Huh Joon-ho

Huh Joon-ho came out of the theatre and into Korean film in the early 1990s, and the forty-odd credits since read like a map of the industry itself. He was in the war drama White Badge (1992), To the Starry Island (1993) and A Petal (1996) when Korean cinema was still largely a domestic concern, and he was in Silmido (2003) when it stopped being one, in a supporting role that won him Best Supporting Actor at the Grand Bell Awards.

What he plays is authority, and specifically the cost of it. Read the character list: an ambassador in Escape from Mogadishu (2021), the head of a public security department in Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018), a mayor in Innocence (2020), a retired general in Kingdom, a priest in Dark Nuns (2025), a naval commander in Noryang: Deadly Sea (2023). These are men with a chain of command above and below them, and Huh plays the weight of that rather than the rank.

The last decade has been the busiest stretch of his career. Streaming turned a reliable character actor into a fixture: Ahn Hyeon in Kingdom, Choi Tae-ho in Bloodhounds (2023), roles in Snowdrop (2021), Why Her?, Mercy for None and Buried Hearts. He has also gone back to the stage repeatedly to play the lead in the musical Gambler. Born in 1964, he is working harder now than at any earlier point on this list.