Shin Seong-il was born in
Daegu, South Korea. His first major role was in
Shin Sang-ok's A Romantic Papa (1960). Shin appears in 51 films that were released in 1967 alone. He also starred in 324 of the 1,194 films that were shown in Korea from 1964 to 1971. In the early 1970s, Shin Seong-il started working as a film director. In 1978, he entered politics and became a member of the
16th National Assembly before leaving politics and returning to acting. From 2002 to 2005, Shin Seong-il was the director of the
Korean Film Actors Association, serving for two terms (29th & 30th) before handing the position over to fellow actor
Ahn Sung-ki. Shin's last film was
Door to the Night in 2013. In 2017, Shin Seong-il was the main subject of a retrospective at the
22nd Busan International Film Festival. Shin Seong-il died of
lung cancer at the age of 81 on November 4, 2018. Filmmaker
Lee Jang-ho was working with Shin shortly before he passed with a script for an unreleased film titled
Sohwakhaeong. == Personal Life ==