Lee Hye-ri

Lee Hye-ri (; born June 9, 1994), better known mononymously as Hyeri, is a South Korean actress, singer, and television personality. She rose to fame as the youngest member of girl group Girl's Day, and was named the "Nation's Little Sister" by the South Korean media outlets after appearing as a fixed cast member on Real Men.

Hyeri later became known as the female lead in Reply 1988 (2015), which was the highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history at the time. After back-to-back success in variety and the small screen, Hyeri ranked third in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list in 2016 and became one of the highest-paid commercial models in South Korea.

Hyeri was a regular cast member on Amazing Saturday from 2018 until 2020 when she left the show to focus on her acting career. She has since starred in the IQIYI series My Roommate Is a Gumiho (2021) and U+ Mobile TV's Friendly Rivalry (2025).

Early life and education Hyeri was born in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, South Korea. She has a sister, Hye-rim, who is two years younger. Hyeri grew up in poverty, staying with her grandmother in the countryside while her mother was working in a factory.

When she was in middle school, Hyeri was scouted by Dream T Entertainment at a talent show and consequently joined Girl's Day with little prior training. She later attended Seoul School of Performing Arts, and then majored in film at Konkuk University.

Career 2010–present: Girl's Day

In September 2010, Hyeri was announced as a new member of Girl's Day alongside Yura when Jiin and Jisun left the group, just two months after the group debuted. The revamped group released a single titled "Nothing Lasts Forever", and went on to become one of the most popular and commercially successful musical quartets of its era.

In January 2014, Hyeri fainted on stage during a Girl's Day live performance and had to be carried off-stage by M Countdown staff. She was later diagnosed with swine flu.

After her exclusive contract with Dream T Entertainment ended in 2019, Hyeri joined a newly set-up agency Creative Group ING. Although all four members joined separate agencies, they have stated that the group has not disbanded.

2012–2014: Acting debut and rising popularity In 2012, Hyeri made her acting debut in the SBS weekend drama Tasty Life, where she played the youngest in a family of four daughters.

After her 4-day long appearance on Real Men in August 2014, a brief clip of her showing aegyo at her instructor went viral in South Korea, reaching one million views in a day, an unprecedented feat at the time. She consequently shot to stardom overnight, and later won Best Female Newcomer award at the MBC Entertainment Awards for her Real Men appearance. In late 2014, she was also cast in the mystery rom-com drama Hyde Jekyll, Me, which began airing on SBS in January 2015.

2015–present: Leading roles In 2015, Hyeri was cast as the lead of the tvN drama Reply 1988. The drama premiered in November and went on to become a commercial success with audience ratings peaking at 18.8%, making it one of the highest rated dramas in Korean cable television history. Hyeri received critical and audience acclaim for her award-winning portrayal of the female protagonist. In the show, Hyeri's character was the Madagascar picket girl at the 1988 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony. Due to the series' status as a cultural phenomenon, the actress was chosen by the Madagascar delegation to become its official flag bearer at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. However, due to her busy schedule, Hyeri declined the offer.

In 2016, Hyeri was cast as the lead in the SBS drama Entertainer along with actor Ji Sung and CNBLUE member Kang Min-hyuk, which began airing on April 20 and for which she won "New Star Award" at 2016 SBS Drama Awards. In 2017, she also starred in the police comedy drama Two Cops alongside Jo Jung-suk and Kim Seon-ho.

In 2017, it was announced that Hyeri would be making her big screen debut as the female lead in Monstrum; filming began in April. Monstrum premiered in September, 2018. In 2018, Hyeri was cast in My Punch-Drunk Boxer, a boxing comedy drama film. The film premiered at 20th Jeonju International Film Festival in September, 2019; its general release followed in October, 2019. In 2019, Hyeri also starred in tvN's office comedy drama Miss Lee. Since 2018, Hyeri had been a regular cast member of DoReMi Market, a weekly television program airing on tvN.

In 2021, Hyeri starred in tvN's fantasy-romance drama My Roommate Is a Gumiho alongside Jang Ki-yong, produced by iQIYI. For her performance, she received the Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries at the 2022 MBC Drama Awards.

