1. Lee Soon-jae has had a prolific career on the small and big screen spanning over six decades, and was given a second-class Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit for his work as an actor.
28 Facts About Lee Soon-jae
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Lee Soon-jae was born in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, now part of North Korea.
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When he was four years old, his family moved to Seoul where Lee Soon-jae's grandparents were living.
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Lee Soon-jae's grandfather ran a small real estate business, while his father produced and sold soaps.
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Lee Soon-jae was raised in the neighborhood of Ahyeon-dong, and graduated from Seoul High School and the prestigious Seoul National University.
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Lee Soon-jae holds an insurance planning license as celebrities without the license cannot become endorsers or spokespeople of related products.
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Lee interest in acting begin around the 1950s, when films from various countries came into Korea, and Lee Soon-jae began to have a longing for 'art' while watching these works.
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Lee Soon-jae was especially impressed by Italian films that pursued neo-realism.
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Lee Soon-jae decide to do acting in the winter of his second year at university.
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Lee Soon-jae wanted to go on stage in a play, so he went to work every day at 'East Salon' coffee shop on Myeongdong street where Lee Soon-jae Hae-rang worked.
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Lee Soon-jae went to the drama center and asked Lee Hae-rang for one role.
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Lee Soon-jae said, "From now on, I'm prepared to starve" and decided to act.
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Lee Soon-jae made his debut in 1956 with play 'Beyond the Horizon' when he was a senior at the Department of Philosophy at Seoul National University.
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Lee Soon-jae has since built a prolific career on the small and big screen spanning nearly six decades.
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Lee Soon-jae made his debut on the TV screen in 1961 with the first drama of KBS's opening, 'Should I become a human too'.
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Lee Soon-jae was most active in film in the late 1960s through the 1970s, most notably in Yu Hyun-mok's Bun-rye's Story.
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From 1992 to 1996, Lee Soon-jae served as a member of the 14th National Assembly of South Korea.
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Lee Soon-jae quit politics after one term after finding the political climate "too barren" for his taste.
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Lee Soon-jae remains active in his various advocacies, such as the Korea Broadcasting Actors Union.
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Lee Soon-jae is a professor of Film Arts at Sejong University, a professor emeritus of Performing Arts at Gachon University, and the director of the SG Academy.
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In 2018, Lee Soon-jae was awarded a second-class Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit by the Korean government, for his work as an actor.
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In 2009, Lee Soon-jae made his big screen comeback after 20 years in television, in Jang Jin's comedy Good Morning President.
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The movie tells the story of three fictional Korean presidents, and in the first segment, Lee Soon-jae played a well-respected elderly president nearing the end of his term who espouses frugality and charity, but then agonizes whether to take the money when he unexpectedly wins the lottery.
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Lee Soon-jae said the movie was a rare chance for him and other senior actors to play leading roles on the big screen.
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Lee Soon-jae won Best Actor under the international film category at the China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, becoming its oldest recipient.
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Lee Soon-jae returned to the stage in 2012 in Father, a Korean adaptation of Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman.
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Lee Soon-jae was the first to be dedicated to the Korean Broadcasting Hall of Fame and earlier to the MBC Hall of Fame.
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Lee Soon-jae first met his wife Choi Hee-jung as a university student as she was the sister of his fellow student theater troupe member.