Parasite movie-maker Bong Joon Ho is an Oscar winner officially. On Sunday Feb 9, 2020, the co-writer and director received his first Academy Award, taking home the best original screenplay for the South Korean breakout film. So, let’s learn about Bong Joon Ho wiki, his wife, family and his net worth movies until 2019.
Bong Joon Ho speech after winning Oscar, where he thanks his wife for the script.
Bong said in his acceptance speech at the ceremony. “I thank my wife, who always inspired me, and the ‘Parasite’ actors who beautifully delivered the lines on screen.”
Bong Joon Ho Wiki
According to Bong Joon Ho wiki, he was the youngest of four children born in Daegu, South Korea in 1969. His father was Bong Sang-gyun, a painter and professor of graphic and industrial design, while his mother Park So-young was a full-time housewife. During the Japanese colonial period, Bong’s maternal grandfather, Park Taewon, was a renowned author, most notable for his work A Day in the Life of Gubo the Novelist and his 1950 defection to North Korea; Bong’s older brother Bong Joon-soo is an English professor at the National University of Seoul, while his older sister Bong Ji-hee is teaching fashion design at the University of Anyang.
Education of Bong Joon
The family moved to Seoul when Bong was in elementary school, taking up residence by the Han River in Jamsil-dong. In 1988 Bong enrolled at Yonsei University, with a specialization in sociology. College campuses like Yonsei’s were then hotbeds for the South Korean democracy movement and Bong was an active participant in student protests, frequently subject to tear gas early in his college years.
How Bong begun in film industry
From Bong Joon Ho wiki, until returning to college in 1992 Bong completed a two-year military term in accordance with South Korea’s compulsory military service. He co-founded a film club with students from nearby universities, called Yellow Gate. Bong made his first films as a member of the club, including a short stop-motion named Looking for Paradise and a 16 mm short titled White Man. In 1995 he was a graduate of Yonsei University.
Bong completed a two year program at the Korean Academy of Film Arts in the early 1990s. He did a lot of 16 mm short films while there. His graduation films Memory within the Frame and Incoherence were invited to screen at international film festivals in Vancouver and Hong Kong. He has also collaborated with his classmates on several works; most notably as a cinematographer on the highly acclaimed short 2001 Imagine, directed by his friend Jang Joon-hwan. In addition to cinematography on Hur Jae-young’s short A Hat, Bong was also the lighting director on Choi Equan’s early short Sounds from Heaven and Earth, and The Love of a Grape Seed.
Career as director
Soon thereafter, Bong started shooting his first movie “Barking Dogs Never Bite” under producer Cha Seung-jae, who had supervised both Motel Cactus and Phantom the Submarine. The film, about a low-ranking university lecturer who abducts the dog of a neighbor, was shot in the same apartment complex where Bong had been staying after marrying.
Although now remembered fondly, at the time of its release in February 2000 it did not stir up much interest among audiences. Critical response has been positive but somewhat muted. Nevertheless, the film was invited to the competition section of Spain’s prestigious San Sebastian International Film Festival, and prizes at the Slamdance Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival will continue to be received. Slowly developing international word of mouth also supported the film financially about two years after its local release; due to sales to overseas territories, the film hit its financial break-even point. That time, Joon ho didn’t care about his earnings.
After this, Bong took some time to contribute to two omnibus projects of short films. Influenza is an unsettling 30-minute work done entirely in front of actual CCTV cameras posted around Seoul. The film, which tracks (from a distance, very literally) a desperate man’s turn to violent crime over a five-year period, was commissioned by the Jeonju International Film Festival along with works by Japanese director Sogo Ishii and Yu Lik-wai, based in Hong Kong. Twent-identity, meanwhile, is a 20-part omnibus film made by Korean Academy of Film Arts alumni, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the school. The contribution of Bong is Sink & Rise, a whimsical work set next to the Han River that can be seen as a warm-up for the third feature of the project.
2019, movie Parasite, that helped him to get Oscar at home…
Bong directed the complete Korean-language film Parasite in 2019, a comedy thriller about a poor family who is insinuating themselves into a wealthy household. The film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Palme d’Or, becoming the first Korean film to receive the award and the first movie to do so with a unanimous vote since 2013’s Blue Is the Warmest Color. Subsequently it was announced at the 92nd Academy Awards as South Korean entry for Best International Feature Film. The film also won the Sydney Film Festival award for $60,000. Parasite was performing at Sydney along with 11 other features from countries including North Macedonia, Brazil and Spain, as well as Australian entrants Mirrah Foulkes ‘ Judy & Punch and the Hearts and Bones of Ben Lawrence.
