South Korea's award-winning leading man since the 1980s, Park Joong-hoon's breakthrough film was 1987's Youth Sketch (a.k.a. Springtime of Mini and Cheol-su), where he co-starred with South Korea's beloved female star Kang Soo-yeon, and which launched him into popularity. Unlike most other youth stars of his generation, he challenged himself by taking on a diverse range of roles, and achieving both critical and commercial success with starring in Park Kwang-su's social dramas Chilsu and Mansu (1988) and Black Republic (1990), Jang Sun-woo's A Short Love Affair (a.k.a. The Lovers of Woomook-baemi, 1990), and Lee Myung-se's romance My Bride My Love (1990).

In 1993, he returned from his studies in the U.S. to star opposite Ahn Sung-gi in Kang Woo-suk's action comedy Two Cops which became a big box office hit and spawned two sequels. His streak continued with comedies How to Top My Wife (1994) and Millions in My Account (1995), and with Jang Hyun-soo's action noir The Rules of the Game (1994). But it was his role as a detective in Lee Myung-se's _Nowhere to Hide+ (1999) that brought Park international recognition, and attracted attention of director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), who cast him opposite Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton in The Truth About Charlie (2002). Back in South Korea again, Park continued collaborations with some of the leading filmmakers, starring in Lee Joon-ik's Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield (2003) and Radio Star (2006), and also appearing in blockbuster Haeundae (2009). He was reunited with Kang Soo-yeon for the first time in 23 years in Im Kwon-taek's 101st film Hanji (2011), a mix of documentary and dramatic fiction.

Park has now turned his attention to directing, making an impressive debut Top Star (2013), which had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival last October, and which we present for the first time in North America. On this occasion, we will be honoring first-time director Park with the inaugural The Celebrity Award at the New York Asian Film Festival.