# O Yeong-su

O Yeong-su (Korean: 오영수; born O Se-kang, October 19, 1944) is a South Korean actor. He began acting on stage in 1967, from which time he says he has appeared in over 200 plays. He later began acting on screen, often portraying monks due to his experience with Buddhist plays.
In 2021, O portrayed Oh Il-nam in the first season of the Netflix survival drama series Squid Game, which earned him worldwide recognition and won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film, as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
In 2024, O was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, and was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison term, as well as being ordered to attend 40 hours of classes on sexual violence.

## Early life

O Yeong-su was born O Se-kang in Kaepung County (then in Japanese-controlled Korea, now in North Korea) on October 19, 1944. His grandfather was a local educator and landlord. After the 38th parallel line was drawn across Korea, he and his family moved to Paju on the South Korean side controlled by the U.S. Army. During the Korean War that soon followed, his father was killed and his brother was kidnapped by North Korean forces.

## Career
### Theatre

O began acting in 1963 as part of a theatre crew called "The Square". He was a member of the National Theater Company of Korea from 1987 to 2010, where he worked with actors such as Jang Min-ho, whom he considers his mentor. Throughout his career, he did productions of A Confession for a Black Prostitute (흑인 창녀를 위한 고백, Albert Camus's play adaptation of the novel Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner), A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Merchant of Venice, among many others. According to O, he had appeared in over 200 productions by 2013.
In his thirties, he played Faust in Goethe's Faust. In retrospect, he said he was probably too young for the role at the time. In his fifties, he played the titular Richard III. He said he was never satisfied with his performance because he felt like he was too old for the role. In his sixties, he expressed an interest to play Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.
In 2014, O played Prospero in a National Theater of Korea production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest celebrating the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth.
O played a Yeonguijeong in the play Prince Yeonsangun, and appeared in The Problematic Figure in July 2015 and as Vasíly in the play Fathers and Sons, based on the novel of the same name in August 2015.
In 2017, he played the titular King Lear in a production with the Daegu Metropolitan Theater Company. He had previously done a production of King Lear at the Daejeon Museum of Art in 2010. In 2021, it was revealed that he would play the role of Sigmund Freud in the play "Freud's Last Session" by Mark St. Germain which started its first performance in Daehangno on January 7, 2022.

### Film and television

O often portrayed monks on-screen. He credited his experience with Buddhist plays for getting him similar roles on film and television.
In 2021, he played Oh Il-nam in the first season of the Netflix original series Squid Game. The series, which became the most-watched show on Netflix worldwide in its first month of airing, drew newfound attention to O. In January 2022, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, Television for his role in the series. He became the first Korean actor to win a Golden Globe.
In November 2021, he narrated an episode of the documentary program "Documentary Three Days."

## Personal life

O has a daughter who, as he lacked an agent, helped him handle the volume of calls asking him to appear in various roles following Squid Game.
In November 2021, on the first day of that year's Korean Series, O threw the first pitch.
In July 2022, O was appointed Ambassador for Korean Performance Tourism by Park Bo-gyoon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

### Misconduct charges

On November 25, 2022, prosecutors in Suwon announced that O had been indicted on sexual misconduct charges relating to an incident in which he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017. He was accused of various cases of sexual misconduct in which he had inappropriately hugged, made lewd comments towards, laid in the same bed with, and kissed the victim across multiple incidents. Although he was charged in 2017, he was not indicted until 2022. During his trial in February 2024, the prosecution sought a one-year jail term for O, who reportedly denied the charges. A month later, he was found guilty and was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison term, as well as being ordered to attend 40 hours of classes on sexual violence.

## Filmography
### Commercials

* "Episode 18, the relationship that grows as we stay" (제18화 머물수록 커지는 인연; 2015) (ad for SK Telecom, with Kim Seol-hyun)
* South Korean government's regulatory innovation policy (넷플릭스 드라마 '오징어 게임'을 통해 '깐부 할아버지'로 널리 알려진 배우 오영수 씨가 정부의 규제혁신 정책광고 모델에 선정됐습니다)

### Theatre

| Year | Play | Role |
| 1994 | Defend and Defend and Defend | |
| 2010 | I Love You | |
| 2010 | King Lear | King Lear |
| 2013 | Sendoff | |
| 2014 | The Tempest | Prospero |
| 2015 | Prince Yeonseon, the Problematic Figure | Yeonguijeong |
| 2015 | Fathers and Sons | Vasily |
| 2016 | Seagull | |
| 2017 | How Cheon Deok-gu Lives | |
| 2017 | King Lear | King Lear |
| 2022 | Last Session | |
| 2022 | Love Letter | Andy |

### Film

| Year | Film | Role |
| 1998 | The Soul Guardians | Toemarok |
| 2003 | A Little Monk | Temple Master |
| 2003 | Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring | Old Monk |

### Television

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1981 | 1st Republic | Military prosecutor | |
| 1988 | The Fairy Of Shampoo | Commercial director | |
| 2009 | Queen Seondeok | Monk Wol-Cheon | |
| 2009 | The Return of Iljimae | Monk Yeol-gong | |
| 2012 | God of War | Monk Su-gi | |
| 2019–2020 | Chocolate | Mr. Kim | Cameo (Episode 5) |
| 2021 | Squid Game | Oh Il-nam | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2021 | Documentary 3 Days | Narrator | Documentary | |

## Accolades
### Awards

| Award-giving body | Year | Category | Nominee/work | Result |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Excellence Award, Actor in an OTT Drama | Squid Game | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 1994 | Best Actor (Theater) | Pigojigo Pigojigo (피고지고 피고지고) | Won |
| Dong-A Theatre Awards | 1979 | Best Actor | Crime on Goat Island (백양섬의 욕망) | Won |
| Director's Cut Awards | 2022 | Best New Actor in series | Squid Game (오징어 게임) | Nominated |
| Gold Derby Awards | 2022 | Best Drama Supporting Actor | Squid Game (오징어 게임) | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2022 | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Squid Game (오징어 게임) | Won |
| National Theater Association Of Korea | 2000 | Best Actor | Abi (아비) | Won |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2022 | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Squid Game | Nominated |
| Seoul Theater Festival | 2006 | Best Actor | Jangpan (장판) | Won |

### State honors

| Country or organization | Year | Honor | Ref. |
| South Korea | 2019 | Order of Cultural Merit (Hwagwan, 5th Class) | |