Jae Hui

Jae Hee (; born Lee Hyun-kyun on May 25, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his leading roles in the 2004 arthouse film 3-Iron and the 2005 television series Sassy Girl Chun-hyang.

Career Jae Hee began his acting career as a child actor in the 1997 drama Mountain. He continued to appear on television, such as in the campus drama School 2 and the family sitcom Wuri's Family, as well as the 2000 horror film Bloody Beach.

In 2004, he was cast as the lead actor in Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron, playing a silent young man who breaks into vacant houses and while living there for a few days, he cleans the house and repairs broken gadgets during his stay. The arthouse film won critical acclaim both locally and internationally. For his performance Jae Hee was named Best New Actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

But Jae Hee's breakout role would come in 2005, when he played the playful but loyal Lee Mong-ryong in Sassy Girl Chun-hyang, a modernized romantic comedy based on the well-known folktale Chunhyangjeon. It became a huge hit not only in Korea, but throughout Asia, making him and co-star Han Chae-young into Korean Wave stars.

He followed that with action comedy film The Art of Fighting in 2006, in which he played a bullied high school kid who learns about martial arts and life from a wizened mentor (played by veteran actor Baek Yoon-sik).

Jae Hee returned to television, playing a chef in 2007's Witch Yoo Hee (in which he reunited with Chun-hyang director Jeon Ki-sang), and a surrogate father in 2008's One Mom and Three Dads, but those series were less successful ratings-wise.

On August 5, 2008, he enlisted for mandatory military service. He was assigned to the Defense Media Agency until his discharge on June 18, 2010.

For his first post-army project, Jae Hee was initially cast in Bravo, My Love!, but had to drop out after he sustained a back injury during windsurfing practice for the role. Instead, he starred as the chaebol heir of a cosmetics firm in cable romantic comedy Color of Woman, which aired on Channel A in 2011.

Jae Hee played the antagonist in May Queen, a 2012 generational epic set against the backdrop of the shipbuilding industry in Ulsan during Korea's modernization. He received an Excellence Award from the MBC Drama Awards.

In 2013, he joined period drama Jang Ok-jung, Living by Love, a revisionist take on the titular Jang, more infamously known as the royal concubine Jang Hui-bin. Initially cast as Jang Ok-jung's first love, his screen time was drastically reduced. Later that year, his Chinese film Crimes of Passion received a theater release three years after Jae Hee shot it in 2010.

Other activities Jae Hee is currently running an online apparel shopping mall called Easy by Step, which he established in May 2007.

Personal life After an article appeared in the South Korean magazine that the presumed bachelor actor was leading a secret life, Jae Hee confirmed on October 23, 2012, that he had been married to a non-celebrity since 2010, and that he and his wife have a son. He said he did not reveal his marital status not because he was ashamed or hiding his family (the marriage and his son's birth were officially registered at the borough office), but because he wanted to be "private" and "protect his loved-ones."

Filmography

Television series Year Title Role Network 1997 Mountain MBC1998 I Love You! I Love You! Lee Joo-beom SBS Steal My Heart Choi Kwan-woo SBS New Generation Report: Adults Don't Know KBS1 Soonpoong Clinic Pizza delivery man (episodes 184, 367) SBS 1999 School 2 Lee Sung-je KBS2 2000 Golbangi SBS Medical Center AIDS patient (guest, episode 5) SBS 2001 Wuri's Family Gyeo-re MBC 2002 To Be with You Lee Sang-won KBS1 2005 Sassy Girl Chun-hyang Lee Mong-ryong KBS2 2006 My Girl Lee Mong-ryong (cameo, episode 16) SBS 2007 Witch Yoo Hee Chae Moo-ryong SBS2008 One Mom and Three Dads Choi Kwang-hee KBS2 Oh Goo the Exorcism Yoon Ki-joo KBS2 Chase! X-boyfriend Mnet 2011 Color of Woman Yoon Joon-soo Channel A 2012 May Queen Park Chang-hee MBC2013 Jang Ok-jung, Living by Love Hyun Chi-soo SBS The Eldest Park Soon-taek JTBC 2015 Save the Family Jung Woo-jin KBS12016 The Vampire Detective Han Gyu-min OCN Goddess of Immortality Movie Director Naver 2017 You Are Too Much Jo Sung-taek MBC 2018 Voice Son Ho-min (guest, season 2, episode 8–9) OCN 2019 Blessing of the Sea Ma Poong-do MBC 2021 A Good Supper Kyung-soo MBC

Film Year Title Role 1999 Ghost in Love Jin Chae-byul's younger brother 2000 Bloody Beach Won-il 2004 3-Iron Tae-suk 2006 The Art of Fighting Song Byeong-tae 2007 The Evil Twin Hyun-sik Zig Zag Love Sung-hyun 2008 Mandate Choi Kang 2013 Crimes of Passion Jeong-hee 2018 Folktale Heung-boo 2018 Memento Mori Min-soo 2020 Two Big Men Resort Development Investment Entrepreneur

Television shows Year Title Role 2022 Empathy Documentary Shelter Main Cast

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2004 25th Blue Dragon Film Awards Best New Actor 3-Iron 2005 KBS Drama Awards Best New Actor Sassy Girl Chun-hyang Best Couple Award with Han Chae-young 200641st Baeksang Arts Awards Best New Actor (TV) Best New Actor (Film) 3-Iron 2009 The Army Chief of Staff Award 2012 MBC Drama Awards Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama May Queen 2015 4th APAN Star Awards Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial DramaSave the Family KBS Drama Awards Excellence Award, Actor in a Daily Drama 2016 2nd KWebFest Best Actor Goddess of Immortality 2018 4th SeoulWebFest Best Actor Memento Mori 2019 MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend/Daily Drama Blessing of the Sea 2021 2021 MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Daily Drama A Good Supper