Lee Jun-young
South Korean singer and actor (born 1997) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lee Jun-young (Korean: 이준영; born January 22, 1997), also known as Jun, is a South Korean singer, rapper and actor. In June 2014, he debuted as a member of U-KISS. In October 2017, he joined survival program The Unit and won to become a member of the project group UNB. Lee has also acted in various television dramas, notably Avengers Social Club (2017), which marked his breakthrough role. He has achieved wider recognition with his roles in Netflix series Melo Movie (2025) and When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025).
Lee Jun-young | |
|---|---|
 Lee in December 2022 | |
| Born | January 22, 1997 Uijeongbu, South Korea |
| Occupations |
|
| Agent | BILLIONS [1] |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Formerly of | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이준영 |
| Revised Romanization | I Junyeong |
| McCune–Reischauer | I Chunyŏng |
Career
Summarize
Perspective
2014: Career beginnings
On May 15, 2014, NH Media announced, via U-KISS's official Korean website, new member Jun to the public. On June 2, 2014, Jun made his debut with U-KISS and the group released its ninth mini album Mono Scandal along with the 19+ rated music video of the album's title track "Quit Playing."
2017–2019: Acting roles and UNB
In 2017, he debuted as an actor in the television series Avengers Social Club.[2] On October 28, 2017, Lee joined survival program The Unit.[3] He made it to the final Top 9 and was voted number one. He promoted with UNB, which consisted of finalists from the show, from April 7, 2018, to January 27, 2019.[4]
From April to May, Lee appeared as "Compass" on MBC's TV program King of Mask Singer. In the first round, he performed a duet with Lee Sang-hoon of "It Was Like That Then". For the second round, he performed solo cover version of "Eraser".[5][6] In May 2018, he made his second acting appearance as Han Min-soo in the MBC television series Goodbye to Goodbye (2018)[7][8] and received a new actor award at the 2018 MBC Drama Awards. On April 10, 2019, Lee released his first Japanese solo single "Phenomenal World," which explored the futurepop genre. He performed his first solo showcase in Tokyo on February 4. Prior to the release, he also held a series of concerts on April 6 in Osaka and April 8 in Tokyo.[9][10] Tower Records Japan ranked "Phenomenal World" as the #7 best-selling Japanese single by a Korean artist for the first half of 2019.[11][12] He starred in the OCN television series Class of Lies, which aired from July 17 to September 5.[13] On November 6, he released both a Korean and Japanese version of his solo single "My Way," for which he wrote the lyrics. The single featured rapper Reddy and was produced by Sway D and was accompanied by two music videos.[14][15] After a digital download was released on October 30, the Japanese version ranked #2 on the dwango.jp K-POP Life weekly singles chart.[16] On November 28, he released his first Korean solo single "TELL" composed by himself as a pre-release for upcoming album Gallery.[17] On December 5, he made his solo debut in Korea with the title track "Curious About U" and the single album Gallery.
2020–present: Rising popularity
On January 22, 2020, Lee released his first Japanese album 22 which featured the title track "Come Alive". In 2020, he acted in the musical Swag Age: Shout out, Chosun! and received a new actor award at the fifth Korea Musical Awards. In April 2020, he played Kang Woo-won in the SBS television series Good Casting (2020), which was entirely pre-produced. In June 2020, he made a special appearance in the SBS drama Backstreet Rookie as a student who stole a college student's overcoat and bought cigarettes.
In October 2020, he acted in the MBC Every 1 drama Please Don't Date Him. He participated in the soundtrack for the drama with the single "To you who will be tired". On October 7, he released a new Korean single "Amen", which explored his interest in rap and hip hop.
In May 2021, he starred in the KBS2 drama Imitation (2021) as Kwon Ryok, a talented idol-actor and center of a fictional idol group SHAX.[18] As a SHAX member, he participated in the song “MALO”, “AMEN”, and “Your Sign (SHAX ver)”. In the first two mentioned songs, he mainly took over the rap part. [19][20][21] As an individual Kwon Ryok, he participated in the song “Your Sign” sung by all original cast and remake of “My Old Story” sung in duet with Jiyeon T-ARA.[22][23] All the songs are available on various music streaming services.
