Lee Joo-Sil, a veteran actress known for her role in Netflix‘s hit Squid Game and who appeared in such films like Train to Busan over the course of her six decade career, has died at her family home in Uijeongbu at the age of 81, Korean legacy paper The Chosun Ilbo reported.
The cause of death was stomach cancer, which Lee received a diagnosis for in November.
Lee previously revealed that she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer approximately 30 years ago and was given a one-year prognosis, but eventually fought the disease for 13 years and overcame it.
Born March 8, 1944 in South Korea, Lee embarked on her career in 1964, rising to prominence in her home country for voice acting and on-stage performing. She has appeared in stage productions of Death of a Salesman and Macbeth, as well as K-dramas like The Uncanny Counter and action film Commitment. In 2016, she was in Train to Busan, the beloved horror flick starring opposite Gong Yoo as his on-screen mother. In Season 2 of the blockbuster Netflix thriller show Squid Game, she appeared as undercover detective Hwnag Joon-ho’s (Wi Ha-joon) mother.
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Additional credits include It’s Beautiful Now (2022) and Country Diaries (aka, Jeonwonilgi), which ran from 1980 through 2002, as well as the recent KBS2 weekend drama Beauty and Mr. Romantic. Her film roles include A Single Spark, Sikgaek (Le Grand Chef) and many others. In 2023, she won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Wildflower Film Festival.
Lee’s funeral service is scheduled for Feb. 5 at Sinchon Severance Hospital in South Korea.
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