Parasite Actor Lee Sun-kyun Dies At 48

Lee Sun-kyun, the South Korean actor who starred in Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite and the Apple TV+ series Dr. Brain, has died at the age of 48.

He is survived by his wife, the actress Jeon Hye-jin, and their two sons.

According to South Korean news agency Korea Times, Lee was found dead inside a car at a park in Seoul on Wednesday morning, local time. Yonhap reports that Lee’s wife reported to police that the actor had left home and that she had found what appeared to be a suicide note. Lee had been under investigation over allegations that he had used illegal drugs. The report also says that Lee had been questioned three times by police, including for 19 hours over the weekend over his use of marijuana and psychoactive drugs.

Lee was best known for playing Park Dong-ik, the patriarch of the rich family that owns the house that is the setting of Bong’s 2019 black comedy thriller Parasite. He also starred in many South Korean movies, such as All About My Wife, Helpless, and more. Most recently, he was the lead on Dr. Brain, Apple TV+’s first Korean-language original series. In the six-episode sci-fi thriller, he played Koh Se-won, a cold, calculating neurologist who tries to garner clues via brain experiments to solve a family mystery.