After departing NH Media in August, he announced in November that he co-founded a new company J-flex, which will serve as his current agency for his acting projects.[24]
In August 2021, he appeared in the third episode of Netflix series D.P. as deserter Jung Hyun-Min. In order to digest the intense action scenes, he learned boxing with actor Jung Hae-in who plays Ahn Joon-ho, for a few months at an action school before filming. As the action scenes were shot without a stunt double, he receives praise for his swift and accurate movements. [25][26][27]
In November 2021, he starred in SBS drama Let Me Be Your Knight as Yoon Tae-in, a songwriter and vocalist of fictional band LUNA. As a member of LUNA, he sang several songs: “Beautiful Breakup”, “Midnight Fantasy”, “Let Me Be Your Knight”, “Love Paranoia”, and “Rock & Roll Tonight”.[28] He also sang a song titled “Love One Day” by himself.[29]
In February 2022, he starred in Netflix movie Love and Leashes, an adaptation of webtoon titled “Moral Sense”, on the topic of BDSM. He starred alongside Seohyun (Jung Ji-woo) as Jung Ji-hoo, a new transferred assistant manager from business team.[30] Outwardly, he is a nice and popular superior, but inwardly he hides secret desires.[31][32]
In October 2022, he starred in MBC drama May I Help You, alongside Hyeri. The drama was filmed from June 1, 2022 to December 9, 2022 and aired every Wednesday-Thursday at 21.50 KST. He plays the role Kim Tae-hee, who calls himself 100-won butler and can do any kind of errand as long as you pay him.[33][34] He also sang an OST titled “A Fine Day” for this drama.[35]
In 2023, he starred in movie Brave Citizen, based on the webtoon of the same name. He starred alongside Shin Hye-sun (So Si-min) as Han Su-gang, a high-school bully that’s described as a vicious villain that has never seen before. The filming started from December 30, 2021 - April 5, 2022 and the movie became available on theater starting from October 25, 2023.[36][37]
In August 2023, he appeared as the villain in the fourth episode of Netflix series Mask Girl. His acting as villain in Brave Citizen and Mask Girl earned him Best Acting Performance Award from 2023 Asia Artist Award.[38]
In January 2024, he starred in Netflix movie Badland Hunters, alongside Ma Dong-seok, Lee Hee-joon, and Roh Jeong-eui. In February 2024, he starred in Disney+ series The Impossible Heir alongside Lee Jae-wook. In May 2024, he starred in TVING series Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale alongside Pyo Ye-jin.
In February 2025, he appeared as cameo on tvN and TVING historical drama The Queen Who Crowns. He was praised for his wonderful portrayal of King Sejong in his first historical drama appearance.[39] In the same month, he starred in the Netflix series Melo Movie as Hong Si-jun, an aspiring musician who met again with his ex-girlfriend of 7 years Son Ju-a. He also sung an OST for the series titled “Under Sunset” entirely in English, showing off his skills as singer.[citation needed]
In March 2025, he starred as a supporting role in another Netflix series When Life Gives You Tangerines.[40][41] He was praised for his successive role in romance series, earning him the title “Romance Master”. Coupled with the villain roles he has done in recent years, he once again proved the width of his acting spectrum that freely moves between genres, roles, good and evil, flexibly digesting complex emotions, earning favorable reviews as 'Lee Jun-young rediscovery’.[42][43]
Because of his frequency of starring in OTT series, he is sometimes called ‘OTT Prince’, ‘OTT Son’, or ‘OTT Civil Servant’.[44][45] He is slated to appear in another Netflix series Weak Hero Class 2 as Geum Seong-je, which is available on April 25.[46] He will also appear in KBS2 drama Pump Up The Healthy Love airing every Wednesday-Thursday at 9:50 KST from April 30. He will star alongside Jung Eunji as Do Hyeon-jeong, a gym manager who was born smaller than the size of 1.5kg dumbbells but managed to turn his life around through exercise.[47]
Discography
Extended plays
Single albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [50] | |||
| Gallery |
Track list
|
36 |
|
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | JPN | ||||
| Korean | |||||