In 2025, Hyeri starred as lead role in teen mystery thriller series Friendly Rivalry. Based on the webtoon of the same name by Song Chae-yoon and Shim Jae-young, it was released on U+ Mobile TV from February 10 to March 6, 2025, airing every Monday to Thursday. She portrayed Yoo Jae-yi, the school's top student with a perfect score on her CSAT test. Hyeri's performance in the series garnered critical and audience praise for her transformation into a calculating and mysterious character, a departure from her previous "bubbly girl" roles, and for exploring same-sex attraction. She earned a nomination for Best Actress at the 4th Blue Dragon Series Awards.

Philanthropy Hyeri was appointed as the ambassador for 'Free Semester Program' by the Ministry of Education in September 2016. In February 2017, Hyeri was appointed as one of the ambassadors for the Count Every Child birth registration campaign as part of her NGO partnership with Plan Korea. In 2018, Hyeri participated in a Plan Korea fundraiser for children born without birth registration and wrote a letter to fans asking for potential donors.

At 25 years old, Hyeri became the youngest member of UNICEF's Honors Club, having donated more than ₩100 million "to run educational programs for underprivileged children and AIDS-prevention campaigns in underdeveloped nations in Asia". A membership ceremony took place on July 26, 2019.

Throughout her career, Hyeri has donated to a wide variety of causes, ranging from public health to disaster management. On the Lunar New Year of 2016, Hyeri donated ₩50 million to Community Chest of Korea towards improving elderly welfare. Later that year, she donated ₩50 million to Korea Disaster Relief Organisation for the victims of the Seomun Market fire. In February 2020, Hyeri donated ₩100 million to Save the Children to help those affected by COVID-19.

In 2022, Hyeri donated ₩50 million to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help the victims of the massive wildfire that started in Uljin, Gyeongbuk and has spread to Samcheok, Gangwon. That same year, Hyeri donated ₩50 million to the Save the Children emergency relief in order to help Ukrainian victims during the Russian invasion, stating that she "wants to give a little help to the suffering children who are powerless in times of war" and that she hopes "a world without war and fear will come one day".

In 2023, Hyeri donated 50 million won to help 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, by donating money through UNICEF's emergency relief program to help children affected by earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

In the media

Endorsements The success of Reply 1988 combined with Hyeri's status as an icon of aegyo led to her becoming one of the most in-demand advertising models in South Korea. By the start of 2016, she had shot over 30 advertisements for brands such as Puma, Lotte Confectionery's Ghana, Bohae, Amore Pacific's Happy Bath, and was consequently given the title of "₩10 billion girl " by the South Korean media. In January 2017, Albamon received "Consumer Choice Best Brand Award" for "its efforts to improve the rights of the public by providing high quality part-time job announcements" after an ad featuring Hyeri and Im Chang-jung reached over 10 million views in just a month after its release.

The sales of products such as 7-Eleven lunch boxes and Nongshim ramen increased by 78% and 50% respectively after Hyeri's endorsement. Similarly, the page views of Dabang , a real estate mobile app that Hyeri has endorsed since 2015, grew from 5 million to 15 million, and weekly active users increased from 600,000 to 1.5 million after a new ad featuring Hyeri as Harley Quinn was released in 2017. In July 2017, she received the Female Commercial Film Star Award at MTN Broadcast Advertising Awards Festival.

Social media In July 2019, Hyeri unveiled her personal YouTube channel, where she began posting vlogs, mukbangs, and behind the scenes footage from filming sets. A month later, she received The Silver Creator Award for surpassing 100,000 subscribers. In 2020, she was awarded the "Celebrity YouTuber of the Year" prize at the Brand of the Year Awards.

In March 2020, Hyeri criticised Nth room-related cybersex trafficking on her Instagram account and urged her followers to sign a petition to reveal the identities of the perpetrators, stating that she hopes that "they face harsher punishment for what they did".

Personal life In March 2016, Hyeri was hospitalised after being diagnosed with meningitis due to busy schedules and lack of rest. She was in a relationship with actor and Reply 1988 co-star Ryu Jun-yeol from late 2016 until November 2023.

