Lee Min-jung

Lee Min-jung  born February 16, 1982 is a South Korean actress. She began her career in Jang Jin's stage plays, and for a few years appeared in supporting roles on film and television, such as Boys Over Flowers. Lee rose to fame in 2009 with a leading role in popular family drama Smile, You, followed by the hit romantic comedy film Cyrano Agency 2010. After playing a disillusioned fiancee to an ambitious fund manager in Midas,Lee returned to the romantic comedy genre in the body-swapping TV series Big written by the Hong Sisters. In 2013 she starred in another rom-com series All About My Romance, about a secret relationship between two politicians of rival parties. This was followed by Cunning Single Lady in 2014, in which she played the titular character who schemes to win her ex-husband back now that he's rich and successful.

Lee Min-jung was a late starter in the world of Korean entertainment. Whereas most starlets launch their careers as teenagers, she debuted at 25 after graduating from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in Theater. Lee began her career in playwright/filmmaker Jang Jin's stage plays, then appeared in the Christian-themed indie Pruning the Grapevine,while doing minor roles on film and television. She became a household name in 2009 through her supporting role in the popular high school series Boys Over Flowers, which then landed her first leading role in the weekend drama Smile, You. Her romantic comedy Cyrano Agency was the sleeper hit of 2010, and became the breakout film for Lee, who grabbed five best new actress awards in Korea and rose to stardom. Commercials and endorsements flooded in, and Lee gained a "goddess" label in the press. One of the challenges of her next film Wonderful Radio was to strip her of that image. She successfully carried the film, with one review praising her as "expertly swinging from girly ditz, through self-centered pop diva (with memorable temper tantrums), to serious singer-songwriter." Co-star Lee Jung-jin said her actual personality is similar to the character's "really upbeat and outgoing."

Her maternal grandfather was renowned painter Park No-soo, an important figure in Korean art history, who led the first generation of modernized traditional Korean ink painters who emerged after the country's liberation from the Japanese imperialists. Park passed away on February 25, 2013 at the age of 86. Lee married actor Lee Byung-hun on August 10, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. The couple had briefly dated in 2006, then resumed their relationship in 2012.