Oh Dal-su
Personal details
  • Born:
    • Birthday: 1968-06-15
    • Born Place: Daegu, South Korea
  • Also Known As:

    Oh Dal-soo, اوه دال-سو

Oh Dal-su

Oh Dal-su is a prominent South Korean character actor who has built an extensive career across film, television, and theater since his debut in 1990. Born on June 15, 1968, in Daegu, South Korea, he initially honed his craft in the Busan theater scene, leading the theater company Singiru Manhwagyeong ("Mirage and Kaleidoscope") from 2001. He transitioned to film in the early 2000s and quickly became recognized as a masterful "scene stealer," famous for his distinctive face, voice, and his ability to embody quirky, eccentric, or highly dramatic supporting roles. Oh Dal-su is especially renowned for his collaborations with director Park Chan-wook, appearing in multiple films including his breakout role as the warden, Park Cheol-woong, in the internationally acclaimed Oldboy (2003), as well as Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) and Thirst (2009).His filmography is packed with massive commercial hits, often putting him in the ensemble cast of some of the highest-grossing South Korean films of all time. Key roles include the conman Andrew in The Thieves (2012), the kind-hearted inmate So Yang-ho in Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013), lawyer Park Dong-ho in The Attorney (2013), and his award-winning turn as Dal-gu in Ode to My Father (2014), for which he won both a Grand Bell Award and a Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first South Korean actor to cross the milestone of 100 million admissions at the box office across his career in 2015. Following a period of hiatus after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced during the #MeToo movement in 2018 (an investigation that was later closed due to insufficient evidence and the expiration of the statute of limitations), Oh Dal-su has been steadily resuming his career. His recent projects include the films Best Friend (2020), The Wild (2023), I, the Executioner (2024), and he is set to appear in the highly anticipated second season of the Netflix series Squid Game 2 (2024).

Person History