Discography

+ List of singles, showing year released, and name of the album Title Year Album "Hyehwa-dong (or Ssangmun-dong) )" 2025 Reply 1988 10th Anniversary OST

Filmography

Film

Television series Year Title Role Notes 2012 Tasty Life Jang Mi-hyun 2020 Record of Youth Lee Hae-ji Cameo (Ep.13) 2021 My Roommate Is a Gumiho Lee Dam 2021–2022 Moonshine Kang Ro-seo 2022 May I Help You? Baek Dong-ju 2025 Friendly Rivalry Yoo Je-yi 2026 Dream to You Joo Yi-jae

Television shows Year Title Role Notes 2014 Real Men Cast member Women's Army Special (Season 1) 2018–2020 Amazing Saturday 2023 HMLYCP 2025–2026 Reply 1988 10th Anniversary

Web shows Year Title Role 2024–present Hyell's Club Host 2024 Agents of Mystery Cast member

Music videos Year Title 2013 "C-CLOWN(씨클라운) - Shaking Heart" 2023 "Tabber - Being (feat. Yerin Baek) (Official Video)" 2025 "Hyehwa-dong (or Ssangmun-dong)"

Hosting Year Title Notes 2011 The Show With BAP's Himchan (Season 1) 2014 MBC Gayo Daejejeon With Kim Sung-joo, Jun Hyun-moo, Soyou (Sistar), Lee Yoo-ri 2014–2015 The Show With T-ara's Jiyeon, Jung Wook (Season 3) and Super Junior-M's Zhou Mi (Season 4) 2015 4th Gaon Chart Music Awards With Leeteuk (Super Junior) 2016 Idol Star Athletics Championships With Jun Hyun-moo, Lee Soo-geun (Chuseok Special), Jo Kwon (Lunar New Year Special) 15th KBS Entertainment Awards With Lee Hwi-jae and You Hee-yeol 2018 2018 MBC Entertainment Awards With Jun Hyun-moo, Seungri 2022 2022 KBS Drama Awards With Jun Hyun-moo and Jung Yong-hwa

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 APAN Star Awards 2016 Best New Actress Reply 1988 2025 Best Couple Award Lee Hye-ri Friendly Rivalry Asia Artist Awards 2016 Most Popular Actress Reply 1988 2020 Miss Lee 2021 Female Actress Popularity Award Lee Hye-ri 2025 Best Actor – Female Baeksang Arts Awards 2016 Best New Actress – Television Reply 1988 2025 Best New Actress – Film Victory Blue Dragon Film Awards 2024 Best New Actress Blue Dragon Series Awards 2025 Tirtir Popularity Award Friendly Rivalry Best Actress Best Female Entertainer Agents of Mystery Brand Customer Loyalty Awards 2025 Female Celebrity YouTuber Lee Hye-ri Brand of the Year Awards 2019 Female Variety Idol 2020 Celebrity YouTuber of the Year 2021 Rising Star Actress 2022 Buil Film Awards 2025 Best New Actress Victory Star of the Year Award (Female) Daum Awards 2015 Rising Idol Actress Lee Hye-ri DramaFever Awards 2016 Best Kiss Lee Hye-ri Reply 1988 Elle Style Awards 2024 Best Style Icon – Woman Lee Hyeri KBS Drama Awards 2022 Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries Moonshine Popularity Award, Actress Korea Drama Awards 2016 Best New Actress Reply 1988 2025 Best Couple Lee Hye-ri Friendly Rivalry Korea First Brand Awards 2018 Female Idol Variety Star Lee Hye-ri Korean Wave Awards 2016 Acting Award Reply 1988 MBC Drama Awards 2017 Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Monday-Tuesday Drama Two Cops Most Popular Actress 2022 Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries May I Help You? Best Couple Award Lee Hye-ri May I Help You? MBC Entertainment Awards 2014 Best Female Newcomer Real Men: Female Special MTN Broadcast Advertising Awards 2017 Female Commercial Film Star Award Lee Hye-ri OBS Hot Icon Awards 2014 OBS 2014 Hot Icon Lee Hye-ri SBS Drama Awards 2016 New Star Award Entertainer Style Icon Asia 2016 Idol Actress Award Style Icon The Seoul Awards 2018 Most Popular Actress Monstrum tvN10 Awards 2016 Made in tvN, Actress in Drama Reply 1988 Rising Star Award, actress Best Kiss Lee Hye-ri Reply 1988

Listicles + Name of publisher, year listed, name of listicle, and placement Publisher Year Listicle Placement Forbes 2016 Korea Power Celebrity Gallup Korea 2021Best Television Couple of the Past Decade