Steven Yeun facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Steven Yeun
Yeun at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Yeun Sang-Yeop (1983-12-21) December 21, 1983 (age 41) Seoul, South Korea
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Kalamazoo College (BA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2004–present
Spouse(s)	Joana Pak ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	2
Korean name
Hangul	연상엽
Revised Romanization	Yeon Sangyeop
McCune–Reischauer	Yŏn Sangyŏp

Steven Yeun (born December 21, 1983) is an American actor. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, and later moved to the United States.

Steven Yeun became well-known for playing Glenn Rhee in the TV series The Walking Dead from 2010 to 2016. He also received great praise for his roles in the movies Burning (2018) and Minari (2020). For Minari, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. This made him the first Asian American actor to get this nomination.

In 2021, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. More recently, in 2023, he starred in the TV show Beef. For this role, he won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Steven Yeun has also appeared in other movies like Okja (2017), Sorry to Bother You (2018), and Nope (2022). He has also lent his voice to many animated TV shows. These include Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016–2018), Tales of Arcadia (2016–2021), and Invincible (2021–present).

Early Life and Education

Steven Yeun was born in Seoul, South Korea, on December 21, 1983. His parents are Je and June Yeun. In 1988, his family moved to Canada, living in Regina, Saskatchewan. They later moved to the U.S., settling in Michigan. Steven graduated from Troy High School in 2001. At home, his family spoke Korean.

His parents owned beauty supply stores. They started calling him "Steven" after meeting a doctor with that name. In 2005, he earned a degree in psychology from Kalamazoo College. While there, he saw an improv show that made him want to try acting. This led him to take his first acting class.

Career Highlights

Starting Out (2005–2009)

After college, Steven told his parents he wanted to be an actor. They were not thrilled but supported him. They gave him two years to try acting. In 2005, he moved to Chicago. He joined a comedy group called Stir Friday Night. He also joined The Second City, a famous improv theater. In 2009, he moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.

Becoming Famous with The Walking Dead (2010–2016)

Steven Yeun at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con

Steven Yeun's big break came when he was cast as Glenn Rhee in The Walking Dead. This was a popular horror TV show on AMC. The show started in 2010. It was about a group of people trying to survive in a world full of zombies.

The Walking Dead became one of the most-watched shows on cable TV. Steven Yeun was a main character for many seasons. He left the show in 2016 after the seventh season began.

Moving to Movies (2017–2020)

After The Walking Dead, Steven Yeun started acting in more films.

• In 2017, he was in the action horror movie Mayhem.
• He also starred in the action-adventure film Okja, directed by Bong Joon-ho. This movie was shown at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
• He voiced the character Bo in the animated movie The Star (2017).
• In 2018, he co-starred in the comedy Sorry to Bother You.
• Later in 2018, Steven played Ben in the South Korean movie Burning. His acting in this film was highly praised. He won several awards for Best Supporting Actor.
• He also voiced the main character Mark Grayson in the animated superhero series Invincible, which started in 2021.

In 2020, Steven Yeun starred in and helped produce the movie Minari. This film was about a Korean immigrant family who become farmers in Arkansas. Steven used his own experiences as an immigrant to help with his role. The movie won awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Steven was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Minari. This was a very important nomination for him and for Asian American actors.

Steven Yeun has also done a lot of voice acting for cartoons. He voiced Avatar Wan in The Legend of Korra (2013). He was Steve Palchuk in Trollhunters (2016–2018) and 3Below (2018-2019). He also voiced Keith in Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016–2018), Little Cato in Final Space (2018–2021), and Speckle in Tuca & Bertie (2019–2022).

Recent Success with Beef (2021–Present)

In 2021, Steven Yeun was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. He also co-starred in the movie The Humans (2021). In 2022, he was in Jordan Peele's science fiction horror movie Nope. He played Ricky "Jupe" Park, who owned a fictional theme park.

In 2023, Steven Yeun starred in the Netflix dark comedy series Beef. He also helped produce the show. For his amazing performance, he won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. He was the second person of Asian descent to win the Golden Globe Award in this category.

Personal Life

Steven Yeun married photographer Joana Pak on December 3, 2016. They live in Los Angeles and have two children.

He is a big fan of the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Red Wings sports teams.

Filmography

Steven Yeun at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

Film

Television

Music Videos

Video Games

Awards and Nominations

Steven Yeun has won many awards during his career. For his main role in Minari (2020), he was nominated for an Academy Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. For his work on Beef (2023), he won two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards. He was also nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Beef.

See also

In Spanish: Steven Yeun para niños