Lee Jung-Jae

Lee Jung-Jae (born December 15, 1972, Seoul, South Korea) is a South Korean actor who garnered international fame for his starring role in the hit Netflix series Squid Game (2021– ; Ojing-eo geim). Before joining the cast, Lee built a diverse and award-winning career in Korean television and film.

While Lee was working as a cashier at a café in the Gangnam district of Seoul, designer Ha Yong-Soo noticed Lee and persuaded him to model for a magazine shoot. The opportunity eventually led to full-time modeling work and appearances in television ads. Lee made his professional acting debut in the 1993 television drama Dinosaur Teacher (Gongryong seonsaeng), and a year later he had his first role in a feature film with The Young Man (Jeolmeun namja).

Lee became a household name with the television series Sandglass (1995; Moraesigye), in which he portrayed a quiet but charismatic bodyguard. For the role, he garnered newcomer awards at the Daejong Film Festival, Korean Critics Choice Awards and the Baeksang Arts Awards. On the big screen, Lee’s breakout role was in An Affair (1998; Jung sa) starring as a man who falls in love with his fiancée’s sister. That same year he played a gambler in City of the Rising Sun (Taeyangeun eobda). The part netted him awards for best actor from both the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.

In 2000 Lee costarred in the romance Il Mare (Siworae), which was unsuccessful in theatres but went on to be regarded as a minor classic. It was the first Korean film to inspire a Hollywood remake, with The Lake House (2006). His other roles from the 2000s included the box-office hit Oh! Brothers (2003; O! Beu-ra-deo-seu) and the action film Typhoon (2005; Tae-poong). In 2007, while appearing in the television series Air City (Eo siti), Lee enrolled at Dongguk University’s graduate program in theatre and film to improve his craft. The actor earned a master’s degree in 2008 and that year played Hamlet in his first onstage performance.

Lee opened up the next decade by starring in the film The Housemaid (2010; Hanyo), an erotic thriller that competed at both the Cannes film festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2012 he appeared in an ensemble heist thriller, The Thieves (Dodookdeul), playing the leader of a group of professional robbers. At the time, the movie was the second highest-grossing movie ever produced in South Korea. Lee’s roles from 2013 include an undercover policeman in the gangster epic New World (Sinsegye) and Prince Suyang in the historical film The Face Reader (Gwansang). He won best supporting actor for the latter at the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Baeksang Arts Awards.

Lee remained a fixture of the box office for the rest of the decade, starring in a number of historical epics. In 2015 he reunited with The Thieves director Choi Dong-Hoon for Assassination (Amsal), in which Lee played a member of the Korean resistance against the Japanese occupation of the 1930s. That same year Lee confirmed reports that he was in a long-term relationship with Lim Se-Ryung, businesswoman and heiress to Daesang Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. Lee then appeared in Battle for Incheon: Operation Chromite (2016; Incheon sangryuk jakjeon), portraying a South Korean captain engaged in intelligence gathering prior to the famous landing, and Warriors of the Dawn (2017; Daeripgun), set during 1592 when Korea successfully repelled invading Japanese forces. He followed up with the fantasies Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017; Sin-gwa ham-kke: Jwi-wa beol) and Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018; Sin-gwa ham-kke: In-gwa yeon). Lee returned to the small screen in 2019 to play a political adviser in the drama Chief of Staff (Bojwagwan).

In 2021 Lee was cast in Squid Game, which boosted him to global renown. He starred as Seong Gi-Hun, an indebted gambler who is convinced to take part in a series of lethal challenges based on children’s games. For his performance, Lee made history as the first Asian man to win the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series. He also won the Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

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Following the success of Squid Game, Lee was in high demand. In 2022 he signed on as a lead in the television series The Acolyte, a Star Wars spin-off. That year Lee made his directorial debut with the spy thriller Hunt (Heon-teu), which premiered at the Cannes film festival. He also starred in the film and wrote the screenplay.

In addition to acting, directing, and writing, Lee has a variety of business interests. He owns a chain of restaurants, is the founder of a real-estate company, and is a cofounder of a talent agency.