Parasite was released by CJ Entertainment in South Korea on 30 May 2019, and by Neon in late-2019 in the rest of the world. It gained widespread critical acclaim and earned $115 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-sized release for Bong. For Parasite, Bong was nominated in the 77th Golden Globe Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay, with the film itself winning Best Foreign Language Film. Parasite became the first South Korean film to earn an Academy Award nomination in any category at the 92nd Academy Awards and received a total of six awards, including Best International Feature Film, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
Bong Joon Ho estimated net worth of 1.4 Billion dollar
Bong Joon Ho is a well-known South Korean director and screenwriter who made a number of highly acclaimed films. He graduated from Yonsei University in Sociology, and was also a member of the film club. He received the Korean Best Director award for his 2006 film The Host. His latest film Parasite won the Cannes Film Festival at the Palme d’Or in 2019.
He will turn 51 this year and is probably one of South Korea’s top 40 billionaires. He has a net worth valued at 1.4 trillion dollars. He may attribute his earnings to his career as a successful film producer. Last year’s Bong Joon-Ho earnings are yet to be decided, but he’ll definitely see an increase in pay, comparable to 2018. The individual’s net worth isn’t the same as his net income.
Relationship with Jung Sun-young, Wife / Girlfriend
Okay, bong Joon and Jung Sun-Young’s relationship status is in the limelight. There’s no big news and media congruence they’re working together. Yet, from some accounts, Bong Joon’s wife is writer Jung Sun Young. But no-one knows how real they are divorced or married.
They also have one child. Yet, officially, nothing is announced. Once asked to say something about his wife and kid in an interview, he was a bit longer then. There is nothing from Bong Joon Ho wiki, about his wife and kids. But from his Oscar holding speech, he thanks to his wife for this Oscar. It is simply means, he is with his wife but don’t want to share with media.
Bong Joon Movies and Awards with double Oscar in 2020
Director
- Parasite | Gisaengchoong (2019)
- Okja (2017)
- Snow Piercer | Sulguk Yeolcha (2012)
- Mother (2009)
- Tokyo! (2008)
- The Host | Gwoemul (2006)
- Memories of Murder | Salinui Chueok (2003)
- Barking Dogs Never Bite | Flandersui Gae (2000)
Awards
- Won the Best director for “Parasite” 2020 Oscar Awards-Feb 9, 2020.
- Again, won Best Original Screenplay For “Parasite” 2020 Oscar Award, Feb 9, 2020.
- Best Film (“Parasite”) – 2019 (40th) Blue Dragon Film Awards – November 21, 2019
- Best Director (“Parasite”) – 2019 (40th) Blue Dragon Film Awards – November 21, 2019
- Best Director (“Snowpiercer”) – 2014 (50th) BaekSang Arts Awards – May 27, 2014
- Best Film (“Snowpiercer”) – 2013 (33rd) Korean Association of Film Critics Awards – November 29, 2013
- Best Director (“Snowpiercer”) – 2013 (33rd) Korean Association of Film Critics Awards – November 29, 2013
- Best Director (“Snowpiercer”) – 2013 (34th) Blue Dragon Film Awards – November 22, 2013
- Best Director / Best Screenwriter (“Mother”) – 2010 (4th) Asian Film Awards – March 22, 2010
- Best Film (“Mother”) – 2009 (1st) KOFRA Film Awards Ceremony – January 27, 2010
- Best Screenplay (“Mother”) – 2009 (29th) Critics Choice Awards – October 2009
- Special Jury Award at Pusan Int’l Film festival
- “Memories of Murder” selected one of top-30 movies by Village Voice of U.S. in 2005
- Silver Prize and New Director Award for “Memories of Murder” at 2003 San Sebastian International Film Festival
- The Best Director Award, Best Picture Award and Best Script Award for “Memories of Murder” (2003)
- Best Director Award, Best Script Award, Best Picture Award for “Memories of Murder” at 2003 Chunsa Film Festival
- To Best Director Award for “Memories of Murder” at 2003 Daejong Film Festival
- Int’l Critics’ Award for “Barking Dogs Never Bite” at 25th Hong Kong Int’l Film Festival
- Most Talented New Director Award for “Barking Dogs Never Bite” at 2001 Munich Film Festival