| "Tell" | 2019 | — | — | Undisclosed | Gallery |
| "Curious About U" (궁금해) | — | — | |||
| "Amen" | 2020 | — | — | Non album-single | |
| Japanese | |||||
| "Phenomenal World" | 2019 | — | 12 |
|
Non-album single |
| "Happiness"[a] | — | — | — | ||
| "My Way" (feat. Reddy) | — | — | 22 | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | |||||
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Love Me" (Lee Hae-ri feat. Jun) |
2017 | Non-album singles |
| "Abstract" (SOLIDEMO feat. Jun) | ||
| "Winter Wonderland" (Kyrielle Lee Gyu-in, Choi Byung-mo feat. Jun) |
Collaborations
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Don't Know Why" (with Shion Miyawaki and AK) |
2018 | Non-album single |
Soundtrack appearances
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Ziugae" (지우개) | 2018 | King of Mask Singer Episode 152 |
| "Because It's You" (너라서) | Goodbye to Goodbye OST | |
| "My Love To You" (내사랑 투유) (with Kei) |
2019 | Chart Show Again - The Winner Is? |
| "Let's Make Love" (사랑하자) (with Soyeon (Laboum)) |
2020 | Good Casting OST |
| "To You Who Will Be Tired" (지쳐있을 너에게) | Please Don't Date Him OST | |
| "A Fine Day" (다시 오늘)[53] | 2022 | May I Help You? OST |
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | More Painful than Sadness | Lee Yun-ho | Independent film [Unreleased] | |
| 2022 | Love and Leashes | Jung Ji-hoo | Netflix film | [30] |
| 2023 | Brave Citizen | Han Soo-gang | Amazon Prime | [54] |
| 2024 | Badland Hunters | Choi ji-wan | Netflix film | [55][56] |
Television series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Avengers Social Club | Lee Soo-gyum | ||
| 2018 | Goodbye to Goodbye | Han Min-soo | ||
| 2019 | Class of Lies | Yoo Beom-jin | ||
| 2020 | Good Casting | Kang Woo-won | ||
| Backstreet Rookie | High school student | Cameo (Ep.2) | ||
| 2020–2021 | Please Don't Date Him | Jung Kook-hee | ||
| 2021 | Imitation | Kwon Ryok | [57] | |
| D.P. | Jung Hyun-min | Cameo (Season 1 Ep.3) | [58] | |
| 2021–2022 | Let Me Be Your Knight | Yoon Tae-in | [59] | |
| 2022 | May I Help You? | Butler Kim / Kim Tae-hee | [60] | |
| 2023 | Mask Girl | Choi Bu-yong | Cameo (Ep.4) | [61] |
| 2024 | The Impossible Heir | Kang In-ha | [62] | |
| Dreaming of a Freaking Fairy Tale | Moon Cha-min | [63] | ||
| 2025 | The Queen Who Crowns | King Sejong | Cameo (Ep.12) | [64] |
| Melo Movie | Hong Si-jun | [65][66] | ||
| When Life Gives You Tangerines | Park Yeong-beom | [67] | ||
| Weak Hero Class 2 | Geum Seong-jae | [68] | ||
| 24-Hour Health Club | Do Hyeon-jeong | [69] |
Television shows
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The Unit: Idol Rebooting Project | Himself |
Web shows
Music video appearances
| Year | Song | Artist | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | There Has Never Been a Day I Haven't Loved You | Im Chang-jung | [72] | |
| Turn It On | Laboum | [73] |
Musical
Awards and nominations
| Award ceremony | Year | Category | Nominee / Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia Artist Awards | 2021 | Best Choice Award - Actor | Lee Jun-young | Won | [79] |
| 2022 | Best Actor Award | May I Help You? | Won | [80] | |
| 2023 | Best Acting Performance Award | Brave Citizen, Mask Girl | Won | [81] | |
| Director's Cut Awards | 2024 | Best New Actor in a Series | Mask Girl | Nominated | [82] |
| Korea Cultural Entertainment Awards | 2018 | Best New Actor | Goodbye to Goodbye | Won | [83] |
| Korea Musical Awards | 2021 | Best New Actor | Swag Age: Shout out, Chosun! | Won | [84] |
| MBC Drama Awards | 2018 | Best New Actor | Goodbye to Goodbye | Won | [85] |
| 2022 | Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries | May I Help You? | Nominated | [86] | |
| Best Couple Award | Lee Jun-young (with Lee Hye-ri) May I Help You? |
Nominated | [87] | ||
| SBS Drama Awards | 2020 | Best New Actor | Good Casting | Nominated | [88] |
| 2021 | Excellence Award for an Actor in a Mini-Series Romance/Comedy Drama | Let Me Be Your Knight | Nominated | [89][31] | |
| Scene Stealer Festival | 2023 | Scene Stealer of the Year | Love and Leashes May I Help You? |
Won | [32] |
Listicles
Notes
- mentioned together with Kim Seon-ho, Wi Ha-joon, Song Kang, Rowoon, Byeon Woo-seok
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.