Lee Jung-jae wins Best Male Performance at Independent Spirit Awards

Television

Published: 07 Mar. 2022, 11:28 Updated: 07 Mar. 2022, 15:53

Lee Jung-jae wins Best Male Performance at Independent Spirit Awards

Actor Lee Jung-jae in ″Squid Game″ (2021) [ARTIST COMPANY]

Actor Lee Jung-jae won Best Male Performance in a New Scripted series for his role in the hit Netflix series "Squid Game" (2021), at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards, held in Santa Monica on Sunday.

Lee portrayed the lead role Seong Gi-hun, a struggling father who participates in a series of deadly children's games for prize money of 45.6 billion won ($38.7 million).

Lee, who was unable to attend the ceremony due to another commitment, gave his acceptance speech via a pre-recorded video.

"Thank you for giving me this meaningful award and loving 'Squid Game,'" he said. "I thank the 'Squid Game' team, Netflix and all viewers.

"What you are all curious about the most is when season 2 [of Squid Game] will come out," he added. "Hang on for a bit."

Since being released in September 2021, Lee has won numerous prizes for his role in "Squid Game" at the Gotham Awards, People's Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards and more.

"Squid Game" also became the most-watched series on Netflix, garnering over 1.65 billion hours of view time in the first 28 days after its release.

The Independent Spirit Awards is an American awards ceremony held annually and is dedicated to independent filmmakers. Last year, Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung won Best Supporting Female for her role in "Minari" (2020).

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]