Young Korean star Lee Jae-wook’s cool gaze and pouty lips are front and centre once again in the stylish period drama Dear Hongrang, his first lead role in a Netflix original series – and he is already hard at work on his second.
Unlike many of his peers, Seoul native Lee did not dream of seeing himself on the screen from a young age. He was in his second year of high school when he caught the acting bug, but it came on fast and hard, and before long he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life.
Lee practised and studied hard and was accepted to a number of universities, eventually choosing Chung-Ang University in central Seoul, where he enrolled in theatre and film.
From there he was drawn to the entertainment industry, auditioning for a major K-drama series in his first year. The rest, as they say, is history.
The part he auditioned for was the charismatic hacker Marco Han, a supporting character in Memories of the Alhambra, a series headlined by Hyun Bin and Park Shin-hye.
