Other name:
Lee Sun Gyun, Lee Seon Gyun, Lee Seon-kyun Korean name: hangul - 이선균, hanja - 李善均 Born:
March 2, 1975. Seoul, South Korea Education: Korean National University of Arts
BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in Acting 1994-2001 Wife:
Jeon Hye Jin (전혜진) actress (January 1, 1976.) Wedding: May 23, 2009. Children:
Lee Rook (이룩) son (November 25, 2009.) Lee Roon (이룬) son (August 9, 2011.)
Lee Sun Kyun is a South Korean actor. He entered the Korea National University of Arts in 1994, and graduated in the first ever batch of its School of Drama. In 2001, he debuted as Brad Majors in the musical The Rocky Horror Show.
After beginning his career in musical theatre, for many years Lee was relegated to minor and supporting roles on screen, only getting to play lead characters in one-act dramas on KBS Drama City(Sweet 18 (2003), Dr. Love (2004), Semi-transparent (2004), Innocent Love (2005), Love of a Spider Woman (2005) and MBC Best Theater (Loveholic (2003), Dad Romeo, Mom Juliet (2003), Behind (2006). Moreover he played little roles in Lovers (2002) and Thousand Years of Love (2003) TV series, and in the Fugitive Lee Doo Young (2006) four episodes of mini series. He achieved his breakthrough in 2007 with the critically lauded medical series White Tower. 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 (2007) brought Lee mainstream popularity, which he followed with My Sweet Seoul (2008), Triple (2009), Pasta (2010), Golden Time (2012) and Miss Korea (2013).
Lee was appointed as ambassador for the Health Insurance Review Agency in 2007, and won an award from the Korea Advertisers Association in 2008.
Meanwhile Lee played little roles in movies: Make It Big (2002), Surprise Party (2002), A Perfect Match (2002), Boss X-file (2002), Scent of Love (2003), My Mother the Mermaid (2004), Love So, Divine (2004), R-Point (2004), Sa-kwa (2005). Some bigger roles in Show Show Show (2003) and The Customer is Always Right (2006). He's first main character was in crime-comedy A Cruel Attendance (2006), then he played with his friend, Oh Man Seok in serial killer thriller Our Town (2007). After he received a lead in romentic comedy Romentic Island (2008), which one is his most popular movie.
Despite his burgeoning fame, Lee then turned to low-budget arthouse films to polish his acting caliber. Night and Day (2008), Visitors (Lost int he Mountains) (2010), Oki’s Movie (2010), Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) and Our Sunhi (2013) were all directed by Hong Sang Soo, an auteur renowned for his realistic portrayal of ordinary lives.
Lee also headlined Paju (2009), 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.
With Pasta (2010), in which he played a brilliant-but-abrasive chef, Lee successfully shook off his "gentle" TV drama image, and the series' popularity made him a bankable romantic leading man. Lee Sun Kyun and Pasta co-starring Gong Hyo Jin won the Best Couple Award at the MBC Drama Awards in 2010. The romantic-comedy movie, Petty Romance(2010) reunited Lee with his My Sweet Seoul(2008) co-star Choi Kang Hee.
Lee showed his support for the revival of Drama Special (formerly Drama City) by starring in Our Slightly Risque Relationship (2010) (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.
In 2011 he played one-upmanship action comedy Officer of the Year (also known as Arrest King). In 2012 he starred in two consecutive well-reviewed big-screen hits - mystery thriller Helpless and romantic comedy All about my Wife. Reuniting with the director of Pasta, Lee returned to the medical drama genre and played a trauma doctor in Golden Time together with Lee Sung Min.
Lee returned to the theather opposite wife Jeon Hye Jin in Mike Bartlett's stage play Love Love Love in 2013. End of 2013, he played a drama in Miss Korea. The following year, he headlined the film A Hard Day, which screened at the Director's Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2014. The film was very successfull and won many awards. Lee Sun Kyun won Best Actor Award for A Hard Day at 51th Baeksang Arts Awards on May 26, 2015.
Lee Sun Kyun won "Best Actor" award for "A Hard Day" at 51th Baeksang Arts Awards (2015.05.26.)
Personal life:
Lee married his longtime girlfriend, actress Jeon Hye Jin(I’m Sorry, I Love You, The Naked Kitchen) on May 23, 2009. Their first son, Lee Rook was born on November 25, 2009, and their second son, Lee Roon was born on August 9, 2011.
