Im Won-hee

In this Korean name, the family name is Im.

Im Won-hee (born October 11, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Im was an alumnus of the legendary Daehak-ro theater troupe Mokhwa (Korean: 목화), starring in many of Jang Jin's stage plays. He made his film debut in Jang's black comedy The Happenings in 1998, and through the years has become one of the most versatile supporting actors in Korean cinema, with notable roles in Three... Extremes and Le Grand Chef.^[1] But Im is best known for his iconic role Dachimawa Lee,^[2] which began in 2000 as the title character of a 35-minute short film that director Ryoo Seung-wan made as a parody/homage to '70s Korean genre action films.^[3] The internet short was enormously popular and received more than a million page views, and in 2008, Ryoo again cast Im in an action-comedy feature film based on the same character, Dachimawa Lee.^[4][5]

Im Won-hee
Im Won-hee in September 2019
Born	(1970-10-11) October 11, 1970 (age 52) Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1995–present
Agent	Gen Stars
Korean name
Hangul	임원희
Revised Romanization	Im Won-hui
McCune–Reischauer	Im Wŏnhŭi

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	The Happenings	gangster 1
1999	The Spy	taxi hijacker 3
2000	Die Bad	Detective Lee
	Dachimawa Lee	Dachimawa Lee	short film
	Taxi of Terror	policeman 1
	Coming Out	tutor	short film
2001	Guns & Talks	priest
	This Is Law	Bong Soo-chul
2002	No Blood No Tears	Haepari ("jellyfish")
	Fun Movie	Hwangbo
	No Comment	theater exam taker / national assembly member 1
2003	Silmido	Won-hee
2004	Three... Extremes	intruder	short film
	Lovely Rivals	man in TV drama	cameo
2005	Crying Fist	Won-tae^[6]^[7]
2007	Happy Killing	Du-chan
	Punch Strike	Kwang-gyun
	M	Sung-woo
	Le Grand Chef	Bong-joo
2008	Dachimawa Lee	Dachimawa Lee
2009	Short! Short! Short! 2009: Show Me the Money	^[8]	short film "Neo Liberal Man"
2010	Miss Staff Sergeant	Wang Jong-pal
	A Barefoot Dream	Director Poong
	The Quiz Show Scandal	Lee Joon-sang
2011	Romantic Heaven	Detective Kim
	Officer of the Year	Ph.D Ko^[9]
	Mr. Idol	Park Sang-shik
2012	I Am the King	Hae-goo^[10]
2013	Happiness for Sale	man at city hall stealing coins	cameo
	Rockin' on Heaven's Door	Bong-shik^[11]
	Horror Stories 2	teacher	short film "The Escape"
	My Dear Girl, Jin-young	gynecologist	cameo
2015	Makgeolli Girls	Jang-ddol
	Three Summer Nights	Dal-soo
	The Advocate: A Missing Body	Office manager Park
2017	Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds	Judge
2018	Snatch Up	Loan shark Baek
	Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days	Judge
	Passing Summer	Jung-bong
2019	The Skill of Remarriage	Kyung Ho
	Forbidden Dream	Im Hyo-don^[12]
2020	Collectors	Sabdari / Shovel Leg^[13]
2022	Reverse	Sang Ho^[14]	Sound film

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Coma	Detective Choi^[15]^[16]
2010	Legend of the Patriots	Kim Joon-beom
2011	Drama Special: Lethal Move	Jong-man
2012	Salamander Guru and The Shadows	Won-sam
	Syndrome	Oh Gwang-hee
2013	Dating Agency: Cyrano	Kim Chul-soo	cameo, ep 10-12
2014	You're All Surrounded	Cha Tae-ho
2016–2023	Dr. Romantic	Jang Gi-tae^[17]	Season 1–3
2016–2017	The Legend of the Blue Sea	Doctor	cameo, ep 19
2017	Strong Girl Bong-soon	Baek Soo-tak
	Drama Stage: History of Walking Upright	Mi-Na's father
2018	Where Stars Land	gift shop employee	cameo, ep 17
	Wok of Love	Wang Chun-soo^[18]
	Room No. 9	Bang Sang-soo^[19]
2019	Chief of Staff	Go Seok-man^[20]	Season 1–2
	Melting Me Softly	Son Hyun-ki
2020	Drama Special: Modern Girl	viscount
2021	Dark Hole	Park Soon-il
2021–2022	Moonshine	Hwang So-yoo^[21]
2022	Crazy Love	Park Tae-yang^[22]
	From Now On, Showtime!	God of heaven	cameo, ep 16

