Lee In-seop 이인섭 李英勇

[J.J. Hayden]

Lee In-seop 이인섭 李英勇

Lee In-seop was born in South Korea on 15th April 1969. He has had a love of Taekwondo since he was 6 years old and used to watch and imitate Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. He was good at sports, doing mechanical gymnastics in elementary school and was on the Aikido demonstration team in middle school. At first, he dreamed of becoming an actor, but since he was good at sports he entered the physical education department at university, while taking a theatre and film class to pursue his dream. When he was in my first year of college, his friend recommended he do an action role as a part-time job, so he became a stunt man.

His first credited film role was in the 9th instalment of the popular "Thunderhawk" series Invincible Fighter Thunderhawk (1993), under the action direction of famed Korean super-kicker Won Jin. He would work on several of Korea's top action films of the 90s, including playing the role of "Dog" in 98's "Gosu" which was a passion project of several of Korea's top stuntmen. He then had a leading role alongside Jeon Jin-tae (aka Ricky Jun) in Jang Dong-oh (aka Raven Chang)'s "Dok Chong", a TV martial arts movie that featured Jang's Magpie Stunt Team, of which Lee became a member and would later feature Lee's future Jackie Chan Stunt Team teammate Park Hyeon-jin. He would receive praise for his work on Kim Jee-woon's The Foul King (2000) where he would share action director credit with fellow Korean action icon Jeong Doo-hong.

It had been noted by colleagues that he had a strong resemblance to Jackie Chan, a feature he would put to good use as he joined fellow Korean Park as an "official member the Jackie Chan Stunt Team". With his Taekwondo kicking-skills and similar look, he made a great stunt double for the martial arts icon, and would perform this role on many occasion during his time with the team.

Between filming with the JC Stunt Team, he would return home to South Korea and work in the local film industry, involving himself in stunt work, action direction and giving lectures and seminars at universities. In the mid 2000's would form the South Korean stunt team Triple A (All About Action)/(A.A.A), whose members would be become some of the country's top action directors, working on some of the industry's best action films, including: The Suspect (2013); War of the Arrows (2011); and Confidential Assignment (2017).

One of the few times (if not the only time) Lee In-seop plays a character in a Jackie Chan film, seen here on the right in Around The World In 80 Days:

For a full list of "official members of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team" see here: 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

I've discovered an interesting new show in Korea, called Super Action that started airing Sunday 27th November on TVN. It's a variety show where some of the top stunt teams in Korea compete to see who is truly the greatest when it comes to Korean stunt work.

Several of the teams may be familiar to fans of Korean cinema such as: MongDol; Best; 9stunt; and Orthodox. Best in particular has had some recent notoriety for being the stunt team for the highly popular TV series Squid Game.

Many of the stunt team members are talented martial artists and Asian cinema fans will also be interested in the inclusion of at least two of the judges: Jang Hyeok, who was the star of Korean fantasy action Volcano High; and Jackie Chan's main stunt double for twenty years, Lee In-seop.

Looks to be a very interesting show.

Cheers