Im Won-hee

In this Korean name, the family name is Im.

Im Won-hee (Korean: 임원희; born October 11, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Im was an alumnus of the legendary Daehak-ro theater troupe Mokhwa (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.^[2] But Im is best known for his iconic role Dachimawa Lee,^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5][6]

Im Won-hee
Im Won-hee in September 2019
Born	(1970-10-11) October 11, 1970 (age 54) Suyu-dong, Gangbuk District, Seoul, South Korea[1]
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[7][8]
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	[9]	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[10]
	Mr. Idol	Park Sang-shik
2012	I Am the King	Hae-goo[11]
2013	Happiness for Sale	man at city hall stealing coins	cameo
	Rockin' on Heaven's Door	Bong-shik[12]
	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[13]
2020	Collectors	Sabdari / Shovel Leg[14]
2022	Reverse	Sang Ho[15]	Sound film
2024	Handsome Guys	Lee Won-hee	Special appearance[16]

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Coma	Detective Choi[17][18]
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[19]	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[20]
	Room No. 9	Bang Sang-soo[21]
2019	Chief of Staff	Go Seok-man[22]	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[23]
2022	Crazy Love	Park Tae-yang[24]
	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[25]	cameo

Variety shows

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[26]
2018–present	My Little Old Boy
2021–present	Dolsing Fourmen[27]	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	[28]
SBS Entertainment Awards	2018	Best Entertainer Award	My Little Old Boy	Won	[29][30]
	2020	Best Couple Award with Jung Suk-yong	My Little Old Boy	Won	[31]
	2021	Grand Prize (Daesang) [note 1]	My Little Old Boy	Won	[32]
		Excellence Award in Talk/ Variety Category	My Little Old Boy, Dolsing Fourmen	Won
	2022	Scene Stealer Award		Won	[33]

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