Lee Yo-won

Lee Yo-won
Lee Yo-won in 2013
Born	(1980-04-09) April 9, 1980 Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
Education	Dankook University - Theater and Film
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present
Agent	Management Koo
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Spouse(s)	Park Jin-woo (m. 2003)
Children	3
Korean name
Hangul	이요원
Hanja	李枖原
Revised Romanization	I Yo-won
McCune–Reischauer	I Yowŏn

Lee Yo-won (born April 9, 1980) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Queen Seondeok in the eponymous hit period drama (2009), as well as for her work in Take Care of My Cat (2001), Fashion 70's (2005), Surgeon Bong Dal-hee (2007), 49 Days (2011), Empire of Gold (2013), and Ms. Temper and Nam Jung-Gi (2016).

Career

Lee Yo-won was a sophomore in high school when she won a modeling contest and first appeared as a model in the November 1997 issue of fashion magazine Figaro. This led to commercials, then to minor roles in television series and movies. Though she started getting recognized by the public after the box-office success of anarchic comedy Attack the Gas Station (1999), her first notable acting role was in controversial TV drama Blue Mist (2001), where she played a young woman in her 20s who becomes romantically involved with a married man in his 40s.^[2]

Critical darling Take Care of My Cat (2001) followed shortly, for which she received several newcomer awards. In a later interview with Elle Korea in 2009, she cited the film as her most memorable work.^[3]

But after starring in a number of big-screen star vehicles that weren't received well by audiences and critics, Lee felt mentally and physically exhausted.^[4] After finishing the historical drama Daemang (lit. "The Great Ambition", 2002), she made the surprising announcement that she was temporarily retiring from the entertainment scene.

Lee made a successful acting comeback in 2005, as the lead actress in period drama Fashion 70's, which she chose because she wanted to work with TV director Lee Jae-gyu (who had previously directed Damo), and because it was not a typical love story, but depicted a woman's success in life and career.^[5] A supporting role followed in romantic comedy When Romance Meets Destiny.^[4]

Lee Yo-won at the 49 days press conference in 2011.

In 2007, Lee played the titular character in hit medical drama/romance Surgeon Bong Dal-hee,^[6] though her next series, melodrama Bad Love was less successful in the ratings. She then switched to more serious fare as part of the ensemble cast of May 18, a film about the Gwangju massacre and one of the highest grossing Korean films of all time.^[7][8]

Tired of playing fragile characters, Lee portrayed Queen Seondeok of Silla in the massively popular period drama Queen Seondeok (2009).^[9] Her follow-up, fantasy melodrama 49 Days (2011) in which she played dual roles as a woman possessed, also resonated with audiences.^[10][11] Afterwards she appeared in Horse Doctor (2012) about a Joseon-era veterinarian turned royal physician,^[12] and Empire of Gold (2013) which revolved around a power struggle over a chaebol.^[13]

On the big screen, Lee said after her enjoyable experience working with Jeong Jae-eun on Take Care of My Cat, she wanted to work with other female directors, so she starred in Anna Lee's romantic mystery The Recipe (2010) and Bang Eun-jin's crime thriller Perfect Number (2012). In contrast, she was cast in the only female starring role in Kang Woo-suk's Fists of Legend (2013), about middle-aged men who join a televised mixed martial arts tournament/reality show.^[14]

In 2016, Lee made a successful comeback to the small-screen with the quirky romantic-comedy Ms. Temper and Nam Jung-Gi. Her role as a hot-headed career woman was well-received, with many citing it as her "rediscovery role". She then participated in another film, titled Youngest, playing a reporter who is the oldest among-st four siblings.

Lee would be starring in the upcoming MBC drama Night Light, alongside Jin Goo and UEE.

Personal life

Lee married businessman and professional golfer Park Jin-woo on January 10, 2003.^[15][16] The couple have two daughters & one son (born in Dec 2003, May 2014 and May 2015).^{[17][18][19][20]}

Filmography

Film

Television series

Music video

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lee Yo-won.

• Lee Yo-won at Management Koo (Korean)
• Lee Yo-won Fan Cafe at Daum (Korean)
• Lee Yo-won at the Korean Movie Database
• Lee Yo-won at the Internet Movie Database
• Lee Yo-won at HanCinema