Paul Sun-Hyung Lee

Early life

When Lee was three months old, his parents emigrated from Daejeon, Chungnam, South Korea, to Canada. They lived successively in London, Toronto, and Calgary.

In 1990, Lee moved back to Ontario to attend the University of Toronto. He studied in the drama program at University College.

Career

Lee made his acting debut in 1989 in the television series Gideon Oliver. He had a supporting role in the film Ice Princess (2005) playing Tiffany's father. Lee appeared in the horror film P2 and the thriller The Echo. In 2006, he took the role of Jung Park in the video game Rainbow Six: Vegas and its 2008 sequel Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.

Lee was part of the main cast of the Global nightly improvised soap opera Train 48 in the role of Randy Ko for the entire run of the series from 2003 to 2005.

In 2012, Lee won the Best Actor citation from the Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards for his portrayal of Kim Sang-il in Kim's Convenience. He played the role of Appa on stage in several Toronto productions of Kim's Convenience and on a national tour with the Soulpepper theatre company, as well as at an Off Broadway staging of the play. In 2016, Lee played Zhang Lin in the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre/Canadian Stage production of Chimerica. On January 11, 2017, he guest starred on an episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Lee has been nominated twice for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role, Large Theatre, for The Monster Under the Bed in 2010 and Kim's Convenience in 2012. In the 5th, 6th, and 9th Canadian Screen Awards, he won the Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Appa in the Kim's Convenience television series. Lee was selected to host the fourth season of the reality competition show Canada's Smartest Person, entitled Canada's Smartest Person Junior and featuring children as contestants.

Lee is also a playwright. His play Dangling premiered N8at Toronto's fu-GEN theatre festival in 2010.

In 2020, he appeared as New Republic X-wing pilot Captain Carson Teva in The Mandalorian. He reprised the role in The Book of Boba Fett episode "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian".

In 2021, Lee appeared as a panelist on Canada Reads, championing Natalie Zina Walschots's novel Hench. In the same year, Lee's five seasons on Kim's Convenience came to an abrupt end when the two show runners left the project.

In 2022, he was announced as the host of Fandemonium, a factual series which will profile the internal cultures of various pop culture fandoms. He also appeared on the 2022 revival of The Kids in the Hall.

In 2023, he returned as Carson Teva in The Mandalorian Season 3 episodes The Pirate and The Return. He also appears in Ahsoka as Captain Carson Teva.

In 2024, he played Uncle Iroh in the Netflix live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. On March 6, 2024, Netflix announced that the series was renewed for two additional seasons after garnering 21.2 million views in its first four days. He also plays a new main character, Inspector Albert Choi, the new head of Station House No 4, in the eighteenth season of the CBC mystery series Murdoch Mysteries.

Honours

In 2023, Lee received the National Arts Centre Award at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

References

1. "Calgarian is ready to commute". ''[[Calgary Herald]]'', June 2, 2003.
2. "Hit play a homecoming for actor Sun-Hyung Lee". ''[[Calgary Herald]]'', September 19, 2013.
3. Young, Liz. (2024-01-17). "Where You've Seen The Cast Of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Before".
4. Schedeen, Jesse. (2020-12-21). "The Mandalorian: Every Character and Celebrity Cameo So Far".
5. Phan, Rachel. (May 31, 2012). "Kim's Convenience gets five thumbs up at Toronto Theatre Critics Awards". National Post.
6. He brought the role of Appa to television in 2016 when the show was [[Kim's Convenience. link. (May 30, 2020 . ''[[University of Toronto). U of T News]]'', October 24, 2016.
7. Maga, Carly. (April 1, 2016). "Chimerica has stimulating ideas but underwhelming dialogue: review".
8. "Women on top; Crash, Penelopiad top Dora nominations". ''[[National Post]]'', June 6, 2012.
9. Vlessing, Etan. (March 12, 2017). "'Orphan Black' Star Tatiana Maslany Dominates Canadian Screen Awards With Two Best Actress Wins".
10. (November 12, 2018). "15 Minutes with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee". Reader's Digest.
11. (April 28, 2010). "Hey, it's that guy from the IKEA ad and a TV show I never watched!". [[National Post]].
12. (November 9, 2020). "'Kim's Convenience' star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee lands 'dream' role in 'The Mandalorian'". [[CTV News]].
13. (November 8, 2020). "How Kim's Convenience star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee arrived in The Mandalorian". [[CBC News]].
14. Dumaraog, Ana. (November 20, 2020). "The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 4 Cast & Cameos Guide". Screen Rant.
15. (January 21, 2021). "Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is looking forward to 'making reading cool' on Canada Reads".
16. Volmers, Eric. (March 19, 2021). "'It died from within': Two actors lament the untimely demise of Kim's Convenience". Calgary Herald.
17. Ravindran, Manori. (8 February 2022). "'Kim's Convenience' Star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee to Host Fandom Series (EXCLUSIVE)".
18. (April 13, 2022). "The Kids In The Hall Return For New Series – See The Trailer".
19. (May 16, 2022). "'The Kids in the Hall' Continues to Push Boundaries with Uncompromising New Season".
20. Sepinwall, Alan. (March 29, 2023). "'The Mandalorian' Gets a Special 'SNL' Guest Star and Veers Off-Course".
21. Chong, Joshua. (April 20, 2023). "Paul Sun-Hyung Lee could have larger role on 'The Mandalorian,' Star Wars spinoff series suggests in season finale".
22. (21 February 2024). "'I've got to pinch myself': Paul Sun-Hyung Lee on playing Iroh in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'". [[thestar.com.
23. (24 February 2024). "'How 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee Brought Uncle Iroh to Life: 'I Did Not Take That Task Lightly'". [[thewrap.com.
24. (4 March 2024). "The Avatar: The Last Airbender Cast React to Season 2 & 3 Renewal". Netflix.
25. (27 February 2024). "Avatar: The Last Airbender Smashes One Piece Viewership with Netflix Debut". [[Movieweb.com.
26. (July 23, 2024). "'Murdoch Mysteries' Season 18 Casts Paul Sun-Hyung Lee—See Him on Set With Yannick Bisson (VIDEO)". TVInsider.com.
27. Thompson, Oliver. (May 4, 2023). "Paul Sun-Hyung Lee started acting because of Star Wars. Now, he's in Star Wars". [[CBC News]].
28. Volmers, Eric. (Feb 23, 2023). "k.d. lang, Kim's Convenience actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee to become Governor General laureates". [[Calgary Herald]].
29. "End of Days, Inc.".
30. (January 13, 2025). "THE SECOND". [[Every Frame a Painting]].
31. Lee, Paul Sun-Hyung. (April 10, 2018). "Thank you for letting me play today!!! So. Much. Fun. #okseeyou #bravestknight #animation".
32. Otterson, Joe. (November 16, 2021). "'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Netflix Live-Action Series Casts Its Uncle Iroh, Gyatso, and Commander Zhao". [[Variety (magazine).
33. Milligan, Mercedes. (2024-05-23). "CBC Greenlights Animatronics Pre-K Series 'Go Togo'".