Steven Yeun’s best movies and TV shows highlight a career that just keeps getting better. Born in Seoul, South Korea in 1983, Yeun later moved to Canada and then the United States with his family. His professional acting career began in the late 2010s with one of his earliest roles being a guest-starring appearance onThe Big Bang Theory. From there, he quickly found his breakout role playing Glenn Rhee onThe Walking Dead, launching his career in Hollywood.
In the past decade and more, Yeun has continued to grow his talents and popularity, finding interesting and unexpected roles that help to highlight his versatile talents. He has delivered hilarious performances while also being unsettling in some movies, then heroic in others. Yeun has worked alongside great filmmakers like Bong Joon-ho and Jordan Peele, as well as starring in the Oscar-winningMinari. While there are surely many more great projects on the horizon for Yeun, his career thus far is certainly worth a look.
While Steven Yeun’s breakout performance saw him facing off with zombies,Mayhemtakes the idea of zombie movies and creates something new.Mayhemstars Yeun as Derek, an undervalued worker in a corporate job who is unfairly fired. However, before he can leave his office, the building is placed under quarantine as a virus spreads throughout that eliminates people’s inhibitions and causes them to embrace their wildest impulses.
Yeun’s performance is pitch-perfect for the horror comedyas he is hilarious as the protagonist who sees the bloody chaos as a way to get his job back. He is a passive character who gradually finds his will to fight over the course of the movie. It is a wild ride with some fun moments and a performance frommodern horror star Samara Weaving. While not a great showcase of Yeun’s talents, it is still very entertaining.
Steven Yeun’s latest movie is also his second collaboration with Oscar-winner Bong Joon-ho. Following his history-makingParasite, Bong returns with his highly anticipated next project,Mickey 17. The ambitious sci-fifilmstars Robert Pattinson as Mickey, an “expendable” crew member on a colonizing mission who is used for dangerous jobs because his body can be reprinted countless times. However, while living a life filled with death, Mickey begins to look for more.
Yeun joins theMickey 17castas Timo, a childhood friend of Mickey’swho has been exploiting him and using him for his own opportunistic endeavors for years. Bong continues to show his versatility as a director with his brilliant balancing of different genres and tones. The end result is a completely unique and engrossing sci-fi adventure with a cast that also includes Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, and Toni Collette.
Steven Yeun joined the cast of the directorial debut of acclaimed musician Boots Riley in the clever satireSorry to Bother You.LaKeith Stanfield starsin the comedy as a young Black man who gets a job at a telemarketing company. Wanting to make the most of his new opportunity, he is advised that he would have more success if he adopted a “white voice” while talking to the customers. However, the success this approach affords him exposes him to the dark conspiracy at the heart of the company he works for.
Yeun has a supporting role in the movieas Squeeze, an activist who represents a glimmer of justice and a willingness to fight in a cynical world. The movie is a wild dark comedy with some thought-provoking ideas that are also hilarious. In the film, Yeun continues to prove himself as an actor who bold new filmmakers seek out for their projects.
The first time Steven Yeun worked with acclaimedfilmmaker Bong Joon-howas in this layered adventure movie.Okjafollows a young girl who has formed a deep and loving friendship with a superpig named Okja. However, one day, her friend is stolen from their peaceful life on the farm by corporate villains who seek to turn the unique animal into the latest food craze. Unwilling to let Okja go, the young girl sets out on an adventure to rescue him.
Yeun joins an incredible cast that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, and Lily Collins. He playsanother activist character named K, who the young hero meets along the wayand who works for an organization trying to free animals like Okja. The movie is a bit of a departure for Bong, as there are aspects of it that are light and fun. However, the filmmaker also has some serious subjects to explore that make for a powerful and sometimes heartbreaking story.
While Steven Yeun had to step away from his planned role inthe cast of MCU’sThunderbolts*, he already has a beloved superhero role under his belt.Invincibleis the acclaimed adult animated series that stars Yeun as Mark Grayson, the son of Omni-Man, the most famous and powerful superhero on the planet. However, as Mark gains his own powers and begins his own journey as a superhero, he must contend with the dark secret that his father is not the hero he appears to be.