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	Move to Heaven	Oh Hyun-chang
	So Not Worth It	Mr. Crane	cameo, ep 4
	The Witch's Diner	Goo Hyo-sik^[23]	cameo

Variety show

Year	Title	Role
2013	Gag Concert "Discoveries in Life" sketch
2013–2014	Law of the Jungle in Micronesia	Cast member
2014	Law of the Jungle in Borneo
	I Am a Man
2015	Real Men – Season 2^[24]
2018–present	My Little Old Boy
2021–present	Dolsing Fourmen^[25]	Host

Theater

• Rain Man (2009) - Raymond Babbitt
• Leave When They're Applauding (2000)
• Heotang (1999)
• Taxi Driver (1997)
• Romeo and Juliet (1995)

Awards and nominations

Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee of the award, and the result of the nomination

Award ceremony	Year	Category	Nominee / Work	Result	Ref.
Blue Dragon Film Awards	2008	Best Supporting Actor	Le Grand Chef	Nominated
SBS Drama Awards	2016	Special Award, Actor in a Genre Drama	Dr. Romantic	Nominated
	2018	Best Supporting Actor	Wok of Love	Won	^[26]
SBS Entertainment Awards	2018	Best Entertainer Award	My Little Old Boy	Won	^[27]^[28]
	2020	Best Couple Award with Jung Suk-yong	My Little Old Boy	Won	^[29]
	2021	Grand Prize (Daesang) ^[note 1]	My Little Old Boy	Won	^[30]
		Excellence Award in Talk/ Variety Category	My Little Old Boy, Dolsing Fourmen	Won
	2022	Scene Stealer Award		Won	^[31]

Notes

1. with Shin Dong-yup, Seo Jang-hoon, Cho Hye-seon, Kim Sun-ja, Park Young-hye, Lee Sang-min, Tak Jae-hoon, Kim Joon-ho, Kim Jong-kook, Kim Hee-chul, Lee Tae-sung, Oh Min-suk, Park Goon, Choi Jin-hyuk

