Nam Ki-nam

Professional Trajectory

An extremely prolific and fast working commercial director in South Korea. In 1942, he was born in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province. At the age of seventeen, he wanted to become an actor in 1959, but he changed direction to direct because he felt he was not as good as the actors he met. He graduated from the University of the Arts, and entered the film industry in the 1960s. Since then, he worked first as an assistant director until his debut in 1972. After that he directed over 100 films. He would shoot multiple films simultaneously, often using the same set ups, and would memorize the scripts so he could work without it. He was also noted for his ability to quickly shoot additional scenes for import movies so they would be allowed to be shown in South Korea, as well as doing Korean second unit work for Hong Kong and Taiwanese films often without credit.