The year he turned 19, he entered the Western painting department at Sangmyung University and began making stop-motion animation. In 2002, he first showed The Hell, an 11-minute short animation made entirely by himself, at the 16th 100,000 Won Video Film Festival. In 2003, The Hell was shown at Indieforum, the Jeongdongjin Independent Film Festival and the Seoul Independent Film Festival in turn.
In 2008, his short Love Is Protein was released in theaters as part of the omnibus Indie Anibox: Selma’s Protein Coffee. In 2011, his first animated feature, The King of Pigs, won three awards at the Busan International Film Festival and opened in November. In 2012, The King of Pigs was invited to the Directors’ Fortnight at the 65th Cannes Film Festival.
In 2013, he released his second animated feature, The Fake. In 2015, he began filming his first live-action film, Train to Busan.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 38, Train to Busan had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, opened in July and drew 11.57 million admissions. The animated Seoul Station also reached theaters that year.
In 2018, he released Psychokinesis. In 2019, he began serializing the Naver webtoon Hell. In 2020, he wrote the tvN drama The Cursed and released Peninsula.
In 2021, the Netflix series Hellbound reached No. 1 worldwide a day after release. In 2022, he presented the TVING series Monstrous. In 2023, he released the Netflix film Jung_E.
In 2024, he released Parasyte: The Grey and Hellbound Season 2 one after the other. In 2025, he released Revelations and The Ugly, which cost 200 million won net to produce. In 2026, he went to Cannes with Colony, which cost 17 billion won, and to Toronto with Paradise Lost, which cost 500 million won.
Yeon Sang-ho (born Dec 25, 1978) debuted in 2002, the year he turned 24, with The Hell, a short animation he made by himself, and became known when his first live-action film, Train to Busan, opened on Jul 20, 2016, the year he turned 38. His first animated feature, The King of Pigs, came out in 2011, the year he turned 33.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
Attended Soongsil High School.
Source 31 · Wikipedia (Korean) · Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tab Birth date, birthplace and high school are from Wikipedia and were not confirmed in news reports. That he was born in 1978 was checked against the ages given in articles.He began making stop-motion animation in his first year, and after military service he devoted himself to 2D computer animation.
Source 01 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · The all-round entertainer Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabThe 11-minute animation was first shown at the 16th 100,000 Won Video Film Festival. He did the directing, production, cinematography, screenplay, editing, lighting, music and art by himself.
Source 02 · Hankook Ilbo (Korean) · The first work that made Yeon Sang-ho’s name, The Hell · opens in a new tabSource 16 · Dong-A Ilbo (Korean) · Yeon Sang-ho returns with the webtoon Hell · opens in a new tab Dong-A Ilbo lists it as part of a series titled The Hell: Two Kinds of Life (2003, 2006).It was shown at Indieforum and the Jeongdongjin Independent Film Festival and then at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. Hankook Ilbo writes that it was the film that made the name Yeon Sang-ho known in the independent film and animation worlds.
Source 02 · Hankook Ilbo (Korean) · The first work that made Yeon Sang-ho’s name, The Hell · opens in a new tab The screening dates at each festival could not be confirmed.It was released in five theaters in the omnibus Indie Anibox: Selma’s Protein Coffee, which bundled three short animations. The Korea Creative Content Agency said it was the first time an original short animation had been shown in theaters rather than at a festival.
Source 03 · Joynews24 (Korean) · A Korean original short animation gets its first theatrical release · opens in a new tabIt won the NETPAC award, the Directors Guild of Korea’s best director award and the CGV Movie Collage award.
Source 04 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · The King of Pigs wins three awards at Busan · opens in a new tabHis feature debut, about school violence, opened with an adults-only rating. Munhwa Ilbo wrote that it was Korea’s first brutal thriller made for adults.
Source 05 · Star News (Korean) · The King of Pigs opens Nov. 3 · opens in a new tabSource 06 · Munhwa Ilbo (Korean) · Director Yeon Sang-ho at Cannes · opens in a new tabSource 01 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · The all-round entertainer Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabIt was also a contender for the Caméra d’Or but did not win. He says that setting foot in Cannes felt like a reward for all the hard work.
Source 06 · Munhwa Ilbo (Korean) · Director Yeon Sang-ho at Cannes · opens in a new tab The screening date could not be confirmed. The interview with the director took place on May 27.A 29-minute short adapted from a comic of the same name in Saisiot, a human rights comic book planned by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote that it was the first short film to open in a regular theater in Korea.
Source 07 · OhmyNews (Korean) · Short animation The Window opens at Indie Space · opens in a new tabSource 08 · Kyunghyang Shinmun (Korean) · A short film in theaters, a first in Korea · opens in a new tabIt deals with religion and passed 10,000 admissions four days after opening.
Source 09 · Hankook Ilbo (Korean) · Train to Busan, which he never meant to make · opens in a new tabSource 10 · Kyunghyang Shinmun (Korean) · The Fake passes 10,000 in four days · opens in a new tabSource 01 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · The all-round entertainer Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabWith Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok and Choi Woo-shik confirmed in the cast, filming began in April.
Source 11 · Newsis (Korean) · Train to Busan cast confirmed · opens in a new tabIt was first shown late at night in the Grand Théâtre Lumière at Cannes. The invitation had been announced on Apr. 14 that year.
