Lee Yeong-hoon

Lee Yeong-hoon began his acting career after joining the MBC Academy while in high school. Some of his peers at academy also went on to future stardom, such as Zo In-sung and Lee So-yeon.

In 2001, at the age of 19, Lee made his acting debut win the short film Good Romance, directed by filmmaker Leesong Hee-il. Lee entered Suwon Science College as a Broadcasting major, and he performed numerous times on stage while at university.

Upon his discharge from mandatory military service, Leesong Hee-il again cast Lee, this time in the leading role in the indie feature No Regret. An attempt to realistically portray the lifestyle of a young gay man working in the host club industry, No Regret became a ground-breaking film in Korean queer cinema.^[1] It traveled the film festival circuit, screening to packed audiences at the 2006 Busan International Film Festival. Lee won Best New Actor at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards,^[2] and he appeared in his first commercial in 2007 for McDonald's.

This was followed by his first major commercial film, the 2008 horror-thriller The Guard Post.^[3] Lee was praised by The Korea Times for "shining brightly" in his role as the prime suspect in a massacre of 20 soldiers in the DMZ,^[4] and received Best New Actor nominations from the Blue Dragon Film Awards and Korean Film Awards.^[5]

Lee continues to star in independent films, including romance drama Ride Away and hip hop-themed The Beat Goes On.^[6]