Lee Jun Ki

Name: 이준기 / Lee Joon Ki (Lee Jun Gi)

Profession: Actor, model and singer

Birthdate: 1982-Apr-17

Birthplace: Busan, South Korea

Height: 178cm

Weight: 66kg

Star sign: Aries

Blood type: B

Family: Younger sister

Talent agency: Mentor Entertainment (http://www.mentor.pe.kr)

Lee Jun Ki (Hangul: 이준기, Hanja: 李準基, born April 17, 1982, in Busan, South Korea) is a male South Korean actor and model. He rose to fame as Gong-gil in The King and the Clown. He has a mother, father, and one younger sister. He graduated from the Seoul Arts College with a major in Acting, and is a 1st degree in both Hapkido and Taekyon, and 3rd degree in Taekwondo. Besides Korean, Lee also speaks some Japanese and English. As of 2007, Lee is one of the top screen stars in South Korea.

His first drama appearance was as a dissatisfied teenager in the KBS drama What should I do? He later appeared with a minor role in Star's Echo, a drama by MBC and Fuji TV in 2004.

In 2005, his first major acting role came in The King and the Clown (왕의 남자), where he took on the role of a feminine-appearing entertainer forced to satisfy King Yeonsan's sexual and emotional cravings taking place in the late 15th century. The film became one of the highest grossing South Korean-made movies in South Korea, unexpectedly replacing Taegukgi as the most-watched film in Korean history with over 12.3 million viewers, despite the low amount Lee was paid of just over $100,000 for the role.The poor fee was largely due to the contract that was signed by Lee before he rose to stardom with the role of Gong-gil from 'The King and the Clown'.[1][2] Lee was against the halving of screen quotas in South Korea that allows foreign films to be shown in theaters on certain days, while domestic films are alloted another amount of days. He believed that without the screen quotas, The King and the Clown would not have been as successful in competing against foreign films.[3][4] He earned many Best Male New Comer awards for his role as Gong-gil in The King and the Clown in 2006.