From Robert Kirkman,Invincibleis a hugely entertaining and epic superhero saga that plays around with the tropes of the genre while also embracing its own extensive mythology. The series is filled with notable voice actors, including JK Simmons and Sandra Oh as Mark’s parents. However,Yeun is the one who carries the story with his committed performanceas this conflicted young man. He is funny, heartbreaking, terrifying, and more as the violent story ofInvincibleunfolds.
Jordan Peele’s third moviesaw him working on a bigger scale while also cementing himself as one of the best new filmmaking voices. Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who inherit their father’s horse farm after his strange accidental death. Struggling to keep the place alive, they find an unexpected opportunity when they discover a UFO around their property and seek to be the ones who capture it on camera. However, they soon find they are messing with a more powerful and dangerous creature than they imagined.
Yeun gets a standout supporting role as Ricky “Jupe” Park, a former child star and local businessmanwho has his own ideas about the mysterious visitor. Ricky could be the lead of his own movie, with Yeun playing the complexity and tragic nature of this character who experienced a horrific early trauma and learned the wrong message from it. Peele delivers a big, bold, and exciting horror adventure that still has fascinating ideas to explore.
It is rare for an actor to find the one role that launches their career so early on, butThe Walking Deadrepresents that for Steven Yeun. Another series based on the comics by Robert Kirkman,The Walking Deadstars Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, a lawman who wakes up from a coma to find that the world has fallen apart as a zombie outbreak has taken over everything. Joining a group of survivors and reuniting with his family, Rick leads them in an ongoing quest for safety from the zombie hordes and the evil remains of humanity.
Yeun quickly stole the show and became one of the most popular charactersas Glenn Rhee, a former pizza boy who becomes a key member of the survivors. It is amazing how Yeun is able to transform Glenn throughout the series from the fun comedic relief to the dashing action hero. Yeun’s performance was so impactful that many agreeGlenn’s death onThe Walking Deadwas the beginning of the show’s decline.
While it might not be the most well-known of Steven Yeun’s work,Burningis one of the early examples of just how versatile he was as an actor.Burningis a Korean movie that follows a young man named Lee Jong-su who unexpectedly reunites with his childhood friend, Shin Hae-mi. As he begins to form a strong connection with her, Hae-mi introduces Jong-su to her new boyfriend, Ben (Yeun). However, when Hae-mi suddenly disappears, Jong-su suspects that Ben has something to do with it.
The movie is a gripping and brilliant slow-burn thriller that reveals itself very gradually. However,the highlight of the movie is Yeun’s reserved performance,which is absolutely chilling. Avoiding any obvious villainous ploys, Yeun plays the character as a seemingly ordinary guy with only slight hints of something darker that adds so much to the movie and makes it a three-hour experience worth rewatching.
Steven Yeun earned his first Oscar nominationfor his leading role in the dramaMinari. Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, it follows a South Korean family who immigrates to the United States and eventually settles on a plot of land in Arkansas in an attempt to start over, growing produce. As they meet one struggle after another, the family’s strength and connections are continuously tested. Yeun stars as Jacob, the patriarch of the family.
The movie earned six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. It is a beautiful and engrossing story that takes the experiences, commenting on the particular struggles they face, but also making many aspects of their story feel universal. Yeun balances the complexities of his character wonderfully. He is a man who feels immense pressure to provide for his family but is finding himself becoming distant from them as a result of it.
Steven Yeun cemented himself as one of the most exciting actors working right now with his award-winning performance inBeef. The comedy-drama series follows Danny (Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong), two complete strangers who are having their own respective bad days when they find themselves facing off in a bout of road rage. The incident spirals out of control, with each of them becoming consumed with getting back at the other in an ever-escalating feud.
Yeun won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Awardfor his complex and powerful performance that shows off his incredible range. He is hilarious at times and heartbreaking at others, making Danny a relatable and human character even when he is doing outlandish things that the audience cannot believe. WhileBeefseason 2will feature a new cast, it will be hard to top the stellar work Yeun delivered.
