Yahoo Lifestyle 'Squid Game' Actress Dead at 81
Squid Game star Lee Joo-sil has passed away. She was 81 years old.
The Korean actress reportedly went into cardiac arrest at her home on the morning of Feb. 2 and was pronounced dead after being transferred to St. Mary’s Hospital in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, according to People. She had been diagnosed with stomach cancer three months earlier.
Lee was known for playing Park Mal Soon, the mother of Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and stepmother of Hwang Jun-ho (Lee Byung-hun) in Squid Game, as well as her appearances in the 2016 thriller Train to Busan and K-drama The Uncanny Counter.
‘Squid Game’ actress dies three months after cancer diagnosis at age 81 https://t.co/ULxNPAdxQX pic.twitter.com/JFNlsnY4tf
— New York Post (@nypost) February 2, 2025
Related: 'Squid Game' Set to End With Season 3 in June 2025
While in her fifties, Lee was diagnosed with breast cancer and given one year to live, but defied the odds by surviving the disease.
“I found out at the end of stage 3 and it soon became stage 4,” she said in 2023, per the outlet, adding, “I overcame it well because I have children.”
“Everyone becomes stronger when faced with a crisis,” she continued. “If you let everything go, you become helpless. When I was contacted by a film company to work with them, I said, ‘I’m sick,’ and they said, ‘That’s an illness, and we’re working.’ I was grateful for that kind of thinking.”
Lee began her acting career in 1964, starring in stage productions of Death of a Salesman and Macbeth. According to IMDB, she went on to gain recognition as both a voice actress and a performer on the big and small screen, starting in the industry through TBC's second voice acting class in 1965.
In addition to being a successful actor, Lee also obtained a doctorate in Public Health at Wonkwang University in 2010 with a thesis titled "The Effect of Integrated Arts Therapy on the Post-Traumatic Self-Identity, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control of North Korean Defectors."
