Lee Min-ki

Lee Min-ki, born January 16, 1985, is a South Korean actor and model whose career has ranged across romantic comedy, melodrama, disaster cinema, thrillers, and television drama. Born in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, he studied modeling at Daekyeung University before establishing himself as a screen performer. His early television appearances included the 2005 series *Taereung National Village*, and he gained wider recognition through *Dal-ja’s Spring* in 2007. In that romantic-comedy drama, he played Kang Tae-bong, a younger man hired to pose as the boyfriend of Oh Dal-ja, portrayed by Chae Rim. His film profile expanded significantly with *Haeundae* (2009), Yoon Je-kyoon’s disaster movie about a devastating tsunami striking Busan’s Haeundae Beach. Lee played Choi Hyeong-sik, a lifeguard and former professional baseball player. The film became one of the major Korean box-office successes of its year. He later starred in the action film *Quick* (2011), playing motorcycle courier Han Gi-su, who becomes trapped in a bomb threat while transporting a singer. In 2013, Lee appeared opposite Kim Min-hee in *Very Ordinary Couple*, directed by Roh Deok. The film follows former lovers who continue working at the same bank after their breakup, mixing workplace tension with blunt depictions of a deteriorating relationship. His performance as Lee Dong-hee helped underline his ability to play emotionally volatile, flawed characters rather than only conventional romantic leads. He also starred in the 2014 thriller *Monster* as serial killer Tae-soo, opposite Kim Go-eun. After returning to television, Lee took one of his best-known roles in *Because This Is My First Life* (2017). He played Nam Se-hee, a socially reserved computer designer and homeowner who enters a contract marriage with aspiring writer Yoon Ji-ho, played by Jung So-min. The series used their arrangement to examine housing insecurity, work, marriage expectations, and gender roles in contemporary Seoul. He followed it with *The Beauty Inside* (2018), portraying Seo Do-jae, an airline executive with prosopagnosia, or face blindness, opposite Seo Hyun-jin. In *My Liberation Notes* (2022), Lee played Yeom Chang-hee, a frustrated office worker commuting from rural Gyeonggi Province. His later roles include detective Moon Jang-yeol in the 2023 fantasy-comedy mystery *Behind Your Touch* and traffic-crime investigator Cha Yeon-ho in the 2024 procedural drama *Crash*.