hallyu wave

As the manager of several Korean actors who appear in U.S. productions, Chris S. Lee, CEO of B&C Group, has an interesting perspective on why the time is right for more Korean talent to cross over to Hollywood.

“Last year, Asian talent-led films like Crazy Rich Asians succeeded above all expectations at the domestic box office, and Searching, led by actor John Cho, with a largely Korean ensemble cast, met with tremendous box office results in both the U.S. and Korea, prompting Hollywood to take notice (finally!), and cast Asians in roles that better reflect the current American scene, where film audiences are more comfortable seeing Asians in diverse roles that are flawed, nuanced, heroic, or simply relatable as human beings,” said Lee before continuing, “Hallyu has definitely contributed to the wider acceptance of this trend by showing how best-in-class talent from Korea can transcend ethnic stereotypes and cultural boundaries by finding dedicated audiences all over the world, shown tangibly by successful worldwide box office results, lucrative remake deals, international awards recognition, and of course the recent cases of Korean talent crossing over as leading actors in Hollywood,” said Lee. “All of these factors give me hope that Korean crossover actors will continue to find better roles and be freer to embrace the identities they choose to create

The wave is merely one trend making Korean actors more desirable in Hollywood.

through the three-dimensional human beings they are playing on screen, on either side of the world.”

Most, if not all, Korean talent winning a leading role in a notable U.S. production, is already a marquee star in Korea, such as Don Lee, whom Chris S. Lee represents. Or they are actors who become globally recognized through the international film festival circuit, such as Jun Jong-seo (Rachel Jun), another of his clients.

“Steven Yeun is the exception of having had both commercial and critical success in Hollywood first, before crossing over to Korea, where he has worked with world-renowned master directors Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong in the past two consecutive years, garnering widespread acclaim and the attention of the industry and fans from both countries.”

Korean-American stars working in Korea also face challenges, including language and cultural differences. The language barrier goes both ways, since actors are expected to speak native level Korean for leading roles, unless playing a character where it makes sense to speak accented Korean or mostly English.