Grace Lee (; ; Lee Kyung-hee) is a South Korean-born Filipino film distributor, businesswoman, former

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

and former

radio disc jockey The history of radio disc jockeys covers the time when gramophone records were first transmitted by experimental radio broadcasters to present day radio personalities who host shows featuring a variety of recorded music. For a number of decades ...

. She is one of a few Korean

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

s to appear prominently in Philippine

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, other notable expatriates are

Sandara Park Sandara Park ( English pronunciation: ; born November 12, 1984), also known by her stage name Dara (Korean: 다라 English pronunciation: ), is a South Korean singer, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in the Philippines as a ...

Ryan Bang Bang Hyun-sung (; born 16 June 1991), professionally known as Ryan Bang, is a South Korean television personality, host, comedian, actor, singer and vlogger based in the Philippines. Bang is one of a few Korean expatriates to appear prominently ...

and

Sam Oh Oh Sang-mi, better known as Sam Oh is a television host, radio broadcaster and a Korean expatriate who has been living in the Philippines for 20 years. She can speak Tagalog and English in addition to her native Korean. She has been the main hos ...

. In 2015, she left the country to go back home to her native country and serve there. She can speak

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

in addition to her native Korean.

Biography

Early life

Lee was born and raised in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, but moved to the Philippines at the age of 10 because of her father's business, which involved importing Korean cars. She studied from second grade to fourth year high school at St. Paul College in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

and graduated from

Ateneo de Manila University , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic ( Jesuits) , academic ...

, where she obtained her

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' is the largest international trade journal of visual communications.A ...

degree. Before becoming a TV host, she had been hosting events for Korean-Filipino communities as well as being an official interpreter for Malacañang.

Career

Lee planned on becoming a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. She sent her

résumé A résumé, sometimes spelled resume (or alternatively resumé), also called a curriculum vitae (CV), is a document created and used by a person to present their background, skills, and accomplishments. Résumés can be used for a variety of rea ...

to major television studios in the Philippines and received a callback from

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

. She landed her first Philippine TV hosting job in March 2007 as a segment host on Q-11’s lifestyle-magazine show '' The Sweet Life''. Among her first assignments include featuring life in Korea where she gets to wear traditional female garb as well as interviewing prominent Korean celebrities such as Yoon Se Ah of ''

Lovers in Prague ''Lovers in Prague'' () is a 2005 South Korean television drama series starring Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Joo-hyuk, Kim Min-jun and Yoon Se-ah. It aired on SBS from September 24 to November 20, 2005 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:45 for 18 episodes. I ...

'' and ''

King Sejong the Great Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do ( Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great ( Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initi ...

'' drama series.Grace Lee interviews Yoon Se Ah on ''Sweet Life''.
/ref> She stayed with

Magic 89.9 Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

from 2007 up to 2012 co-hosting the morning radio show ''

Good Times with Mo ''Good Times with Mo'' (also known as Good Times) is a morning radio show on Magic 89.9 and previously on the Killerbee network around the Philippines, hosted by Mo Twister, Tin "Suzy" Gamboa, Dora Dorado and Ryan Racela every Monday to Thursda ...

'' with Mo Twister and Mojo Jojo as a replacement for Andi-9. Lee is also a Manila correspondent for

YTN YTN () is the first 24-hour Korean news channel to be broadcast throughout South Korea. It was founded on September 14, 1993, and began broadcasting on March 1, 1995. YTN originally stands for ''Yonhap Television News'', as the channel was the s ...

in Korea, as well as teaching at the Manila New Life Church's Sunday school for preschool students and takes part in various outreach programs. Lee was added as an anchor of "Silip Showbiz" (a segment of ''

News on Q ''News on Q'' is a Philippine television news broadcasting show broadcast by Q. Originally anchored by Ivan Mayrina and Rhea Santos, it premiered on November 11, 2005. The show concluded on February 18, 2011. Mayrina and Connie Sison served as ...

'') and then hosted a cooking reality show, ''Eateria'' that aired every Sunday mornings on GMA Network. Lee also hosted ''

Diz Iz It! ''Diz Iz It!'' is a 2010 Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Originally named as ''Todo Bigay'', it premiered on February 8, 2010 replacing ''Kapuso Movie Festival''. The show concluded on July 24, 2010 with a total of 1 ...

