his next life; as he loved manga.
  

• Bong’s movies take years to plan; as the idea of his Oscar-winning film “Paradise” (2019) came to him back in 2013.

• During his award acceptance speech at Oscars, Bong Joon-ho told that he grew up watching the films by Martin Scorcese and also quoted a phrase of Scorcese,
  

  The most personal is the most creative.