Lee Mi-sook

Lee Mi-sook (; born April 2, 1960) is a South Korean actress. One of the best-known actresses of 1980s Korean cinema, Lee's most famous films from this era include Bae Chang-ho's Whale Hunting and The Winter That Year Was Warm, Lee Doo-yong's Mulberry and Eunuch, and Kwak Ji-kyoon's Wanderer in Winter. She retired from film after getting married in 1987, though she still appeared on television in dramas such as How's Your Husband?. Then a decade later, Lee made her comeback with an award-winning leading role in E J-yong's feature debut An Affair (1998). She has since remained active in film and television, notably in the May–December romance Solitude (2002), the Dangerous Liaisons adaptation Untold Scandal (2003), the mockumentary Actresses (2009), the family dramas Smile, Mom (2010), and Queen of Tears (2024).

Career Lee Mi-sook debuted in film at the age of twenty in Thoughtless Momo in 1979. By the mid-1980s she had become one of the best-known actresses of her era. Together with Lee Bo-hee and Won Mi-kyung, they dominated the screen and were referred to as the "Troika of the 1980s." Her most famous films from this era include Bae Chang-ho's Whale Hunting and The Winter That Year Was Warm, Lee Doo-yong's Mulberry and Eunuch, and Kwak Ji-kyoon's Wanderer in Winter. Her early career lasted until the film Love Triangle in 1987, and then she retired from the cinema after getting married.

Over ten years later, in 1998, Lee returned with a widely praised role in E J-yong's award-winning film An Affair, about a woman who falls in love with her sister's fiancé. Using this film as a springboard, she re-launched her career. Then in 2009 Lee reunited with E J-yong in Actresses, a semi-improvisational mockumentary featuring six actresses each playing themselves.

In 2011, Lee launched her own lingerie line Starit, which was sold on home shopping channels. This would've been virtually unheard of in previous years with the fashion industry's historically narrow focus on young women. But since 2008 the sophisticated and stylish image of actresses such as Lee, Choi Myung-gil and Kim Hee-ae became aspirational for middle-aged women in Korea, and brands specifically targeting women in their 40s and 50s have increased. Lee remains a favorite in editorial spreads in fashion magazines, notably a 2010 Elle Korea feature opposite pop star TOP.

Lee continued to act on television, giving a vulgar, selfish, but human spin to her role as the stepmother in Cinderella's Sister, a ratings hit in 2010. 2012's Love Rain, a Yoon Seok-ho melodrama that jumps between the 1970s and the present, inked overseas distribution deals, but was unsuccessful domestically.

After a judging stint on reality acting talent program Miracle Audition, Lee hosted the cable talk show Bad Scene, which featured celebrities who reveal bad or embarrassing scenes from their past.

In August 2022, she left SidusHQ and signed with new agency Hunus Entertainment.

Lawsuit In 2012, Lee was embroiled in a controversy when she was sued by her former agency, The Contents Media, after she moved to a new agency, Hoya Spotainment. The Seoul High Court ruled that Lee was guilty of breach of contract and ordered her to pay in damages. However, The Contents Media filed an appeal, stating that the agency was owed at least double the amount. They alleged that Lee had been involved in a romantic relationship with a man 17 years her junior in 2006, whom they claimed to have paid off in millions of won to keep him from talking to the press and tarnishing Lee's image. Lee counter-sued The Contents Media and the two reporters who broke the story for defamation. Lee lost her appeal in February 2013, and the Seoul High Court ruled for her to pay the amount in the original ruling.

In August 2013, she signed with another agency, SidusHQ.

Personal life In 2007, Lee and her husband Hong Sung-ho, a plastic surgeon, divorced after 20 years of marriage. They have a son and a daughter.

Filmography Note; the whole list is referenced.

Film

Television series 2026 Tempest

Variety shows

Book Lee Mi-sook's Diary: Dreaming of Deviation (이미숙의 DIARY 일탈을 꿈꾸며) (2003)

Awards YearAwardCategoryNominated work 2017 MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Weekend Drama Money Flower 2014 MBC Drama Awards Golden Acting Award, Actress Miss Korea, Shining Romance, Rosy Lovers 2013 KBS Drama Awards Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama You Are the Best! 2011 SBS Drama Awards Special Award, Actress in a Special Planning Drama A Thousand Days' Promise 2008 MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award, Actress East of Eden 2003 23rd Korean Association of Film Critics Awards Best Actress Untold Scandal 2001 37th Baeksang Arts Awards Most Popular Actress, Film category The Legend of Gingko1999 7th Chunsa Film Art Awards Best Actress An Affair 19th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards 1998 34th Baeksang Arts Awards Most Popular Actress, TV category Snail 1993 SBS Drama Awards Grand Prize (Daesang) How's Your Husband?1987 32nd Asia Pacific Film Festival Best Actress Love Triangle 26h Grand Bell Awards Special Jury Award 1986 31st Asia Pacific Film Festival Best Actress Mulberry 6th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards 1984 4th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards The Winter That Year Was Warm 23rd Grand Bell Awards 21st Baeksang Arts Awards 1982 MBC Drama Awards Grand Prize (Daesang) Jang Hui-bin 1980 17th Baeksang Arts Awards Best New Actress Flame Bird 1979 TBC Drama Awards Best Newcomer Mapo Harbor 1978 3rd Miss Lotte Pageant Popularity Award