Oh Young-soo

The wonderful, award-winning Korean actor of stage and screen Oh Young-soo has been in a number of films, TV and theatre productions over an illustrious career spanning six decades. His movie work includes A Little Monk, Soul Guardians, and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… And Spring. But he is probably best known for his TV appearances, which include God of War, Moon River, Chocolate, and the hit Netflix original series, Squid Game. The series sees him portraying Oh Il-nam, also known as No.001, the creator, mastermind, and “host” of the Squid Games.

Born in South Korea in 1944, Oh Young-soo began his acting career in theatre, and has appeared in over 200 productions. In 1979 he received a Dong-A Theatre Award for Best Actor. From 1987 to 2010 he was a member of the National Theatre Company of Korea, and also received the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor in a Theatre Production in 1994. He later began appearing in film and TV, often portraying monks due to his experience with Buddhist plays. He started working in entertainment as a screenwriter, penning the 1965 movie, Seashore Village, and he also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1975 drama, Anna’s Will.

Oh Young-soo doesn’t personally engage with his huge fanbase on social media, but he does have a fan page on Instagram, which currently stands at nearly 200k followers.