Lee Sung-min

Lee Sung-min (born December 4, 1968) is a South Korean actor whose career has moved from theatre through television and film, often in roles defined by authority, calculation, or moral ambiguity. Born in Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province, he studied at Daegu Science University before building experience on the stage. His early screen work included television appearances in the early 2000s, but he became increasingly recognizable through supporting parts in films and dramas. A major turning point came with tvN’s 2014 workplace drama *Misaeng: Incomplete Life*. Lee played Oh Sang-sik, the blunt, overworked sales-team chief who becomes mentor and protector to former baduk prodigy Jang Geu-rae, played by Im Si-wan. The series, adapted from Yoon Tae-ho’s webtoon, made office hierarchy and precarious employment central dramatic material. Lee’s performance earned him the Best Actor in Television award at the 51st Baeksang Arts Awards in 2015. On film, Lee portrayed Ri Myung-woon, a senior North Korean official, in Yoon Jong-bin’s *The Spy Gone North* (2018). The espionage drama follows a South Korean intelligence operative, played by Hwang Jung-min, who infiltrates North Korea’s nuclear procurement network during the 1990s. Lee later took on President Park Chung-hee in *The Man Standing Next* (2020), a political thriller about the final forty days before Park’s 1979 assassination. His portrayal won the Best Actor prize in film at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards in 2021. In Byeon Sung-hyun’s *Kingmaker* (2022), he played Kim Woon-bum, an opposition presidential candidate modeled on Kim Dae-jung; Sol Kyung-gu played the strategist who shapes his campaigns. That same year, Lee headlined JTBC’s *Reborn Rich* as Jin Yang-cheol, the formidable founder and chairman of the fictional Sunyang Group. The fantasy revenge series centers on Yoon Hyun-woo (Song Joong-ki), a loyal employee murdered by the family he served, who awakens in 1987 within the body of its youngest grandson. Lee’s commanding depiction of the patriarch won the television Grand Prize at the 59th Baeksang Arts Awards in 2023. He continued to play figures connected to modern Korean history in Kim Sung-su’s *12.12: The Day* (2023). There he was Jeong Sang-ho, the Army Chief of Staff, during the military coup of December 12, 1979; the character is based on General Jeong Seung-hwa. The film dramatizes the struggle between commanders as Chun Doo-gwang, played by Hwang Jung-min, seeks control of the military. Across these projects, Lee has repeatedly made institutional power visible on screen through specific characters.