Lee Chung-ah

Lee Chung-ah (; born October 29, 1984) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading roles in the films Temptation of Wolves and My Tutor Friend 2 (2007), as well as the cable dramas Cool Guys, Hot Ramen (2011), VIP (2019) and Celebrity (2023).

Career Lee Chung-ah began her acting career by playing supporting roles in the films Resurrection of the Little Match Girl (2002) and Happy Ero Christmas (2003). In 2004, she landed her first leading role in Temptation of Wolves (2004), a film adaptation of an internet novel by Guiyeoni. Lee played a country girl who moves to the city and attracts the attention of the two most popular boys in town, played by Jo Han-sun and Kang Dong-won. The film made the two actors into breakout stars, but not Lee.

She was cast as a lead actress in her first television drama Let's Go to the Beach (2005), where she and Lee Wan played bickering lifeguards who later fall in love. In 2006, Lee starred in the family drama Going Together and the omnibus film Ssunday Seoul.

Lee then starred in My Tutor Friend 2 (2007), the sequel to the 2003 hit film of the same title. She studied Japanese for her role as a Japanese exchange student who goes to Korea in search of her first love, then meets a happy-go-lucky university student (Park Ki-woong) who becomes her Korean language tutor. A year later, she was cast in Kim Jee-woon's kimchi western The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) in a small role as the foster sister of Jung Woo-sung's character. Lee said that she practiced horseback riding for this film but those scenes were deleted in post-production. She later showed her horseback riding skills in Chosun Police Season 2, a series set during the reign of Emperor Gojong in which she played a damo with a dark past.

On television, Lee continued to appear in supporting roles in 2009 with the romantic comedy The Accidental Couple and family drama Jolly Widows. This was followed by the 2010 daily drama Pure Pumpkin Flower, where she played a pure-hearted girl who never loses hope even in difficult circumstances.

In 2011, she starred in the leading role in cable romantic comedy series Cool Guys, Hot Ramen. Lee played a college girl preparing for teacher certification examination who unexpectedly inherits her father's ramen restaurant; she becomes involved in a love triangle with two of her employees, the arrogant heir to the biggest food conglomerate in Korea (Jung Il-woo) and a lazy but warm-heated genius chef (Lee Ki-woo). Cool Guys, Hot Ramen received solid ratings for a Korean cable drama, and became the first of tvN's "flower boy" programming, which included Dating Agency: Cyrano on which Lee made a guest appearance in 2013.

Lee was in two variety shows in 2012. She hosted Cats and Dogs, a talk show in which pet owners shared information to foster a more mature pet culture. Lee then appeared in the second season of Music and Lyrics, a reality show in which a celebrity pair write and compose a song together. She wrote the lyrics and actor Seo Ji-seok composed the music for the ballad "Looking Forward to It," which was sung by Heo Young-saeng and used as the theme song of Seo In-guk's character in the family drama The Sons.

Lee reunited with Happy Ero Christmas costar Kim Sun-a in the 2013 revenge thriller The Five. Adapted from the webtoon of the same title, she played a detective with a delinquent credit history who helps kill a serial killer in exchange for an organ transplant for her ill mother. Later in the year, she played a doormat wife in the weekend drama series Wonderful Mama.

In 2019, Lee returned to small screen with office mystery drama VIP.

In July 2021, Lee signed a contract with J-Wide Company.

In 2022, Lee appeared in the SBS drama One Dollar Lawyer.

In October 2024, Lee signed an exclusive contract with Management Soop. It is based on the Swedish television series Heder which evolves around a 20-year-old secret that the three lawyer friends buried, which resurfaces and throws their lives into chaos.

Personal life Her father is musical theatre actor .

