Korean Actors and Actresses in 2017 Hollywood Movies
It’s not unusual to see Korean actors and actresses, including those of Korean descent, in Hollywood blockbusters. However, it is still rare for them to be seen in leading roles and even common for them to take roles where they must change their racial identities. Often they can be seen in films with relatively lower budgets, such as the
John CHO vehicle
Columbus which was shown at this year’s
Jeonju International Film Festival.
The most noteworthy actress of this year is Pom Klementieff, who portrayed the attractive, empathic alien Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. She is a Korean-French actress and her name Pom is derived from the Korean words for spring and tiger. Also seen this summer was Sam YIM. This Korean-American actress, who was cast by acclaimed theater director Tim Carroll to play Ophelia in Hamlet on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London in her third year of college, recently impressed audiences in Transformers: The Last Knight.
With considerable stature,
LEE Ki-hong and
Claudia KIM have steadily landed supporting parts in Hollywood. Meanwhile
The Walking Dead star
Steven YEUN, is set to voice the lead character in the upcoming, animated feature
The Star which boasts a star-studded cast that includes the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Kelly Clarkson. This year, LEE, KIM and YEUN were seen by Korean fans in
The Mayor, TV series
Monster and
Okja, respectively.