Lee Jung-jae

Lee Jung-jae plays Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game. Gi-hun's warmth and poor judgement are allowed to coexist. Lee makes him sympathetic without pretending that affection is the same thing as reliability.

A leading actor in South Korean cinema long before the Netflix series, Lee's films include Il Mare, The Thieves and New World. Squid Game brought his work to a much wider international audience and earned him the Emmy for lead actor in a drama series. He also directed and starred in the espionage film Hunt.

The performance gives the competition a human point of entry. Gi-hun is not a polished strategist who immediately understands the situation. His uncertainty, embarrassment and attempts to connect with other players make the premise more involving than its rules alone.