Ma Dong-Seok

With his breakout performance in Train to Busan (2016) and subsequent leading roles, he has become one of the most successful actors from South Korea. He was Gallup Korea's Film Actor of the Year in 2018.

Ma Dong-seok
Ma at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Lee Dong-seok (1971-03-01) March 1, 1971 (age 53) Seoul, South Korea
Other names	Don Lee
Citizenship	South Korea (1971–1989) United States (1989–present)
Education	Columbus State Community College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2005–present
Agent	Big Punch Entertainment
Spouse	Ye Jung-hwa [ko] ​ ​ (m. 2021)​
Sports career
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	90 kg (199 lb)
Sport	Arm wrestling
Korean name
Hangul	마동석
Hanja	馬(魔)東錫
Revised Romanization	Ma Dongseok
McCune–Reischauer	Ma Tongsŏk
Birth name
Hangul	이동석
Hanja	李東錫
Revised Romanization	I Dongseok
McCune–Reischauer	I Tongsŏk
Website	bigpunchent.com

Ma rose to fame for his supporting roles in the films The Neighbor, Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time, and The Unjust. He then played leading roles in Norigae, Murderer, and One on One.

Ma's role in the zombie film Train to Busan propelled him to international popularity. His subsequent leading roles in films Derailed, The Bros, The Outlaws, Unstoppable, Champion, The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil, The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos and The Roundup along with supporting roles in Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days and Ashfall have met with critical and commercial successes led him to Most Bankable Star of Korean Cinema. Although known for his 'tough guy' persona roles, Ma is often celebrated and criticized for playing similar roles in his movies. In 2019, he joined the cast of the MCU film Eternals as Gilgamesh which marked his Hollywood debut.

On television, Ma is known for his roles in the hit OCN series Bad Guys and Squad 38.

In 2022, Ma signed a contract with LDH Japan, another large Japanese agency. His 2022 release action crime thriller The Roundup, sequel to his 2017 film The Outlaws not only opened to unanimous positive reviews but also became the highest grossing film of 2022 by surpassing 12 million admissions for the first time since 2019 and all time 3rd highest grosser in South Korea.

In 2024, dystopian film Badland Hunters in which Ma is playing role of wasteland hunter was released on 26 January on Netflix.

Under his Westernized name, Don Lee, and before he turned to acting, Ma was the personal trainer of mixed martial artists Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman.

 

With his production company Team Gorilla, Ma is currently involved in planning and writing screenplays. He worked on the screenplay for the film Deep Trap, in which he starred. He is also the co-creator of the OCN Dramatic Cinema series Team Bulldog: Off-Duty Investigation.

Ma has been an amateur armwrestler since 2008, and he became the president of Korea Armwrestling Federation in 2018.

In 2016, Ma was reportedly dating sports reporter and media personality Ye Jung-hwa [ko]. On October 20, 2022, Ma's agency stated that he and Ye registered their marriage last year. The wedding ceremony will be held at a later date, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and busy schedules.

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