Lee Jung-jae

Biography

Lee Jung-jae (이정재) is a prominent South Korean actor, born on December 15, 1972. He embarked on his career in modeling in 1993, transitioning to acting with his debut in the film *The Young Man* (1994) and television dramas *Feelings* (1994) and *Sandglass* (1995). The latter became a cultural phenomenon, achieving peak ratings of 64.5% and is regarded as one of the most acclaimed Korean dramas ever. Lee's true breakthrough came with leading roles in the critically praised films *The Affair* (1998) and *City of the Rising Sun* (1999), the latter earning him the Best Actor award at the renowned Blue Dragon Film Awards.

He continued to build on this success with notable films such as *Il Mare* (2000) and commercially successful titles like *Last Present* (2001), *The Last Witness* (2001), *Oh Brothers* (2003), and the action-packed *Typhoon* (2005). After a period of less successful projects, Lee made a triumphant return with *The Housemaid* (2010), a remake of the 1960 classic. This marked the beginning of a remarkable ascent, with Lee starring in blockbuster hits like *The Thieves* (2012), *New World* (2013), *Assassination* (2015), and the *Along with the Gods* series (2017-2018), many of which garnered over 12 million admissions domestically.

In 2020, he starred in *Deliver Us From Evil*, reuniting with his *New World* co-star Hwang Jung-min. The film proved to be a major success, attracting over 4 million viewers and becoming the second highest-grossing film in Korea that year.