Lee Sung Jin (Korean: 이성진; born 1981), also known as Sonny Lee,[1] is a Korean-American writer and director. He is known for creating the Netflix series Beef, for which he received the 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards for directing and writing for a limited series.[2]
Lee Sung Jin was born in South Korea in 1981.[3] His family moved frequently in his youth; he moved to the United States when he was nine months old, and returned to Korea for third through fifth grade.[4] He then relocated from SeoultoMinnesota, United States, in sixth grade.[5] He also lived in Illinois, Louisiana, Iowa, and Texas.[6] He recalls it being “a horrible time to have a name no one can pronounce" and chose to go by "Sonny" instead.[7]
He was inspired to create Beef by a road rage confrontation he experienced with a middle-aged white man in Los Angeles.[10]『I thought there was something interesting there, how we’re all locked in our subjective world views, and we go around projecting a lot on the other person and not really seeing things for what they are,』he said of the incident.[11] He also served as director, executive producer and showrunner on the series, forced to remotely direct scenes for the season finale "with my face on an iPad" because of a COVID-19 infection.[1][12]
In August 2023, he visited South Korea to speak at a conference on the creation of films. During this, he said that he had not been back to South Korea for around 25 years, since his childhood.[3]
In November 2023, Variety reported that Lee had signed a multiyear deal to produce content for Netflix.[1]
Lee wrote, directed and produced the music video for BTS leader RM's "Come Back to Me," a prerelease track from his second solo album Right Place, Wrong Person, released May 2024.[14]
^Phillips, Zoe G. (2024-01-16). "'Beef' Creator Humbled By "Life Affirming" Response in Limited Series Emmy Win". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-01-17. In conclusion, he quipped: 'everything I do is for my three dogs, so the Federal Drug Administration, if you could please fast track that canine anti-aging pill, that would be so lovely.'