She began dating actor Lee Ki-woo in 2013; they were co-stars in the 2011 series Cool Guys, Hot Ramen and broke up in 2019.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2002 Resurrection of the Little Match Girl Girl in soju-bang Tears Girl 2003 Happy Ero Christmas Lee Hae-min 2004 Twentidentity Girl Segment: "Convenience Store at 2:00 a.m." Temptation of Wolves Jung Han-kyung 2005 The Dark Plan of Green Tea Planet S Short film 2006 Ssunday Seoul Young-ja Segment: "The Young Adventurer" 2007 My Tutor Friend 2 Kitano Junko 2008 The Good, the Bad, the Weird Song-yi 2010 The First Love Series Han Seo-yeon Segment: "Paper Crane" Finding Mr. Destiny Ji-hye Oh! Happy Day Girl next door Short film Lee Chung-ah's Seoul Play 2013 The Five Park Jeong-ha 2014 First Love Struck Me One Day Yong-jae Twinkle-Twinkle Pitter-Patter Short film 2015 Northern Limit Line Lieutenant Choi Yoon-jung Cameo 2017 Bluebeard Mi-yeon 2019 Spring, Again

Television series Year Title Role Notes 2005 Let's Go to the Beach Yoon So-ra 2006 Going Together Da-seul 2008 Chosun Police 2 Han Da-kyung 2009 The Accidental Couple Goo Min-ji Jolly Widows Han Soo-hyun 2010 Pure Pumpkin Flower Park Soon-jung 2011 Cool Guys, Hot Ramen Yang Eun-bi 2013 Wonderful Mama Oh Da-jung Dating Agency: Cyrano Seol Yoo-jin Cameo (Episode 1) 2014 High School King of Savvy Attractive woman Cameo (Episode 17) KBS Drama Special – "Bride in Sneakers" Park Bo-kyung 2015–2016 Riders: Catch Tomorrow Yoon So-dam 2016 The Vampire Detective Yo-na Lucky Romance Seol-hee / Amy 2017 Because This Is My First Life Go Jung-min 2019 Beautiful World Kang Joon-Ha VIP Lee Hyeon-ah 2020 JTBC Drama Festa – "Hello Dracula" So-jung 2020–2021 Awaken Jamie Leighton 2022 One Dollar Lawyer Lee Joo-young 2023 My Dearest Gak-hwa Part 2 2026 Honour Hwang Hyun-jin

Web series Year Title Role 2017–2018 The Best Moment to Quit Your Job Sun-hee 2023 Celebrity Yoon Shi-hyeon 2024 Hide Ha Yeon-ju

Television shows Year Title Role Notes 2010 The Fox's Butler Host 2012 Cats and Dogs Music and Lyrics (Season 2) Paired with Seo Ji-seok 2016 Battle Trip Contestant With Seo Hyo-rim (Episodes 27–30) 2018 Rural Police Cast member Seasons 3–4 Everyone's Kitchen Pilot episode 2019 Episode 1–11 (except episode 6) 2022 The Power of the Art Market, Art Collection Narrator Special documentary

Music video appearances Year Title Artist 2004 "We Were in Love" Lyn 2005 "Coward" Buzz 2008 "웃어도 눈물이" Ryu Joo-hwan "Because of You" Shin Hye-sung 2010 "Telephone" Electro Boyz (feat. Horan) "Full Story" V.O.S 2013 "The Day to Love" Lee Seung-chul 2015 "The Only Thing I Can't Do" Gummy

Ambassadorship Ambassador for the 1st Ulsan International Film Festival (2021)

Accolades Awards and nominations + Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee of the award, and the result of the nomination Award ceremony Year Category Nominee / Work Result The 11th Asian Model Awards 2016 Model Star Award Lee Chung-ah Cable TV Broadcasting Awards 2016 Best Character Riders: Get Tomorrow Golden Cinematography Awards 2005 Best New Actress Temptation of Wolves Grand Bell Awards 2005 KBS Drama Awards 2009 The Accidental Couple and Jolly Widows MBC Drama Awards 2016 Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries Lucky Romance 2023 Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries My Dearest SBS Drama Awards 2019 Best Supporting Actress VIP 2022 Best Performance One Dollar Lawyer

Listicles + Name of publisher, year listed, name of listicle, and placement Publisher Year Listicle Placement Forbes 2020 Korea Power Celebrity 35th