Lee Jung-jae

Profile Overview

Lee Jung-jae (Korean: 이정재; born December 15, 1972) is a South Korean actor, filmmaker, and businessman. Considered one of South Korea's most successful actors, he has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, an Actor Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, six Baeksang Arts Awards, in addition to nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Gotham Award. Lee is also a businessman who has launched a restaurant chain in Seoul and founded several companies, including the development firm Seorim C&D, some of which he co-owns with Jung Woo-sung.
Lee started his career as a fashion model, and gained popularity for his role in television drama Sandglass (1995). After his breakthrough in An Affair (1998), Lee's film career took off. He has starred in dramas such as City of the Rising Sun (1999), romantic films Il Mare (2000) and Last Present (2001), comedies such as Oh! Brothers (2003), action films Typhoon (2005) and Deliver Us from Evil (2020), thrillers The Housemaid (2010) and New World (2013), heist film The Thieves (2012), and espionage films Assassination (2015), Operation Chromite (2016) and Hunt (2022). He won Best Supporting Actor at the 50th Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in The Face Reader (2013).
In 2021, Lee gained international fame for his role as Seong Gi-hun of Netflix's Squid Game. For his performance in the show's first season, he was nominated for numerous accolades, including the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, making him the first male actor from Asia to receive individual nominations in those categories across all four awards shows, with his win for the latter two also making history. His season 2 and 3 portrayals received mixed reviews. In December 2021, he was selected as Gallup Korea's Film Actor of the Year. In 2022, Lee was awarded the Geumgwan (1st Class) Order of Cultural Merit, the highest decoration awarded to those who have contributed to South Korean culture and arts.