'' that aired 6 days a week on GMA. She was also a guest segment anchor both for ''

Balitanghali ''Balitanghali'' is a Philippine television news broadcasting show produced by GMA Integrated News and Public Affairs. Originally anchored by Pia Arcangel and Raffy Tima, it premiered on November 11, 2005, on Q. The show was carried over on GM ...

'' on

GMA News TV GMA News TV (GNTV; visually rendered in its logo in all capital letters as GMA NEWS TV) is a 24-hour Philippine-based international pay television channel owned by Citynet Network Marketing and Productions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of G ...

during weekdays (2011–present), and '' 24 Oras Weekend Edition'' during Saturdays on GMA. In August 2012, Lee left GMA Network and moved to TV5. Upon her arrival on TV5, she was joined by

Martin Andanar Jose Ruperto Martin Marfori Andanar (born August 21, 1974) is a Filipino television news personality, news anchor, radio commentator, podcaster, and voice-over artist. He served as the secretary of the Presidential Communications Office of the ...

as co-anchor on '' Andar ng mga Balita'' on

AksyonTV Aksyon TV () was a Philippine free-to-air television network. It was a joint venture of Nation Broadcasting Corporation and TV5 Network, Inc. (international operations is under its subsidiary Pilipinas Global Network Ltd.), both under PLDT medi ...

and also joined ''

Good Morning Club ''Good Morning Club'' was a morning television program shown on TV5. The show debuted on February 6, 2012. replacing ''Sapul sa Singko'' and ''Kumare Klub'', this show aired every Mondays to Fridays, 5:30 to 7:00 AM ( PST), and was also simulca ...

''. In January 2013, Lee became a co-host on TV5's noontime variety show, ''

Wowowillie ''Wowowillie'' is a Philippine noontime variety show aired by TV5. The show premiered on January 26, 2013, and was broadcast live from TV5's Delta Studio in Quezon City, with its main host and producer, Willie Revillame. The show earned the di ...

'', with main host

Willie Revillame Wilfredo Buendia Revillame (; born January 27, 1961), popularly known as Willie Revillame, is a Filipino television host, comedian, singer, songwriter, actor, and businessman. Career Revillame started out as the host of GMA Network's noontime ...

and also became an anchor for '' Aksyon Weekend'', alongside

Raffy Tulfo Raffy is a given name and a nickname. It may refer to: *Rafael Palmeiro (born 1964), Cuban former Major League Baseball player *Ken Raffensberger (1917–2002), American Major League Baseball pitcher *Raffaella Rossi (born 1974), Italian ski mounta ...

during Saturday nights. From July 2014 until 2015, she became an early morning news anchor in the first of four editions of ''Aksyon'', '' Aksyon sa Umaga'' alongside

Lourd de Veyra Lourd Ernest Hanopol de Veyra (; born February 11, 1975) is a Filipino musician, emcee, poet, journalist, TV host, broadcast personality and activist who became famous as the vocalist of the Manila-based jazz rock band Radioactive Sago Project ...

Erwin Tulfo Erwin Teshiba Tulfo () is a Filipino news anchor, broadcaster, and columnist who was the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development from June 30, 2022, under the presidency of Bongbong Marcos until December 27, 2022 due to his appointment be ...

Cheryl Cosim Cheryl Kathleen Cosim-Alvarez (; born February 7, 1974) is a Filipina journalist, news anchor and TV host. She began her career as a journalist at ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, hosting the programs '' Magandang Umaga, Pilipinas'', '' Sal ...

and Atty. Melencio Santa Maria. From then on, she went inactive on-screen. In 2019, Lee established Glimmer Productions, a Philippine-based company focusing on distributing Korean films and aims to produce original content, with the 2022 South Korean crime-action film '' The Roundup'' as its first "big outing" as a production company. Prior to the

COVID pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

, she had plans to showcase Korean-Filipino film and live entertainment projects, but those projects would be stalled until 2022. Apart from film distribution, she thrives in her Korean food business venture.

Personal life

Lee was once in a relationship with

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

, the 15th

president of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of ...

. She admitted to the relationship on her show stating in response to the president's claim of their relationship, "what the president said is true".

Filmography

TV shows

Radio shows

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Grace Year of birth missing (living people) Living people South Korean expatriates in the Philippines Ateneo de Manila University alumni People from Seoul South Korean television presenters South Korean women television presenters GMA Network personalities GMA News and Public Affairs people TV5 (Philippine TV network) personalities News5 people