Lee Eon

Lee Eon was born Park Sang-min on 5 February 1981. Lee began practicing ssireum while in elementary school, going on to win gold medals at Korean national ssireum competitions in 1997 and 1998. As a freshman at university, he was inspired by Cha Seung-won to become a model, and after losing 30 kg (66 lb) made his debut at a fashion show in Busan in 1999. His later fashion show appearances included the Seoul Fashion Artists Association Collection.^[1]

Lee branched out into acting, making his film debut in 2006;^[2] he played a ssireum wrestler in Like a Virgin, putting his skills to good use and helping lead actor Ryu Deok-hwan learn the moves.^[3] He later appeared in the 2007 hit drama series Coffee Prince, and made his final appearance in KBS period drama Strongest Chil Woo.^[2]

Lee died in a motorcycle accident on 21 August 2008. He had been riding home from a party celebrating the airing of the last episode of Strongest Chil Woo, when his motorcycle hit the guardrail of an overpass in Hannam-dong, Seoul, at around 2 a.m. He died at the scene from a broken neck and was taken to the nearby Soonchunhyang University Hospital.^[1][2] Many of his colleagues attended his funeral, including Gong Yoo, his co-star in Coffee Prince, who took leave from his military service to hold Lee's memorial tablet in the procession to the grave site.^[4]