Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun nominated for best actor at Int'l Emmys for "Dr. Brain"

Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun nominated for best actor at Int'l Emmys for "Dr. Brain"

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun has been nominated for best actor at this year's International Emmy Awards for his performance in the sci-fi thriller "Dr. Brain."

According to the nominations list for the 50th edition on Sunday (Korean time), Lee was among the four candidates for Best Performance by an Actor along with Sverrir Gudnason in "A Royal Secret" from Sweden, Scoot McNairy in "Narcos: Mexico" from Mexico and Dougray Scott in "Irvine Welsh's Crime" from Britain.

Lee, who took the lead role in the Oscar-winning "Parasite" (2019), is the second Korean actor to be nominated in the category following Jang Hyuk who nabbed the first Emmy nod with the historical drama "The Slave Hunters" in 2011.

In "Dr. Brain," the first Korean-language original of Apple TV+, Lee played a genius cerebral scientist who is obsessed with figuring out new technologies to access the consciousness and memories of the brain in order to find out the truth of his wife's death.

In the best telenovela section, KBS' historical romance "The King's Affection" was also nominated with "Nos Tempos Do Imperador" from Brazil, "Two Lives" from Spain and "You Are My Hero" from China.

Starring Park Eun-bin and Rowoon, the 20-part series is about a fictional princess of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) who has been raised as her deceased twin brother and becomes a king.

It was on the top 10 of Netflix's official weekly viewership chart for non-English TV series for 10 weeks in a row.

The 50th International Emmy Awards will take place on Nov. 21 in New York.

Lee Sun-Kyun  Profile

Lee Sun-Kyun is a South Korean actor. After beginning his career in musical theatre, for many years Lee was relegated to minor and supporting roles onscreen, only getting to play lead characters in one-act dramas on KBS Drama City and MBC Best Theater. In one such Best Theater project, he worked with TV director Lee Yoon-Jung on Taereung National Village (2005), which led to him being cast in her later series Coffee Prince in 2007. Coffee Prince, along with medical drama White Tower brought Lee mainstream popularity, which he followed with Pasta (2010), Golden Time (2012) and My Mister (2018). Meanwhile, on the big screen, he received a Best Actor award from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival for his role in Paju (2009), followed by critical acclaim for mystery thriller Helpless (2012), romantic comedy All About My Wife (2012), and crime/black comedy A Hard Day (2014). Lee also continues to collaborate with auteur Hong Sang-Soo, and his arthouse films with Hong include Night and Day (2008), Oki's Movie (2010), and Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013). In 2019, he starred in Bong Joon-Ho's Oscar-winning black comedy film Parasite. - from apple TV