Lee Joon-gi

Biography

Lee Joon-gi (Korean: 이준기; born 17 April 1982) is a South Korean actor, singer, and dancer. He rose to fame on his first leading role playing a clown in the critically acclaimed film The King and the Clown (2005) and gained further recognition in the romantic comedy My Girl (2005−06). Since then, he has diversified into other genres such as historical dramas (sageuk) and action thrillers. He is also known for his roles in Iljimae (2008), Two Weeks (2013), Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016), Lawless Lawyer (2018), and Flower of Evil (2020). The popularity of his work overseas, especially in Asia, have established him as a top Hallyu star.

== Early life and education == Lee Joon-gi was born in Daeyeon-dong, Nam District, Busan, South Korea but spent his schooling years in nearby Changwon. He first became interested in the performing arts as a high school student after watching a performance of Hamlet. After finishing high school, he went against his parents' wishes for him to enter university and moved to Seoul to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. For the next several years, Lee worked at various part-time jobs such as waiting tables while auditioning for roles and also debuted as a print and commercial model in 2001. He was accepted into the Seoul Arts College on a scholarship and graduated in 2007.

== Career ==

=== 2005: King and the Clown and rising fame === After bit-part roles in several dramas and films, Lee had his first major acting role in the 2005 film The King and the Clown, in which he played the historical figure Gong-gil, an effeminate clown in the Joseon period. The film, which achieved both critical and commercial success, propelled the then-unknown actor into Asia-wide stardom. Apart from winning numerous Best Newcomer recognition at the Korean Film Awards, Grand Bell Awards and Baeksang Art Awards, Lee also won the Best Actor Award at the Max Movie Awards. Producer Lee Joon-ik revealed the story of how he chose Lee for The King and the Clown, despite being an unknown and relatively new actor, by just seeing him do handstands, saying, "Just because of handstands, Lee Joon-gi became the person he is today." After the film, Lee became "an icon" of the South Korean "pretty boy" trend. Lee has since tried to downplay this kkonminam image, saying that his character Gong-gil in the film felt like being in foot-irons so he wanted to escape from the image: "After my performance in The King and the Clown, I found myself at the forefront of this 'pretty boy' trend, whether or not that was my intention. Suddenly, people were interested in me, and there was all this praise and criticism all at the same time. Everything was just so overwhelming. I felt like I was floating on air." Lee was against the halving of screen quotas in South Korea that allows foreign films to be shown in theaters on certain days, while domestic films are allotted another number of days. He believed that without the screen quotas, The King and the Clown would not have been as successful in competing against foreign films.

=== 2006–2007: Overseas popularity === Lee was then cast as the second lead character in SBS's My Girl alongside Lee Da-hae and Lee Dong-wook. With an average viewership rating of 20%, the romance comedy series became a hit during its run both domestically and across Asia, further catapulting Lee into Korean Wave stardom. Due to the drama's popularity, the 'Lee Joon-gi Syndrome' occurred, establishing himself as a cultural icon of his time. For his follow-up film Fly, Daddy, Fly, directed by Choi Jong-tae and produced by Dyne Film-Guardtec, he was reportedly paid ₩100 million, relatively low given his rising popularity following King and the Clown. This is because the contract was signed in early December before the film's release when Lee was an unknown actor. The film garnered much attention and media coverage among Chinese viewers. In 2007, Lee filmed a joint Korea-Japan movie entitled Virgin Snow with Japanese actress Aoi Miyazaki, in which he plays a Korean exchange student. Virgin Snow was successful as it placed 9th at the box office chart and set a new ticket admissions record for a Korean film released in Japan. Lee later received the Rising Star Award at the 27th Hawaii International Film Festival. The same year, he participated in the film May 18, which is based on the events surrounding the Gwangju Massacre of 1980. 18 May achieved excellent box office results, and was later awarded the Gold Orchid Best Feature Film for the year of 2007. However, there was criticism that both of these productions, along with Fly, Daddy, Fly, had "either fallen short of expectations at the box office or cast Lee in minor roles." Lee also took on his first drama leading role in MBC action drama, Time Between Dog and Wolf, as in which his character portrays a vengeful NIS agent with a violent streak, planning to infiltrate a drug gang to avenge the death of his mother. Prior from his previous work, the actor portrays variety of complexive emotions, successfully dispelling the 'pretty boy image' by showing off a manly short haircut in preparation for his role. With Lee Joon-Gi's notable performance, he successfully won the Excellence Award at the 2007 MBC Drama Awards. Director Kim Jin-min opined some years later that it was a turning point for Lee as the role enabled him to shed his "pretty boy" image and also highlight his martial arts background.

=== 2008–2009: Tourism ambassadorship and contractual dispute ===

From April to July 2008, Lee played the titular role in SBS's Iljimae, a period-action drama based on Chinese folklore from the Ming dynasty about a masked Robin Hood-esque character during the Joseon era. The final episode achieved a rating of 31.4% viewership, and Lee later received the Top Excellence Award at the 2008 SBS Drama Awards. The drama was also aired in Japan on the channel TV Tokyo. On 29 July 2008, Lee was chosen as the Ambassador for the 2008 Seoul Hallyu Festival. He was also appointed the first Honorary Legal System Officer since the constitution of the Government Legislation Agency to commemorate their 60th anniversary. In September 2008, Lee had a contractual dispute with his agency Mentor Entertainment, whom he was signed to since March 2004 in an exclusive contract for five years. Lee was being sued for ₩500 million for breach of contract and for supposedly hiding ₩1 billion in an attempt to "established his own agency in association with his manager". Lee countered that he "underwent significant financial damage as the company was poor in dealing with tax affairs and profit distribution" and he is said to have notified them of contract cancellation in February. On 5 August 2009, Lee was appointed promotional ambassador of the Korea Tourism Organization. The same year, he starred in the comedic-action drama Hero, playing a reporter.

=== 2010–2012: Military service === In February 2010, upon the expiration of Lee's contract with Mentor Entertainment, he signed with a newly established independent agency, JG Company. On 3 May 2010, Lee enlisted in the Republic of Korea Army to serve his mandatory military service. He first underwent five weeks of basic training at Nonsan military training camp, earning top scores in marksmanship, and was later drafted into active duty. He was assigned to the public relations department of the Ministry of National Defense He had initially applied for a postponement because he was in the midst of shooting Grand Prix with actress Kim Tae-hee, and was cast to star in television drama Faith. He was also chosen to represent Korea as a goodwill ambassador at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. However, Military Manpower Administration declined and sent a final notice for enlistment, leading him to pull out of both projects. In August, Lee co-starred with fellow actor Ju Ji-hoon in military musical, Voyage of Life to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. The musical was also co-produced by the Ministry of National Defense and Korea Musical Theatre Association, and was shown from 21 to 29 August in the National Theater of Korea. After serving 21 months of active duty, Lee was discharged on 16 February 2012 from the Defense Media Agency at Yongsan-dong, Yongsan District, Seoul.