Lee Sun-kyun

Lee Sun-kyun (born March 2, 1975) is a South Korean actor. After beginning his career in musical theatre, for many years Lee was relegated to minor and supporting roles onscreen, only getting to play lead characters in one-act dramas on KBS Drama City and MBC Best Theater. In one such Best Theater project, he worked with TV director Lee Yoon-jung on Taereung National Village (2005), which led to him being cast in her later series The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince in 2007. Coffee Prince, along with medical drama White Tower brought Lee mainstream popularity, which he followed with Pasta (2010) and Golden Time (2012).

Meanwhile on the big screen, he received a Best Actor award from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival for his role in Paju (2009), followed by critical acclaim for mystery thriller Helpless (2012), romantic comedy All About My Wife (2012), and crime/black comedy A Hard Day (2014). Lee also continues to collaborate with auteur Hong Sang-soo, and his arthouse films with Hong include Night and Day (2008), Oki's Movie (2010), and Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013).

Career

Lee Sun-kyun entered the Korea National University of Arts in 1994, and graduated in the first ever batch of its School of Drama. In 2001, he made his acting debut as Brad Majors in the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show.^[2]

Relegated to small supporting roles for many years, he achieved his breakthrough in 2007 with the critically lauded medical drama White Tower and the highly popular romantic series The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince. Besides Coffee Prince, he has worked with director Lee Yoon-jung two other times—in the sports-themed Taereung National Village in 2005, and in slice-of-life drama Triple in 2009.^[3]

Lee was appointed as ambassador for the Health Insurance Review Agency in 2007, and won an award from the Korea Advertisers Association in 2008.

Despite his burgeoning fame, Lee then turned to low-budget arthouse films to polish his acting caliber. Night and Day, Lost in the Mountains, Oki's Movie, Nobody's Daughter Haewon and Our Sunhi were all directed by Hong Sang-soo, an auteur renowned for his realistic portrayal of ordinary lives.^[2] Lee also headlined Paju,^[4] for which he won the Best Actor award at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival held in Spain. Film distributor Myung Film quoted the judging committee as handing Lee high points for portraying the anguish his character felt for loving his wife's younger sister.^[5]

With Pasta, in which he played a brilliant-but-abrasive chef, Lee successfully shook off his "gentle" TV drama image,^[6] and the series' popularity made him a bankable romantic leading man.^[7][8][9] Petty Romance reunited him with his My Sweet Seoul co-star Choi Kang-hee,^[10][11][12] and one-upmanship action comedy Officer of the Year (also known as Arrest King) soon followed.^[13][14]

Lee showed his support for the revival of Drama Special (formerly Drama City) by starring in Our Slightly Risque Relationship (his acting was later recognized at the KBS Drama Awards). He has continually defended the importance of the short drama format as a training ground for young talent, acknowledging its contribution to his own career.^[15]

In 2012, he starred in two consecutive well-reviewed big-screen hits—mystery thriller Helpless^[16] and romantic comedy All About My Wife.^[17] Reuniting with Pasta director Kwon Seok-jang, Lee played a trauma doctor in Golden Time.^{[18][19][20][21]} His third collaboration with Kwon was Miss Korea set amidst the IMF crisis in the 1990s.

Lee returned to the theater opposite wife Jeon Hye-jin in Mike Bartlett's stage play Love, Love, Love in 2013.^[22] The following year, he headlined the film A Hard Day, which screened at the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and became a critically acclaimed sleeper hit at the box office.^[23][24][25] In 2015, Lee starred in courtroom drama film The Advocate: A Missing Body.^[26][27]

Personal life

Lee married his girlfriend of seven years, actress Jeon Hye-jin (I'm Sorry, I Love You, The Naked Kitchen) on May 23, 2009.^[28][29][30]

Their sons were born on November 25, 2009, and August 9, 2011.^[31][32]

Filmography

Film

Television series

Variety show

Music video

Theater

Discography

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• KT 1541 Collect Call (2002)
• CJ CheilJedang Condition Power (2006)
• Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (2007)
• Ministry of Health and Welfare (2007)
• LG Whisen air conditioner (2008)
• Dunkin' Donuts (2008)
• Sempio Food Premium Soy Sauce (샘표간장) (2008)
• Pizza Hut (2008)
• Kia Sportage (2008)
• GS Home Shopping (2009)
• Sempio Food Brown Rice Vinegar Drink (백년동안) (2010)
• Ace Bed (2011)
• Cambridge Kolon GGIO II (2011)
• Downy (2012)
• Sensodyne (2012)
• Oreo (2012)
• Boehringer Ingelheim Mucopect (2012)
• Orion Swing Chips (2014)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Lee Sun-kyun on Cyworld
• Lee Sun-kyun Fan Cafe at Daum
• Lee Sun-kyun at the Korean Movie Database
• Lee Sun-kyun at the Internet Movie Database
• Lee Sun-kyun at HanCinema