Born in 1972, Lee Seok-hoon completed studies in film and theater at Hanyang University, and later the Korean University of Fine Arts, before working various capacities in the film industry beginning in the early 1990s. He was a props master on “The Fates Of The Women Of Yi Dynasty” (1991) and also took part as an assistant director in works such as “Saturday, 2 P.M” (1998), “The Best” (1998) and “White Valentine” (1999). In the meantime, he was honing his directing skills with several shorts shot in 16mm, starting with “The Loner” in 1990. He was first noticed for his 2000 short “For The Peace Of All Mankind” and then “Super Glue” in 2001, as both were invited to many festivals around the world.
He moved on to features in 2006 with “See You After School”, the Bong Tae-gyu high school comedy. Sticking with leading man Bong, Lee then made the romcom “Two Faces Of My Girlfriend” in 2007. He scored a commercial hit in 2012, when his comedy drama “Dancing Queen”, featuring Uhm Jeong-hwa as a middle-aged woman trying to launch herself as a singer while her husband, played by Hwang Jung-min, runs for office, reached over four million admissions. Shortly thereafter, he also served as a script editor on “Rockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.
Lee was even more successful with his follow-up directing effort, the major period swashbuckler “The Pirates”. Starring Son Ye-jin and Kim Nam-gil, the 2014 summer hit soared over 8.6 million viewers. Sticking with the large canvas of his previous work, Lee moved on to the mountaineering blockbuster “The Himalayas”, teaming up with Hwang again, and climbed once again to the top of the box office, accumulating around 7.8 million admissions.
(source: koreanfilm.or.kr)
