Age, Biography and Wiki

Na Woon-gyu was born on 26 November, 1902 in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, Korean Empire (now North Korea), is a Korean filmmaker and actor (1902–1937). Discover Na Woon-gyu's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 34 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Actor, screenwriter, director
Age 34 years old
Zodiac Sign Sagittarius
Born 26 November 1902
Birthday 26 November
Birthplace Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, Korean Empire (now North Korea)
Date of death 9 August, 1937
Died Place Keijō, Keiki-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan (now Seoul, South Korea)
Nationality North Korea

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 26 November. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 34 years old group.

Na Woon-gyu Height, Weight & Measurements

At 34 years old, Na Woon-gyu height not available right now. We will update Na Woon-gyu's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
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Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Family
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Na Woon-gyu Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Na Woon-gyu worth at the age of 34 years old? Na Woon-gyu’s income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. He is from North Korea. We have estimated Na Woon-gyu's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income Actor

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Timeline

1902

Na Woon-gyu (October 27, 1902 – August 9, 1937) was a Korean actor, screenwriter and director.

He is widely considered the most important filmmaker in early Korean cinema, and possibly Korea's first true movie star.

Since he often wrote, directed and acted in his films, he has even been said to have started the auteur film-making tradition in Korea.

Na Woon-gyu was the third son of Na Hyong-gwon, a military officer during the final days of the Joseon period who had returned to his hometown of Hoeryong, Hamgyongbuk-do to teach.

1919

As a high-school student, Na was involved in theater and acting, but also in anti-Japanese activities including the March 1, 1919 protest against the occupation.

To avoid imprisonment, he spent two years crossing and re-crossing the Duman River, which separates Korea from Manchuria.

He traveled as far as Siberia, joining with Korean Liberation fighters in anti-occupation work.

1921

In 1921, he returned to Seoul, and enrolled in Yonhui (now Yonsei) University to study social science.

It was at this period that his fascination with the cinema began.

He would fill notebooks with jottings while watching films in theaters, and would carry a hand mirror with him wherever he went to practice facial expressions.

However, like the main character in his first, and most famous film, Arirang, he was caught by the Japanese and jailed for his participation in The March 1st Movement.

While in prison in Chongjin, from 1921 until 1923, Na received his artistic pen-name, Chunsa, from Lee Chun-song, another resistance fighter.

1923

When he was released in 1923, he joined the Yerimhoe Play Troupe in his hometown, Hoeryong.

After leaving the troupe, he sold all of his books to buy a train ticket to Busan, where he applied for a job acting at the Choson Film Company.

He started playing extras and then villains in films for this company.

1925

His debut was in the 1925 film UnYeongJeon.

Though Na Woon-gyu has been described as short, and with a toad-like face which suited him for the peasant roles he often played, the anger and frustration he was able to project on the screen suited the situation and mood of the Korean people at the time.

Na first came to public attention in the role of the father of the title character in Lee Kyong-son's 1925 film, Simchong-jon (The Story of Shim Chong).

1926

His first film as writer/director/star, Arirang (1926), was a national sensation in Korea.

Films in Korea underwent censorship and restrictions by the Japanese authorities.

Scripts had to be submitted to, and approved by the occupying Japanese government before they could be produced and distributed.

Criticism of the government was censored, leading most films to be in the melodramatic, sentimental style known as shinpa. Na's innovation in Arirang was finding a way to express Korean opposition to the Japanese occupation metaphorically by unifying the shinpa style with a spirit of nationalism.

He thereby made cinema in Korea no longer mere entertainment, but a vehicle for an expression of national resistance to the Japanese occupation.

Arirang had initiated the period of nationalist film in Korea which continued from 1926 until about 1930, when harsher suppressive measures were undertaken by the authorities.

After Arirang, tear-jerker shinpa-style movies that did no more than entertain, without appealing to a deeper national need, were criticized by the Korean press.

Indeed, some of Na's own later films were also criticized in this way.

1927

Financed by Park Sung-pil, owner of Dansongsa Theater, Na founded Na Woon-kyu Productions in September 1927 and opened his production company in Changsin-dong, near Dongdaemun.

In contrast to the Japanese-run studios, the company's goal was to produce films by Koreans, for Koreans.

1929

Na's 1929 Salangeul chajaseo was an epic film employing more than a thousand extras.

As with Arirang, a period of Na's own life could be seen as an inspiration for the story.

It dealt with Koreans crossing the Duman River, as Na himself had done, in search of freedom from Japanese oppression.

The film was banned at first, but was finally released, though in a heavily revised and edited form.

The failure of Beongeoli Sam-ryong (1929) soon forced the closure of Na's studio.

1931

Korean director and film historian Yu Hyun-mok states that Na's appearance with a Japanese woman as his romantic interest in the 1931 shinpa film, Geumganghan (The Grief of Geumgan), was seen as a betrayal by the Korean people, and had a profoundly negative impact on his career.

Due to the time he spent in prison and the torture he underwent there, Na suffered from poor health throughout his life.

1937

He died at the age of 34 (or 36 by Korean counting) of tuberculosis in 1937.

Short though his career was, he was the most prolific filmmaker of the era known as the "Golden Age of Silent Films" in Korea.

In a period of about ten years he acted in twenty-six movies, and directed fifteen.

Allegations of working with the Japanese do not seem to have harmed Na's reputation as one of the founders of Korean cinema either in his own time or in the following decades.

Na's funeral procession was led by a band playing Arirang, and was attended by mourning crowds in spite of the rain.