Steven Yeun is a highly accomplished actor who became the first Asian American actor to win a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards, thanks to his starring role in the 2020 film, Minari, which many rate as one of that year’s greatest movies. He also starred in another classic, 2018’s Burning, which has been cited as the greatest South Korean film of all-time. Before all that, he found fame on television thanks to his role as Glenn Rhee in The Walking Dead, becoming a firm favourite among the show’s millions of dedicated followers. He has won more than a dozen awards for his work. His latest projects include starring in the Netflix comedy-drama series, Beef.

Yeun was born in Seoul but grew up and attended school in Regina, Canada, and Troy, Michigan. He didn’t begin acting until his early twenties, graduating instead with a degree in neuroscience, and when he revealed to his parents that he planned to make a career in improv, they were unhappy but gave him two years to become a success. Four years later, he was established on the Chicago improv comedy circuit and ready to move to L.A. to further his career. In 2010, shortly after the move, he won an ongoing part in a new horror series called The Walking Dead, which went on to become the highest-rated cable TV series ever broadcast.

Yeun stayed with The Walking Dead for six years, but his roles as Ben in Burning and Jacob Yi in Minari (for which he was also an executive producer) have taken his career — and South Korean film — to a whole new level.