Song Kang-ho began his acting career in theatre, and made his film debut in 1996 with the film ‘The Day a Pig Fell into the Well’. His performance as Pan-soo in the crime-thriller drama ‘Green Fish’ received positive feedback and appreciation from the audience. The film is directed by Lee Chang-dong and was released in 1997.

The same year, Song Kang-ho appeared in the documentary drama film ‘Bad Movie’, directed by Jang Sun-woo. Song Kang’s execution of his character as a stuttering gangster in Song Neung-hans ‘No. 3’ gained him universal acclaim. In 1997, Song won the ‘Best New Actor’ award at the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

Song Kang-ho’s career took a new turn when he was introduced to the act of comic cruelty. In 1998, Song Kang-ho starred in the horror comedy movie, ‘The Quiet Family’. In 1999, Song Kang-ho was cast in the blockbuster action thriller, ‘Shiri’. Song rose to prominence after appearing in Kim Jee-woon’s film, ‘The Foul King’. It is a comedy-drama released in 2000, directed by Kim Jee-woon. Song Kang was the lead role named and the movie had a budget of 1.6 million US dollars. Most of the stunts in the movie were Song Kang’s personal contributions. With the addition of poignant emotional appeal, Song’s comical acting gained popularity.

Song Kang-ho rose to prominence after his performance in the 2000 film, ‘Joint Security Area’. The movie was a massive box-office success in South Korea and helped establish Song as one of the country’s leading actors. Song Kang appeared in the thriller drama ‘Sympathy for Mr Vengeance’, directed by Park Chan-wook. The movie was a commercial success and a worldwide box office hit. Song starred in ‘YMCA Baseball Team’, a historical drama by significant Myung Films production in 2002 that chronicled the formation of Korea’s first baseball team in the early 20th century.

‘The Memories of Murder’, a 2003 crime thriller, cemented him as the best actor in the Korean film industry. Song won several awards and nominations, including the ‘best actor’ award at the ‘4th Grand Bell Awards’ in 2003. Song starred in the 2004 comedy-drama ‘The President’s Barber’, directed by Im Chan-sang. Song was featured as the lead role in the 2005 horror psychological thriller ‘Antarctic Journal’. A high-profile movie about an Antarctic expedition which failed to obtain a box-office hit.

The film ‘The Host’ was a record breaker for his acting career, ranking him in the list of actors with 10 million net worth. Song Kang-ho’s profile rose to international prominence with the character role Choi Do-hyung in the movie and achieved the ‘Best Actor’ at ‘Asian Film Awards’ in Hong Kong. Over the years, Song Kang-ho has collaborated with several renowned South Korean directors, including Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, and Kim Jee-woon. His other high-profile credits include ‘The Show Must Go on’ (2007), ‘Secret Sunshine‘ (2007), ‘The Good, the Bad, the Weird’ (2008), ‘Thirst’ (2009), ‘Secret Reunion’ (2008) and Hindsight (2011).

2012 saw the peak of Song Kang-ho’s acting career with 20 million box office hits like ‘Snowpiercer’ with 9.35 million viewers, ‘The Face Reader’ with 9.13 million viewers and ‘The Attorney’ with 10 million viewers.

Song appeared in ‘The Throne’, a 2015 history drama directed by Lee Joon-ik won a box office of 4.59 crores US dollars. Later, Song acted in the action film ‘The Age of Shadows’ and won the ’53rd Baeksang Arts Award’ for his character titled Lee Jung-chool. Song became the first leading actor in Korean cinema to rack up over 100 million admissions over the course of his career.

In 2016, Song was featured in the film ‘A Taxi Driver’, which portrays the real-life story of a German journalist. The movie premiered internationally at the Fantasia International Film Festival and Song won the ‘Best Actor award’. Song starred in the Palme d’Or winning for the first Korean film ‘Parasite’ in 2019. The thriller drama narrates the story of Kim’s family living a parasitic life.

In the Korean movie, ‘Broker’, Song Kang was featured as Ha Sang-hyeon, the owner of a hand laundry. In 2021, Song was represented as one of the nine judges for the competition category of the 74th Cannes Film Festival 2021. Song Kang was the first Korean to win the ‘Best Actor Award’ at Cannes for the 75th Cannes Film Festival. ‘The Emergency Declaration’ featured Song Kang-ho as Detective In-ho, the blockbuster disaster film was released in 2022.’Cobweb’ is the upcoming project in 2023 with Song Kang-ho. It is a black comedy movie unfolding the director’s obsession to re-film the movie’s ending and make it a masterpiece.