Lee Young-Ae (born January 31, 1971 in Seoul, South Korea) is a South Korean actress who has a fanbase in numerous countries, particularly in East and Southeast Asian countries which have been hit by the Korean wave. Recently, her fanbase has expanded further into South Asia, Middle East (particularly Iran), Africa (particular Zimbabwe) and Europe.
She was awarded Best Actress awards in the Blue Dragon Film Awards in 2005 and Baeksang Art Awards in 2006 for the film Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. In 2007, she received Medal of Culture Merit for her contribution to Korean Wave from the South Korean government.
Her popularity has grown in an exponential manner due to her performance in the popular Korean drama Dae Jang Geum. After the successful broadcast in Korea, it was then shown oversea the first time in 2004 and won many hearts of audience in Taiwan. In 2005, nearly half of the Hong Kong population watched the final episode of the drama. In China, hundreds of million viewers watched the drama though it was shown late at night. The drama was an incredible success, leading several stations around the world to a re-run of the drama shortly after the last episode had been broadcast.
In 2007, Dae Jang Geum, called Jewel in the Palace outside of Asia, reached Iranian television and achieved a whooping 86% rating (90% in Tehran). This meant that almost everyone with a television at home was watching the series . In 2008, Zimbabweans requested a rerun of last night's episode instead of the Olympic Games. It was considered a national drama that comforted the people's hearts during economic hardship.
Because of the success, Lee Young-Ae has been invited to visit Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Japan. The fan crowds were phenomenal; in the first time in 12 years, NHK had to use NHK Hall to host the NHK show (2006). She was invited to the 2007 Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in China as an Image Ambassador. Many fans came from around the world and spent hours waiting for her under the temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. She flew in an Asiana airplane with four of her Dae Jang Geum portraits painted on the side of the plane.
Beside her acting career, she has also been involved in several charity events. In 1997 she went to Ethiopia as a NGO Goodwill Ambassador and experienced the poverty and illness of African children. She went to Thar Desert in 1999 doing a TV show of the lowest caste people in India. Later in 2001, she published these experiences in her autobiography “A Most Special Love" and donated all the income from the sale of the book to charity.
She was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2004 by UNICEF and held several charity functions from that time on. She made many donations to schools and hospitals, which include an elementary school in China such that the school was renamed Lee Young-Ae Elementary School, and the Chosun First Middle School in Harbin.
From her 2006 autobiography “Young-Ae’s Vow”, she talked about how she became an actress. She recalled what made her go into show business was working with Andy Lau in a 1991 chocolate advertisement. In 1995, she made a decision to go to graduate school to learn theory of acting. Since then, she has not changed to challenge various kinds of acting roles, like that in Dae Jang Geum and later a very different role in Sympathy For Lady Vengeance.
She was awarded Best Actress awards in the Blue Dragon Film Awards in 2005 and Baeksang Art Awards in 2006 for the film Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. In 2007, she received Medal of Culture Merit for her contribution to Korean Wave from the South Korean government.
Her major contract in 2006 and 2007 is with LG Group, a large South Korean conglomerate. She became the spokesmodel (Pan-Asia) for all LG Electronics' products. In January 2007, she received a gratitude frame from LG Electronics for her promotion of their products.
In August 24 2009, Lee Young-ae was married to a Korean-American businessman. The wedding took place in the United States.
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