Source 12 · Hankook Ilbo (Korean) · The spirit of an unknown new director, Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabHis first live-action film, made on a budget of 11.5 billion won, drew 870,000 admissions on opening day, a record for an opening day at the time. It was seen by 11.57 million people in theaters alone. Startoday wrote that he was the director who made his name with this film.
It recorded 10,041,857 that day and became the first 10-million film of 2016, 19 days after opening.
Source 13 · Kookje Shinmun (Korean) · Train to Busan passes 10 million · opens in a new tabHe made it before Train to Busan, but it opened afterward. The release date, originally the 18th, was moved up a day.
Source 14 · YTN (Korean) · Seoul Station set to open the 17th · opens in a new tabSource 12 · Hankook Ilbo (Korean) · The spirit of an unknown new director, Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabThe shoot in Chuncheon, Gangwon, ended a filming schedule of about four months. Ryu Seung-ryong and Shim Eun-kyung star.
Source 32 · Herald Business (Korean) · Psychokinesis wraps filming · opens in a new tab The Herald Business article of Aug. 11 gives only the 6th as the date.It opened at No. 1 at the box office with about 260,000 admissions on the first day.
Source 15 · Maeil Business (Korean) · Psychokinesis, 260,000 on opening day · opens in a new tabA webtoon based on his own animation. He says it let him tell a story he had not been able to tell in film when he was younger.
Source 16 · Dong-A Ilbo (Korean) · Yeon Sang-ho returns with the webtoon Hell · opens in a new tabHis first drama as a writer rather than a director. Kim Yong-wan directed.
Source 17 · Sports Seoul (Korean) · tvN The Cursed premieres · opens in a new tabSource 01 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · The all-round entertainer Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabIt drew 352,926 admissions on opening day, the biggest opening of the year.
Source 18 · OSEN (Korean) · Peninsula’s top opening · opens in a new tabIt reached No. 1 on Netflix’s worldwide viewing chart within 24 hours of release. He worked with Choi Gyu-seok, who co-created the webtoon.
Source 19 · Maeil Business (Korean) · Hellbound No. 1 worldwide · opens in a new tabAll episodes were released at once.
Source 20 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Monstrous released in full · opens in a new tabIt reached No. 1 among Netflix films worldwide within a day of release and was No. 1 in 32 countries. It was the last work of the actor Kang Soo-yeon.
Source 21 · Sports Today (Korean) · Jung_E out today (the 20th) · opens in a new tabSource 22 · Voice of the People (Korean) · Jung_E No. 1 on Netflix worldwide · opens in a new tabSource 33 · Hankook Ilbo (Korean) · Jung_E No. 1 within a day of release · opens in a new tabIt was No. 1 on Netflix’s non-English list in its first week. In January that year he took part in The Bequeathed as a writer.
Source 23 · Hankyoreh (Korean) · Parasyte: The Grey, four genre works in a row for Yeon Sang-ho · opens in a new tabSource 24 · YTN (Korean) · Parasyte: The Grey No. 1 in its first week · opens in a new tabAll six episodes were released at once. The actor for Jung Jin-soo from Season 1 was changed, and Kim Sung-cheol took the role.
Source 25 · MTN (Korean) · Hellbound Season 2 · opens in a new tabBased on a comic of the same name by Yeon and Choi Gyu-seok, with Ryu Jun-yeol as the pastor Seong Min-chan.
Source 26 · OSEN (Korean) · Revelations first release today (the 21st) · opens in a new tabIt was shown the same day as a world premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 50th Toronto International Film Festival. Based on a graphic novel of the same name that he published, it drew 1.08 million admissions on a net production cost of 200 million won.
Source 27 · Newsis (Korean) · The Ugly at the Toronto International Film Festival · opens in a new tabSource 29 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Cannes with a 17 billion won epic, Toronto with 500 million won · opens in a new tabIt opened after a trip to the Midnight Screenings section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival. It drew 200,000 admissions on the first day, the biggest opening of the year, and 5.95 million in total. The budget was 17 billion won.
Source 28 · Etoday (Korean) · Colony passes 3 million · opens in a new tabSource 29 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Cannes with a 17 billion won epic, Toronto with 500 million won · opens in a new tabIt returned to more than 500 theaters in North America alone.
Source 30 · SBS News (Korean) · Train to Busan re-released abroad for its 10th anniversary · opens in a new tabA psychological thriller in which a mother who had relied on her son’s data, restored in virtual reality after he went missing nine years earlier, faces the return of her real son. Its budget is about 500 million won, and he says it is the darkest story he has conceived so far.
Source 29 · Sports Donga (Korean) · Cannes with a 17 billion won epic, Toronto with 500 million won · opens in a new tab The screening date could not be confirmed. The Korean release is set for Oct. 21.END OF SELECTED RECORDSSelected records, 1978–2026 · not a complete list of work. “Key moment” is an editorial label, not a measure of success.
What did they do, and at what age?
AgeTrail lines up the key moments of a life by age.
Debut and breakthrough are marked separately, and every record has a source.
Film & TV · South Korea
Dec 25, 1978 —
Ages are counted from the birth year 1978: the year of the event minus 1978, birthdays aside. “Key moment” labels and the connecting story are AgeTrail's editorial reading.
Fact-checked: 2026.09.22 · An independent archive, not affiliated with the person or their agency.