In Memoriam: Ahn Sung-Ki (1950-2026)
Actor Ahn Sung-ki played a major role in my interest in Korean films in the 2000s, so it brings an immense and bittersweet feeling to share that the screen legend has passed away at the age of 74 at a hospital in Seoul.
It is known that he collapsed last week while choking on food, landing him in intensive care right then. Additionally, Ahn had been undergoing treatment for a form of blood cancer since 2019.
I last covered Ahn’s work in The Housemaid – a surprising discovery of one of his child roles in a career that’s also seen him help shepherd the Asian New Wave of the 2000s. Such credits partly include Nowhere To Hide, Musa The Warrior, Slimido, Unbowed, The Divine Fury, and The Hunt, although to me, he’ll always be the altruistic Qi master who mentored Ryoo Seung-bum’s character in, Arahan, a movie forever rooted in my fandom and my writing. He will be sorely missed.
Read more at Patrick Frater’s Substack.
Lead Image: Promotional image for Arahan (2004) via Cinema Service
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
