Lee Dong-hwi
Lee Dong-hwi is an actor, born 1985.
Lee Dong-hwi has one of the most useful faces in Korean film: entirely ordinary, instantly legible, and able to turn a two-line part into the thing people quote afterwards. Born in Seoul in 1985, he broke through as Ryu Dong-ryong in Reply 1988, the friend in a nostalgic ensemble drama, and that role set the register he has been refining ever since, which is warmth that never once asks for sympathy.
Before it he was doing exactly what a Korean character actor does, working inside the machinery of other people's films: Parrot in Cold Eyes, an engineer in No Tears for the Dead, Yoon Hong-ryeol in Veteran, Goo-gai in The Handmaiden. Then Extreme Job in 2019 turned him into a name, part of a narcotics unit running a fried chicken restaurant, in a comedy with a much tighter script than the premise promises.
The range has widened since without abandoning comedy. He is Baek Min-hyun in The Call, Mr. Song in Broker, Jang Dong-cheol in The Roundup: Punishment, and he starred in Chief Detective 1958 as Kim Sang-sun after leading the comedy series Pegasus Market. He is also a member of the group MSG Wannabe, a side career that makes sense in an industry where variety television, pop music and film are all the same building.
Movies (28)
- The Handmaiden (2016)
- EXIT (2019)
- The Roundup: Punishment (2024)
- Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014)
- No Tears for the Dead (2014)
- No Tears for the Dead (2014)
- Extreme Job (2019)
- The Call (2020)
- Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman (2023)
- Cold Eyes (2013)
- Broker (2022)
- Veteran (2015)
- The Beauty Inside (2015)
- My First Client (2019)
- Luck-Key (2016)
- Confidential Assignment (2017)
- New Year Blues (2021)
- The Bros (2017)
- The Plot (2024)
- One-Line (2017)
- The Sound of a Flower (2015)
- Lobby (2025)
- New Trial (2017)
- Queen of The Night (2013)
- Method Acting (2026)
- Someone You Loved (2023)
- Somewhere in Between (2020)
- 404 Still Remain (2025)
TV (21)
- How Do You Play? (2019)
- Reply 1988 (2015)
- Just an Excuse (2022)
- Whenever Possible (2024)
- Big Bet (2022)
- Blue Dragon Series Awards (2022)
- Entourage (2016)
- Sixth Sense: City Tour (2025)
- Low Life (2025)
- Designated Survivor: 60 Days (2019)
- Glitch (2022)
- SF8 (2020)
- Unframed (2021)
- Divorce Lawyer in Love (2015)
- Pegasus Market (2019)
- Gunman in Joseon (2014)
- Chief Detective 1958 (2024)
- Love: Track (2025)
- Rented in Finland (2024)
- Bro&Marble in Dubai (2023)
- Radiant Office (2017)
Where to start with Lee Dong-hwi
Extreme Job is the fastest way to understand why Korea likes him. It is a broad comedy with a genuinely disciplined script, he is part of an ensemble that has to be funny and competent at the same time, and nobody in it is coasting.
For the dramatic gear, The Call is the one, a thriller in which he plays the decent man in a story with very little room for one. Broker uses him more gently, and The Handmaiden is the prestige credit, though the part is small.
If you want the role that made him, Reply 1988 is a long watch and worth it, an ensemble drama about a Seoul neighbourhood where he is the friend everyone claims to have had. After that, Veteran and The Roundup: Punishment are the mainstream crime-action end, and Chief Detective 1958 is where he finally leads.