References

1. "Le Grand Chef depicts story of talented cook". The Korea Herald via Hancinema. 6 November 2006. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
2. Yi, Chang-ho (19 December 2008). "JUN Ji-hyun and SUL Kyung-gu portrayed greatest characters". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
3. . Twitch Film. 7 March 2006. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
4. D'Sa, Nigel (23 January 2008). "RYOO Seung-wan Remakes Short into Feature". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
5. Yang, Sung-jin (14 August 2008). "Dachimawa Lee breaks new ground in comedy". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
6. . Twitch Film. 22 August 2005. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
7. Kim, Kyu Hyun (7 February 2006). . OhmyNews International. Archived from the original on 2015-07-13. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
8. Lee, Hyo-won (3 September 2009). "Money Comes Up Rather Short". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
9. Lee, Hyo-won (28 April 2011). "Arrest gives '90s comedy zesty spin". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
10. Lee, Tae-ho (30 July 2012). . TenAsia. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
11. Sunwoo, Carla (24 May 2013). "Not all is grim when the reaper pays a visit". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
12. "LIM Won-hee, KIM Won-hae and YOON Je-moon Join ASTRONOMY". Korean Film Biz Zone. October 31, 2018.
13. "Collectors (Korean Movie – 2019) - 도굴". HanCinema.
14. Kim Na-yeon (April 18, 2022). "이선빈X이준혁 약혼자 된다..오디오 무비 '리버스' 캐스팅 확정 [공식]" [Lee Sun-bin X Lee Jun-hyeok become fiancee.. Audio movie 'Reverse' casting confirmed [Official]] (in Korean). MT Star News. Retrieved April 18, 2022 – via Naver.
15. "OCN broadcasts its second made-for-TV film COMA". KoreaContent.org via Hancinema. 12 July 2006. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
16. Giammarco, Tom (10 January 2010). "Coma 3: The Necklace (2005)". Seen in Jeonju. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
17. Hyun Jung-min (November 2, 2022). "임원희, '낭만닥터 김사부3' 합류…한석규와 다시 호흡" [Im Won-hee joins 'Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim 3'... Breathe again with Han Suk-kyu] (in Korean). Sports World. Retrieved November 2, 2022 – via Naver.
18. "[공식입장] '기름진 멜로' 임원희 출연 확정, 장혁X정려원과 호흡". Korea Daily (in Korean). April 4, 2018.
19. "'나인룸' 김재화X정원중X임원희X정연주X강신일, 명품 신스틸러 총출동". Naver (in Korean). MK News. August 17, 2018.
20. Kim, Ju-won (March 29, 2019). [공식] '보좌관' 정진영, 김갑수, 정웅인, 임원희..명품 조연 군단 캐스팅 확정. Sedaily (in Korean). Retrieved April 8, 2019.
21. Kim Na-kyung (May 7, 2021). "장광→임원희 '꽃 피면 달 생각하고' 합류, 명품 배우들 총 출동" [Jang Kwang → Lim Won-hee joins 'Thinking of the Moon When Flowers Bloom', all luxury actors are dispatched]. hankyung (in Korean). Retrieved May 7, 2021.
22. Lee Kyung-ho (February 11, 2022). "크레이지러브' 김재욱X정수정, 달콤살벌 재미 예고..3월 7일 첫방" [Crazy Love' Kim Jae-wook X Jung Su-jeong, preview of sweet and bloody fun... First airing on March 7th] (in Korean). Star News. Retrieved February 11, 2022 – via Naver.
23. Hong Se-young (July 15, 2021). "송지효X남지현X채종협 '마녀식당' 인물관계도 공개" [Song Ji-hyo X Nam Ji-hyun X Chae Jong-hyeop's 'Witch's Restaurant' character relationship revealed]. Naver (in Korean). Sports Donga. from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
24. Kim, Jae-heun (11 March 2015). "Real Men 2 returns with more reality". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
25. Lee Seung-gil (June 28, 2021). "탁재훈·임원희·이상민·김준호, 돌싱예능 '신발 벗고 돌싱포맨' 나온다 [공식]" [Jae-Hoon Tak, Won-Hee Lim, Sang-Min Lee, Jun-Ho Kim, dolsing entertainment 'Shoes off, Stone for Man' is out [Official]]. mydaily (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
26. Lee, Jihyun (January 1, 2019). [SBS 연기대상] 감우성·김선아, 공동 대상..베스트 커플상까지(종합) [[SBS Drama Awards] Gam Woo-sung, Kim Sun-ah, co- grand prize.. Best Couple Award (Comprehensive)]. News1 (in Korean). from the original on December 31, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
27. OSEN (2018-12-29). "'반전의 대상' 받은 배우..올해의 프로그램 '미우새'(종합)[2018 SBS연예대상]". mosen.mt.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2018-12-29.
28. "[종합] 'SBS 연예대상' 이승기 대상…김종국♡홍진영 베스트커플상". sports.donga.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2018-12-29.
29. Kang Jin-ah (December 19, 2020). "[2020 SBS 연예대상]임원희·정석용 베스트 커플상" [[2020 SBS Entertainment Awards] Best Couple Award for Im Won-hee and Jeong Seok-yong]. newsis (in Korean). Retrieved December 19, 2020.
30. Park Seo-yeon (December 19, 2021). "[2021 SBS 연예대상]'미운 우리 새끼' 팀, 대상 영예..이승기 프로듀서상(종합)" [[2021 SBS Entertainment Awards] 'My Little Old Boy' Team, Grand Prize Award... Lee Seung-gi Producer Award (General)] (in Korean). Herald POP. Retrieved December 18, 2021 – via Naver.
31. Lee Seung-gil (December 18, 2022). "유재석, 감격의 '대상' 영예…통산 19번째 트로피 품었다 [2022 SBS 연예대상] (종합)" [Yoo Jae-seok, thrilled 'grand prize' honor... I had my 19th trophy in total [2022 SBS Entertainment Awards] (comprehensive)]. My Daily (in Korean). Retrieved December 18, 2022 – via Naver.

External links

• Im Won-hee at HanCinema  
• Im Won-hee at the Korean Movie Database
• Im Won-hee at IMDb
• Im Won-hee fan cafe at Daum (in Korean)