| Wins: | 5 |
| Nominations: | 22 |
| Image1: | Bong Joon-ho 2017.jpg |
| Caption: | Bong Joon-ho (pictured in 2017) has won three Academy Awards, the most out of all South Koreans. |
| List of South Korean Academy Award winners and nominees | |
This list details South Koreans working in the film industry who have been nominated for, or won, Academy Awards (also known as Oscars). These include artists and filmmakers, both naturalized and diaspora, or South Korean film production companies. North Korea has never sought to participate in the awards due to tensions with the United States and South Korea.
South Koreans had not received any nominations for almost six decades following the inauguration launch of Academy Award, until Christine Choy was nominated in 1988. In 2004, Sejong Park was the second.[1]
In the late 2010s, South Korean consecutive entrants Chang-dong's Burning and Joon-ho's Parasite shortlisted the International Feature Film category: The former became the first to make it to the final nine-film shortlist of the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film but it didn't make for the nomination.[2] The latter became the first South Korean film to earn a nomination for Best International Feature Film, but not limited to; it also was the first South Korean film to be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design; it won all the first four including Best Picture.
Out of eleven non-English international films who have been previously nominated for, Parasite is the first non-English language film ever to win Best Picture, established in 2019/2020; this led to local recognition and global phenomenon at the start of the 2020s, boosted popularity by rising the form of a new wave of South Korean films.[3] [4]
As of 2024, Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Han Jin-won and are the only competitive winners appeared on the list; Joon-ho is currently only person to win more than once.
| Best Picture | |||||
| Year | Film | Nominee | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Parasite | Bong Joon-ho Kwak Sin-ae | First East Asians to win Best Picture. First non-English language film to win Best Picture. | ||
| 2020 | Minari | Christina Oh | South Korean-American. | ||
| Documentary Feature | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Christine Choy | Who Killed Vincent Chin? | Choi is American born of Korean and Chinese descent. | ||
| 2018 | Su Kim | Hale County This Morning, This Evening | Kim is American born of Korean descent. | ||
| Documentary Short Subject | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Yi Seung-Jun | In the Absence | |||
| Gary Byung-Seok Kam | |||||
| Best Animated Feature | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Jennifer Yuh Nelson | Kung Fu Panda 2 | First woman of color to be nominated for Best Animated Feature category.[5] | ||
| 2023 | Peter Sohn | Elemental | |||
| Animated Short Film | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Sejong Park | Birthday Boy | Australian born of Korean descent.[6] | ||
| 2011 | Minkyu Lee | Adam and Dog | |||
| 2020 | Erick Oh | Opera | American born of Korean descent. | ||
See main article: List of South Korean submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. NOTE: In this category is awarded to countries, not individuals. This list contains directors of nominated films, who typically accept the award on behalf of their country.
| International Feature Film | |||||
| Year | Film | Director | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Parasite (Gisaengchung) 기생충 | Bong Joon-ho | First South Korean film to be nominated[7] and to win for Best Foreign Language Film.[8] | ||
| Actor in a Leading Role | ||||||
| Year | Name | Film | Role | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Jacob Yi | First East Asian and Asian American actor to be nominated for Best Actor. | ||||
| Actress in a Supporting Role | ||||||
| Year | Name | Film | Role | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Soon-ja | First Korean actress to win an acting award.[9] | ||||
| Director | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Bong Joon-ho | Parasite | First Korean to be nominated and win. Second director to win for a non-English language film. | ||
| 2020 | Lee Isaac Chung | Minari | South Korean-American. | ||
| Original Screenplay | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Bong Joon-ho Han Jin-won | Parasite | First Asian writers to win any screenwriting Academy Award.[10] [11] | ||
| 2020 | Lee Isaac Chung | Minari | South Korean-American. | ||
| 2023 | Celine Song | Past Lives | South Korean-Canadian. | ||
| Film Editing | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Yang Jin-mo | Parasite | |||
| Production Design | |||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Lee Ha-jun Cho Won-woo | Parasite | |||
| Original Song | ||||||
| Year | Name | Film | Song | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Karen O | Her | "The Moon Song" | American citizen of Polish and South Korean. | ||