Lee Bong-ryun

Lee Bong-ryun (; born Lee Jeong-eun, February 7, 1981) is a South Korean actress. She has appeared in supporting roles in various films and television dramas, and worked as a stage and musical actress.

Early life

Lee Bong-ryun was born as Lee Jeong-eun on February 7, 1981, in Pohang, North Gyeongsang. Lee dropped out of high school after a month. After she moved to Daegu, Lee enter an academy for eighth months and passed GED. Lee then enrolled in Daegu Arts University, majoring in photography at the age of 17 Years old. Then she went to a graduate school in Seoul to pursue Master's Degree in Photography at Chung-Ang University. Lee finished graduate school in Seoul at the age of 24. Her stage name used to be Zhuge Bong-ryeon, she originally used for her alias as a photographer in photography exhibitions.

Career

Around 2003, Lee saw a musical called 'Sing in the Rain'. She enjoyed Park Dong-ha's performance and applied for the musical department in social education center in a university near her home. She attended night class for about two years. Her instructor, stage director Kim Dong-yeon, asked her to help as an assistant director for his play ''Fantasy Fairy Tale.''

In 2005, she made her acting debut in the musical ''Five Drawings of Love''. She was an understudy, but took the stage when an actor was missing for a month. Since then, she has appeared in various plays and musicals.

Lee watched Lee Jung-eun performance in musical Laundry. In 2008, Lee then auditioned for grandmother role in the following season. After winning the role, Lee performed in the musical for 3 years in Daehak-ro.

After that, she joined the theater company Alleyway, led by director Park Geun-hyung, and acted in various works such as 'Ode to Youth', 'Manchurian Front' and 'Press Guide'. Ode to Youth, as role of epilepsy, a waitress at a coffee shop with epilepsy.

In 2017, Lee joined Heavy Metal Girls. Followed by appearance as Katya in Korean premiere of play 'Valentine's Day', a representative work released in 2009 by the Golden Mask Award-winning artist Ivan Vymilfayev. Jayu Small Theater until January 14, 2018.

In 2017 Lee signed exclusive contract with C-JeS Entertainment.

In December 2018, Creative Table Quartz confirmed the appearance of actors Kim Jin-soo and Lee Bong-ryun in the Korean premiere of one-man play . The play is Duncan McMillan's original work, that was participating in various overseas festivals, including Edinburgh and Perth in Australia, starting with the 2013 Lurdle Fringe Festival. It has been evaluated by The Guardian as “no more praise to say.”

Film career

Her cinematic debut was a minor role in film '' Late Blossom'' by Choo Chang-min in 2011. Minor roles followed in '' Masquerade'' (2012), '' Confession of Murder'' (2012), '' A Matter of Interpretation'' (2015), ''Girl On the Edge'' (2015), ''Life is but an Empty'' (2015), ''Run Off'' (2016), and ''How to Break up with My Cat'' (2016).

In 2017, she appeared as receptionist in Okja, a 2017 action-adventure film directed by Bong Joon-ho. Director Bong is a fans of theater troupe 'Alleyway'. Director Bong with his son came to see play ''Manchurian Front'' when Lee was performing. According to the assistant director in Okja, Bong remembered Lee from the play. After several meetings and conversations, she was cast.

She appeared in ' ''A Taxi Driver''' (Director Jang Hoon, 2017) as a full-term pregnant woman who got a free taxi from Kim Man-seop (Song Kang-ho), a grumpy citizen. She also appeared in 'Burning' (Director Lee Chang-dong, 2018). It was the same older sister who told Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), who was searching for the missing Haemi (Jeon Jong-seo), that "Hae-mi is a liar."

In 2022, Lee starred opposite Lee Han-seo in director Jang Seon-hee’s independent film Two Woman. The film depicted a chance encounter between little girl who delivers newspapers and a woman who puts up flyers to find her lost child. It was premiered at the 48th Seoul Independent Film Festival (SIFF).

Baeksang

SFAC Red Bus.

Lee has been a frequent cast member in productions staged by the National Theater Company of Korea. In 2020, Lee was cast as Princess Hamlet in the gender-swapped production of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' of the National Theater Company's 70th anniversary.

For this role she won the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards for Best Actress in a Play.

Television

In 2020 Lee acted as May in JTBC drama Run On.

Lee appeared in rom-com TV series '' Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha'', aired in August 2021, as Yeo Hwa-jung, Young-guk's ex-wife who was born and raised in Gongjin. She is the building owner of Hye-jin's dental clinic and house. Followed by role Hwang Ma-jin in JTBC drama ''Only One Person''. In November 2021, Lee signed with AM Entertainment.

In 2022, She acted as Deaconess Jung, Yo-hwan's church figure (acted by Hwang Jung-min) in Netflix Original Series '' Narco-Saints''.

In 2023 Lee joined cast of ''Crash Course in Romance'' as Kim Young-joo

Personal life

Lee Bong-ryun married actor Lee Gyu-hee on March 11, 2019. They met as members of Alleyway Theater Company.

Filmography

Film

Television series

Web series

Stage

Musical

Theater

Awards

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Bong-ryun
1981 births
Living people
Chung-Ang University alumni
South Korean film actresses
South Korean musical theatre actresses
South Korean stage actresses
South Korean television actresses
21st-century South Korean actresses