Na Un'gyu
Korean actor and director (1902–1937)
Na Woon-gyu (Korean: 나운규; Hanja: 羅雲奎; 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.
Early life
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. 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.
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.
The public source identifies “Na Un'gyu” as korean actor and director (1902–1937). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Un'gyu, Korean and actor.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q841146. VIAF identifies the subject as 24877796. The Library of Congress control number is n87874676. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1902, 1937, 1919 and 1921.
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This entry incorporates text from “Na Un'gyu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.