Lee Sung Jin

Lee Sung Jin

Lee Sung Jin (Korean: 이성진; born October 2, 1981), also known as Sonny Lee, is an American screenwriter and director. He is best known for creating the Netflix series Beef, for which he received the 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards for directing and writing for a limited series.

Early life and education

Lee Sung Jin

Lee Sung Jin was born in South Korea in 1981. His family moved frequently in his youth; he moved to the United States when he was nine months old and returned to South Korea for third through fifth grade. In sixth grade he moved from Seoul to Minnesota, United States. He also lived in Illinois, Louisiana, Iowa, and Texas. He recalls it as “a horrible time to have a name no one can pronounce" and chose to go by "Sonny" instead.

Lee attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he sang in an a cappella group. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in economics.

Career

Lee Sung Jin

After graduating from college, Lee moved to Los Angeles and worked a variety of part-time jobs while writing scripts. He interned at the record label Barsuk Records. He wrote for the series Undone, Tuca & Bertie, Dave, and Silicon Valley. In 2008, he worked as a staff writer and executive story editor for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

He was inspired to create Beef by a road-rage confrontation with a middle-aged white man in Los Angeles. "I thought there was something interesting there—how we're all locked in our subjective world views, and we go around projecting a lot on the other person and not really seeing things for what they are", he said of the incident. He also served as director, executive producer, and showrunner on the series, forced to remotely direct scenes for the season finale "with my face on an iPad" because of a COVID-19 infection.

In August 2023, he visited South Korea to speak at a conference on the creation of films. He said he had not been to South Korea for around 25 years, since his childhood.

In November 2023, Variety reported that Lee had signed a multiyear deal to produce content for Netflix.

In 2023, Lee was reported to have joined the 2025 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thunderbolts as a writer, saying in an interview, "I'm rewriting it." In a later interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said he was "working off an existing script from Eric Pearson and I did my pass on it" before stepping away from the project and handing it off to Joanna Calo, who worked with him on Beef. The film credits the screenplay to Pearson and Calo, with the story by Pearson. According to the Writers Guild of America West, Lee received credit for "Additional Literary Material".

Lee wrote, directed, and produced the video for BTS leader RM's "Come Back to Me", a prerelease track from his second solo album, Right Place, Wrong Person, released in 2024.

Personal life

Lee Sung Jin

Lee lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Caty Solone, and three dogs. He plays the violin, guitar, and piano.

Selected filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2025	Thunderbolts	No	Uncredited	Additional Literary Material

Television

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Title</th><th>Creator</th><th>Director</th><th>Writer</th><th>Executive producer</th><th>Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2007–2008</td><td>Rob & Big</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Consultant Writer</td><td>No</td><td>24 episodes</td></tr><tr><td>2008–2009</td><td>It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Executive Story Editor</td><td>No</td><td>26 episodes</td></tr><tr><td>2010</td><td>Mothman</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>TV movie; co-screenwriter</td></tr><tr><td>2010–2014</td><td>2 Broke Girls</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>7 episodes</td></tr><tr><td>2015</td><td>Silicon Valley</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Episode: "Server Space"</td></tr><tr><td>2016</td><td>The Real O'Neals</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Episode: "The Real Book Club"</td></tr><tr><td>2018</td><td>Tuca & Bertie</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>2 episodes</td></tr><tr><td>2021</td><td>Dave</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>2 episodes</td></tr><tr><td>2023–present</td><td>Beef</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Also showrunner; director: "Figures of Light"</td></tr></tbody></table>

Music videos

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Artist</th><th>Title</th><th>Director</th><th>Writer</th><th>Producer</th><th>Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2024</td><td>RM</td><td>"Come Back to Me"</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Awards and nominations

Lee Sung Jin

<table><thead><tr><th>Award</th><th>Date of ceremony</th><th>Category</th><th>Work</th><th>Result</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Primetime Emmy Awards</td><td>September 20, 2015</td><td>Outstanding Comedy Series</td><td>Silicon Valley</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>January 15, 2024</td><td>Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie</td><td>Beef (episode "The Birds Don't Sing, They Screech in Pain")</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie</td><td>Beef (episode "Figures of Light")</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td>Golden Globe Awards</td><td>January 7, 2024</td><td>Best Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Critics Choice Awards</td><td>January 14, 2024</td><td>Best Limited Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>AFI Awards</td><td>January 5, 2024</td><td>Television Programs of the Year</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Television Academy Honors</td><td>May 30, 2024</td><td>Limited Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Astra TV Awards</td><td>January 8, 2024</td><td>Best Streaming Limited Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Best Writing in a Limited Series or Streaming Movie</td><td>Beef (episode "The Birds Don't Sing, They Screech in Pain")</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Best Directing in a Limited Series or Streaming Movie</td><td>Beef (episode "Figures of Light")</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td>Television Critics Association Awards</td><td>August 7, 2023</td><td>Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries or Specials</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>People's Choice Awards</td><td>February 18, 2024</td><td>The Bingeworthy Show of the Year</td><td>Beef</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Unforgettable Gala</td><td>December 16, 2023</td><td>Writer of the Year</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Gold House</td><td>May 29, 2024</td><td>Gold Icon Award</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>IndieWire Honors</td><td>December 7, 2023</td><td>Visionary Award in Television</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>BAFTA Television Awards</td><td>May 12, 2024</td><td>International</td><td>Beef</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Gotham Awards</td><td>November 27, 2023</td><td>Breakthrough Series (Under 40 minutes)</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>NAACP Image Awards</td><td>March 16, 2024</td><td>Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Film Independent Spirit Awards</td><td>February 25, 2024</td><td>Best New Scripted Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>PGA Awards</td><td>February 25, 2024</td><td>Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>WGA Awards</td><td>April 14, 2024</td><td>Limited Series</td><td>Beef</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>March 5, 2023</td><td>Television: Episodic Comedy</td><td>Dave (episode "Enlightened Dave")</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>February 13, 2016</td><td>Television: Comedy Series</td><td>Silicon Valley</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>