Choi Dong-hoon
Born	(1971-02-24)February 24, 1971 (age 54) Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, South Korea
Education	Sogang University -B.A. in Korean Language and Literature Korean Academy of Film Arts - Filmmaking
Occupation(s)	Film director,screenwriter
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Ahn Soo-hyun (film producer)
Korean name
Hangul	최동훈
Revised Romanization	Choe Donghun
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'oe Tonghun

Choi Dong-hoon (Korean: 최동훈; born February 24, 1971) is a South Koreanfilm director andscreenwriter. He ranks as one of the most consistently successful directors working in contemporary Korean cinema, with all first five of his films becoming commercial hits --The Big Swindle attracted 2.12 million viewers,Tazza: The High Rollers at 6.84 million,Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard at 6.13 million,The Thieves at 12.9 million, andAssassination at 12.7 million.^[1]

After graduating from the prestigious Korean Academy of Film Arts, Choi Dong-hoon first worked as anassistant director onIm Sang-soo'sTears (he subsequently appeared in actingcameos in several of Im's films).^[2]

After working on the screenplay for two years, Choi made his feature film directorial debut in 2004 withThe Big Swindle and single-handedly re-imagined the heist and crime thriller genre into something uniquely Korean. His follow-upTazza: The High Rollers, a gambling flick adapted fromHuh Young-man and Kim Se-yeong'smanhwa, was the second highest grossing Korean film of 2006, and producer/Sidus FNHCEO Cha Seung-jae praised Choi as "a genius storyteller for his spectacular ability to develop elaborate stories." 2009'sJeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard was lauded as the first Korean fantasy/superhero blockbuster movie, earning Choi a reputation as an artistically innovative and commercially successful writer-director.^[3]

He returned to the heist genre in 2012 with the star-studded crime caperThe Thieves,^[4] which attracted almost 13 million viewers in 70 days to become thesecond all-time highest grossing movie in Korean film history.^[5][6][7][8]Tazza andThieves leading ladyKim Hye-soo described him as "a genius who also works extremely hard. I think he knows who he is, the exact kind of films that he wants to make, and how to make them."^[2]

Choi made his firstperiod film with 2015'sAssassination, about freedom fighters duringJapan's colonial rule, and it was once again a box office hit, crossing the 10 million admissions milestone on the 70th anniversary ofSouth Korean independence.^[9][10]

In 2017, Choi began production on his next filmWiretap, a remake of the 2009 Hong Kong filmOverheard.^[11] However, production was halted soKim Woo Bin could undergo treatment for cancer.^[12] At the end of 2019, the director was then reported to be working on a two-part science fiction film.^[13] The first part titledAlienoid which depicts a story unfolding as the door of time open between late Goryeo and the present day, when aliens appear, was released in July 2022.^[14]

• A Short Trip (short film, director; 2000)
• The Big Swindle (director, screenwriter; 2004)
• Tazza: The High Rollers (director, screenwriter; 2006)
• Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (director, screenwriter; 2009)
• The Thieves (director, screenwriter; 2012)
• Assassination (director, screenwriter, producer; 2015)
• Alienoid (director, screenwriter, producer; 2022)
• Alienoid: Return to the Future (director, screenwriter, producer; 2024)
• Wiretap (director, screenwriter; TBA)

• Tears (assistant director, cameo; 2000)
• A Good Lawyer's Wife (cameo; 2003)
• Boy Goes to Heaven (screenwriter; 2005)
• The President's Last Bang (cameo; 2005)
• The Restless (screenwriter; 2006)

• List of Korean film directors
• Cinema of Korea

• Choi Dong-hoon atIMDb
• Choi Dong-hoon at theKorean Movie Database
• Choi Dong-hoon atHanCinema

• Grand Bell Awards winners
• South Korean film directors
• South Korean screenwriters
• Sogang University alumni
• People from Jeonju
• 1971 births
• Living people
• Best Director Paeksang Arts Award (film) winners

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Korean-language text
• Articles with hCards