Background
Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea.
Lee and his girlfriend actress Lee Min-jung
Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea.
a major in Theater and Cinematography.
Lee made his debut in the television drama Asphalt My Hometown after auditioning in a KBS talent audition in 1991. He continued to act in a string of various television dramas until he made his big breakthrough in 2000 with Joint Security Area directed by Park Chan-wook. The film broke the box office record and became the highest grossing Korean film at the time. Lee played a border-guard soldier and won Best Actor at the Pusan Film Critics Awards for the role.
In 2001, his popularity continued to climb when he played the lead alongside Choi Ji-woo in the melodrama Beautiful Days. In 2003 he received the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in the poker drama All In.
From 2005 he focused on film, earning critical acclaim for his performance in A Bittersweet Life directed by Kim Ji-woon which was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee was nominated for Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards and Grand Bell Awards, and won at the Chunsa Film Art Awards, Baeksang Arts Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.
He reunited with director Kim Ji-woon in The Good, the Bad, the Weird, taking on his first villain role. The film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year he appeared in I Come with the Rain opposite American actor Josh Hartnett and Japanese actor Takuya Kimura. He then made his Hollywood debut as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, also starring Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller.
Lee returned to television in late 2009 in the espionage action thriller Iris as a secret agent who finds himself at the center of an international conspiracy. It was one of the most expensive shows ever produced with filming locations in Hungary, Japan as well as South Korea. It became one of the highest rated dramas of 2009 and his performance earned him the Grand Prize at the KBS Drama Acting Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards.
In 2010 Lee starred in I Saw the Devil with Choi Min-sik, his third collaboration with Kim Ji-woon, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His portrayal of the intelligence agent won him the Grand Prize at the Paeksang Arts Awards.
In 2013, he reprised his role as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. On 23 June 2012, Lee, along with Ahn Sung-ki, became the first Korean actors to leave their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He was recognised as an emerging star in Hollywood for his role of Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and its sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. In October, he won Best Actor at the Grand Bell Awards for his dual role in the lavish period drama Gwanghae. The film was a box office hit, becoming the 7th film in Korean history to surpass 10 million admissions.
Lee co-starred in the American film RED 2 (2013), the sequel to the 2010 action-comedy hit RED, alongside Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich.
Lee married actress Lee Min-jung on August 10, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. The couple had briefly dated in 2006, then resumed their relationship in 2012.
was Miss Korea in 1997
