A Quick Guide to the Steven Yeun Movies You Shouldn’t Skip Out On
The critically-acclaimed South Korean-born American actor has grown leaps and bounds since hanging up Glenn Rhee’s famous cap
“Hey. Hey you, dumbass. You in the tank. Cozy in there?”
These were the first lines Steven Yeun uttered as Glenn Rhee for his years-long stint on The Walking Dead. AMC’s post-apocalyptic horror series was a perfect jump-off point for the then unknown actor, who quickly became a fan favorite. Dead raked in hordes of viewers, peaking at an average of 14.38 million for its fifth season. Yeun’s character had met the same grisly demise as his comic counterpart, obliging the actor to bow out of the show in 2016. Glenn Rhee’s story had come to an end, but the next chapter in Steven Yeun’s was just beginning.
“I felt I had expanded beyond that and I was internally frustrated. I felt like I was servicing a concept of goodness, as opposed to engaging with Glenn's humanity,” Yeun told GQ in April this year.
His body of big-screen work post-Dead is nothing short of impressive. From a Bong Joon-ho action-adventure flick to a Boots Riley black comedy, from a Lee Chang-dong mystery drama to a Lee Isaac Chung immigrant story, it seems there’s nothing this Academy Award nominee can’t do.
He’s due to appear next in The Humans (dir. Steven Karam, 2021), a film adaptation based on a one-act play of the same name, and Nope (dir. Jordan Peele, 2022), a highly anticipated horror thriller. While you wait, why not comb through his current filmography? We’ve made it easier for you by rounding up his best work.
Steven Yeun Movies You Shouldn’t Skip Out On
Steven Yeun Movies You Shouldn’t Skip Out On
I Origins (2014)
Awarded the Best Feature Length Film at the Festival International de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, Mike Cahill’s sci-fi romance drama posits an odd theory: that reincarnated souls can be identified through iris biometrics. While combing through a database of eye scans, researcher Dr. Ian Grey (Michael Pitt) stumbles upon the record of a young girl named Salomina, whose scans perfectly match those of an old girlfriend who died in a freak accident. Intent on putting the soulmate theory to the test, Grey decides to look for her.
Photo Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures
I Origins (2014)
Yeun plays Kenny, Grey’s research partner and creator of the iris scan database. As one of only a handful of people with access to the database, he becomes instrumental in Grey’s search for Salomina.
Photo Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Okja (2017)
Only Bong Joon-ho can pit a young girl and a supersized pig against corporate greed, and have it make perfect sense. A young girl named Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) and her grandfather are one of 26 farmer families selected by Mirando Corporation to participate in the super pig program. Mija and Okja, their super pig, grow very close, which is why she is devastated when Mirando declares Okja the best super pig and takes her away. Mija attempts to chase down the truck that Okja is loaded onto, and gets caught in a fray between Mirando and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).
Photo Credit: Netflix
Okja (2017)
Yeun takes the role of K, an animal rights activist and ALF member who serves as the translator between Mija and the rest of the group. When the ALF proposes that they get Okja recaptured to help secure evidence of animal cruelty at Mirando, Mija disagrees and asks to go home. K purposefully mistranslates and tells the group she is onboard with their plan.
Photo Credit: Netflix
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Mayhem (2017)
Joe Lynch’s action comedy horror project pits a bunch of corporate scumbags against each other—and Steven Yeun is smack-dab in the middle of the bloodbath as Derek Cho, a lawyer who loses his moral compass while climbing the corporate ladder. The day he gets fired is the same day that the ID-7 “Red Eye” virus infiltrates the building. It infects neural pathways, renders one devoid of all inhibition, allowing people to act on their darkest impulses. Cho seizes the ensuing confusion as an opportunity to protest and get his job back, but his way to the top floor is barred by hordes of feuding infected.
Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios
Mayhem (2017)
The film enjoys a rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics applauding its smart, stylish violence and true-to-life attitude towards economic angst. Much praise was also heaped on Yeun, whose strong screen presence proved that he is, indeed, leading man material.
Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios
Sorry To Bother You (2018)
Set in alternate universe California, this staunchly anti-capitalist black comedy portrays top brass and mid-level management as the ultimate evil. They are schemers, enforcing policies that create compliant workers who labor and toil for cheap. Desperate to climb the corporate ladder, those in the lower ranks willingly give everything up—morals and identity included—for wealth and success. Such is the case of telemarketer Cash Green (Lakeith Stanfield), a black man who resorts to speaking in a “white voice” to do well at work. This comes at great cost, as performing to please white people causes his friends to distrust him.
Photo Credit: Universal Pictures
Sorry To Bother You (2018)
Yeun steps into the shoes of Squeeze, one of Green’s highly principled co-workers. A hotshot labor organizer, he forms a union with Green and a few other friends, intent on protesting against their corporate overlords’ malicious management style. He revealed in an interview with The Verge that Squeeze was specifically created by director Boots Riley with him in mind.
Photo Credit: Universal Pictures
Burning (2018)
It’s difficult to speak at great length about Burning without giving too much away. Described by director Lee Chang-dong himself as “a story about young people in today’s world,” the film revolves around the mundane existence of Lee Jong-su (Yoo A-in), an aspiring writer that makes ends meet by working odd jobs. The course of his life is altered drastically upon meeting Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), a former classmate getting ready to leave for Africa. She returns to Korea with Ben (Yeun), a young man she was stranded with at Nairobi Airport.
Photo Credit: CGV Arthouse
Burning (2018)
Jong-su is instantly suspicious, and he has every right to be. There’s just something that isn’t right about Ben—and it’s something you pick up on right away thanks to Yeun’s performance. Ben is a sophisticate; he drives expensive cars, hangs out with wealthy folks, and throws money around like it’s nothing. He is always at ease, but the way he looks at you makes you feel everything but. The character demands a masterclass in restraint, and Yeun graduates with flying colors. A bit of extra trivia: this is his first-ever Korean language project.
Photo Credit: CGV Arthouse
Burning (2018)
Burning received critical universal acclaim among critics and viewers alike. The psychological slow-burn thriller won several accolades: FIPRESCI Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Best Foreign Language Film for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Best International Film at the 2019 Saturn Awards, among others. Although it was not nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 91st Academy Awards, it became the first Korean film to make it to the shortlist. Yeun’s performance garnered several supporting actor nods from various award-issuing bodies as well.
Photo Credit: CGV Arthouse
Minari (2020)
An outlier in Yeun’s current body of film work—he’s either working to dismantle a system or warding off hordes of infected—the ubiquitously gentle Minari (dir. Lee Isaac Chung) hands him his first-ever Academy Award nomination. He is Jacob Yi, a dissatisfied chicken sexer with entrepreneurial ambitions so great that he uproots his family from California to a vast plot of land in rural Arkansas. He dreams of growing Korean vegetables to sell to his fellow immigrants, giving them a taste of home.
Photo Credit: A24
Minari (2020)
The character of the Yi family patriarch bears little similarity to any of Yeun’s previous roles, but his maturity as an actor makes him a perfect fit. He’s at his finest when Yi is confronted with something illogical, whether it be the services of a water diviner or even his own wife’s religious beliefs. Yi doesn’t believe in such things—he seems almost offended by them, sometimes—and Yeun wears this annoyance quite well.
Photo Credit: A24
Minari (2020)
Nominated in six categories at the 93rd Academy Awards, Minari took home the Best Supporting Actress Award courtesy of Youn Yuh-jung. It was awarded Best Foreign Language Film at the 26th Critics’ Choice Awards and the 78th Golden Globe Awards, and the US Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Photo Credit: A24
Lead photos from films Minari, Mayhem, and Burning courtesy of A24, 20th Century Studios, and CGV Arthouse
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