This “Squid Game” Actor Has Become The First Korean Person To Win A Golden Globe Award
Korean Actor O Yeong-su has brought home the country’s first-ever Golden Globe with his portrayal of Player 001 in the Netflix hit series “Squid Game”.
77-year-old South Korean Actor O Yeong-su has brought home the country’s first-ever Golden Globe with his portrayal of Player 001 in the Netflix hit series “Squid Game”.
Born in 1944 in Kaepung, now a North Korean border town, O is one of the most widely-acclaimed and prolific stage actors in South Korea, having appeared in more than 200 stage productions since 1963.
Snatching Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited Series or Television Movie, at the 79th Golden Globe Awards with his Squid Game role, Oh II-nam, also known as Player 001 or The Host, O was up against Billy Crudup and Mark Duplass in “The Morning Show”, Kieran Culkin in “Succession” and Brett Goldstein in “Ted Lasso”.
This is O’s first nomination and Golden Globe.
“After hearing the news, I told myself for the first time, ’you’re a nice dude,’” O said in a statement released by Netflix. “It’s no longer us within the world, it’s the world within us. Embracing the scent of our culture and the love for my family, Thank all of you in the world. I wish you a beautiful life.”
“Squid Game,” Netflix’s most popular non-English language series to date, was also nominated for Best Drama Series and Best Television Actor in a Drama at this year’s Golden Globes.
Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the dystopian survival thriller tells the story of hundreds of desperate debt-saddled contestants participating in deadly children’s games for a massive cash prize.
O said that he decided to join the series out of appreciation for the director’s vision to portray the irregularities and inequality in South Korean society.
After its release in September 2021, the series became Netflix’s top-viewed program with a total of 1.65 billion hours, or 188,400 years, of streaming from 142 million households in its first four weeks.
Discussions for a second and third season are underway.
