Preeti Patil, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Lee Jong-suk a model turned actor who is considered as one of the biggest Hallyu stars along with actors Lee Min-ho and Kim Soo-hyun across the world. The actor is mostly known for his acting in dramas like ‘I Can Hear Your Voice’, ‘Doctor Stranger’, ‘While You Were Sleeping’, ‘Pinocchio’, Romance Is a Bonus Book. Let’s know more about this famous Korean actor, his works and more!

Jong-suk started his career as a model at the Seoul Collection Walkway in the year 2005 at the age of 15. He was the youngest male models to debut in the Seoul Collection Programme at Seoul Fashion Week. He was also a trainee under SM Entertainment as a rapper for the idol group ‘Real’ but quit after three months and took part in the SBS TV station selection of actors when in middle school.

In 2005, he debuted as an actor in the short film named ‘Sympathy.’ Later he continued with his modelling career and after four years in 2010 he officially debuted in the South Korean TV series ‘Prosecutor Princess’ as a supporting character Lee Woo-hyun. He also made his debut in movies the same year with the movie ‘Ghost.’

Jong-suk started gaining recognition after his supporting role in the hit drama ‘Secret Garden’ where he portrayed a testing role as a gay boy who had a crush on the second male lead. He further gained popularity with MBC’s sitcom ‘High Kick 3’ as he played the role of a teenager with one sided love triangle. He was also loved for his antagonistic relationship with his sister which was none other than played by Krystal.

Lee Jong-suk was casted as one of the main leads as a high schooler in the teen drama ‘School 2013’ by which he received his first ever acting award for the category Best Acting Award at the 2012 KBS Drama Awards. In 2013, Lee Jong-suk ranked 5^th place according to a survey entitled ‘Actors Who Lit Up 2013’ by Gallup Korea, which is one of the recognized awards in South Korea for entertainment industry. As the drama ‘School 2013’ gained many positive reviews Lee Jong-suk he was later on casted in the drama I Can Hear Your Voice opposite Lee Bo-young. He portrayed the role of an intelligent high school senior who has the ability of reading minds. The series was originally of 16 episodes but due to its great success it was further extended by more 2 episodes. He won the Excellence Award in Male category at the Korean Drama Awards for his performance in the same. The same year he starred in two movies, No Breathing a sports film and The Face Reader, a historical movie which was a hit at the box office.

From 2014 Jong-suk started with his mainstream popularity after he was casted in Doctor Stranger that was one of the biggest hits in his career as it made a huge success, where he depicted a North Korean defector who worked as a doctor in South Korea. Pinocchio was another one of his biggest hits where he portrayed the role of a first-year reporter at the broadcasting company alongside Park Shin-hye. The drama was very successful and was reported with the revenue of 6.2 billion won for broadcasting rights in only one year. Looking at his performances in the dramas ‘Doctor Stranger’ and ‘Pinocchio’ he was awarded the Male Top Excellence award at the 8^th Korean Drama Awards and also the Best Actor Award at the 27^th Grimae Award becoming the youngest actor to receive the award.

As the actor gained recognition and his fan following increased, he embarked a fan meeting tour to meet his fans across Asia. His first fan meet was scheduled on September 14^th in Seoul and further on went on to Beijing, Thailand, Taiwan which went on for nine months.  After his fan meet, he was casted in a Chinese fantasy romance drama opposite Zheng Shaung filmed in Shanghai. As the actor’s contract at the Wellmade Yedang ended he signed a contract under YG Entertainment in the year 2016. The following years the actor gave his best in the hit dramas like W: Two Worlds, web drama First Seven Kisses and While You Were Sleeping. He even played a negative role in the crime thriller action film V.I.P. the movie apparently was his first lead role as a villain. Jong-suk also won his first Daesang at the MBC Drama Awards for his 2016 drama ‘W’. Later in 2018 he was seen in the drama The Hymn of Death based on the real-life event.

The drama Lee Jong-suk was casted in before he gave the news of enlisting in the military was Romance is a Bonus Book, a hit-drama which was a another feather in his hat that proved him as a versatile and mature actor.

Along with his acting and modelling profession Lee Jong-suk is also an amazing singer, he has made his soundtrack appearances in two OST’s of his 2017 drama While You Were Sleeping: Come to Me and Would You know. In an interview he confessed that he loved playing piano and when he was younger he practiced taekwondo. He also said to be enjoying playing baduk. Jong-suk doesn’t like crowded places and isn’t a big fan of attention; he admitted in a variety show that he is suffering from scopophobia (fear of attention) and is an introvert in real life.

In the year 2017, he opened a dining café located in Garosu-gil called 89 Mansion. It was one of his dreams to open a café and moreover he himself decorated the place. He can also fly airplanes; he took trainings for three months to become a pilot and is a goodwill ambassador for the Global Aviation in Ansan. He is also appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for Korean Tourism Organization where he was also a part of their 8-episode promotional video that were of different genre like a documentary, signature, trend, adventure, fantasy, thriller, romance and mystery to show the different facets of South Korea. The video series introduced tourist attractions in 10 different regions including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Jeju and Gyeongju.

Lee Jong-suk completed his military enlistment back in January 2021 and came back with the noir and legal genre drama called Big Mouth alongside Im Yoon-ah/Lim Yoona. He has been continuously impressing us with his excellent acting and modelling and we hope he will keep doing it in the future too. What do you like about him, tell us in the comments!