After 9 Years Together, Gu Gyo-hwan and Lee Ok-seop Quietly Married in 2022

Actor Gu Gyo-hwan and director Lee Ok-seop have been legally married since 2022, his agency Namoo Actors confirmed on October 1st, four years after the couple quietly filed their marriage registration.

"Gu Gyo-hwan and Lee Ok-seop have trusted and leaned on each other as partners for a long time, and registered their marriage in 2022," the agency said in an official statement. "They remain by each other's side as each other's closest colleague and family. We ask for your warm congratulations and support for the two of them, and they will continue to greet you with good work in their respective fields."

The couple had been widely known as one of the Korean film industry's most enduring pairs, but the revelation that they have already been husband and wife for four years came as a genuine surprise. They began dating in 2013 after meeting as Seoul Institute of the Arts alumni, and first went public with their relationship in 2020. Two years into that public courtship, they filed the paperwork and became legally married, without a ceremony and with no plans to hold one.

A creative partnership built over more than a decade

Their bond has never been limited to their personal life. The two first worked together on the short film 4학년 보경이 (Senior Bokyung) back in 2013, and their collaboration has grown into a body of work that spans features and shorts alike, including Catfish and several other projects. They co-run the production company 2X9HD together, making them creative partners in the truest professional sense as well.

That collaboration continues now. Gu stars in Your Country, a feature led by comedian Jang Do-yeon that has already wrapped production under Lee's direction. They are also working together on Love Counselor, starring Lee Na-young in what is expected to be a notable return to the screen for the actress; that film is currently in production.

A busy stretch for Gu Gyo-hwan

Gu, 44, has been one of the more consistently present faces in Korean film and television over the past several years. He debuted in 2008 and built his reputation across projects including Peninsula, Escape from Mogadishu, Smugglers, and both seasons of the Netflix series D.P., which gave him some of his widest international exposure. His film Resurrection Man: The Red opened on September 30th and is currently in theaters. Another feature, Heavy Snow, is scheduled to release before the end of the year.

Lee Ok-seop, 39, began her career in 2007 with short-form work and has steadily developed her voice as a director, with her feature Maggie earning particular attention in festival circles.

For those who have followed the couple's careers closely, the marriage confirmation is less a surprise than a formality catching up to what the work already made visible: two artists who have built something together over thirteen years, and clearly intend to keep going.