Lee Moo-saeng

In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

Lee Moo-saeng (Korean: 이무생; born May 10, 1980), is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television dramas The World of the Married (2020), The Silent Sea (2021), Thirty-Nine (2022), and Cleaning Up (2022).^[3]

Lee Moo-saeng
Lee Moo-saeng in 2020
Born	(1980-05-10) May 10, 1980 (age 44) Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea[1]
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2005–present
Agent	Alien Company[2]
Spouse	Unknown ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	2
Korean name
Hangul	이무생
Revised Romanization	I Mu-saeng
McCune–Reischauer	I Musaeng

Career

2006-2019: Early career and building success

Lee made his debut in 2006 as Joon-tae in the film See You After School and later appeared in series and films such as Special Affairs Team TEN, Fengshui, Prison Playbook and Something in the Rain.^[4][5][6]

In particular in 2019, Lee received widespread recognition for his acting skills through his portrayal of various roles in works such as The Crowned Clown, One Spring Night, Designated Survivor: 60 Days and Melting Me Softly.^{[7][8][9][10]}

2020–present: Rise in popularity

In 2020, Lee gained popularity with his performance in the melodrama romance series The World of the Married in the role of Kim Yoon-ki.^[11] In the same year, he was cast in Netflix's original seriesThe Silent Sea with Bae Doona and Gong Yoo.^[12]

In 2021, he was cast in the romance drama Thirty-Nine alongside Son Ye-jin and Jeon Mi-do.^[13] Following the release of the series in 2022, he received much praise in his role as Kim Jin-seok. Lee's success was followed by a leading role in the drama Cleaning Up alongside Yum Jung-ah.^[14] Lee also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Kang Yeong-cheon, a psychopathic murderer, in The Glory.^[15]

Lee's popularity continued to rise, starring as Yoo Jung-jae alongside Lee Young-ae in Maestra: Strings of Truth which aired on tvN from December 9, 2023, to January 14, 2024.^[16] He portrayed the role of Konishi Yukinaga in Noryang: Deadly Sea a 2023 South Korean historical war action film and the role of Kim Yoon-gi in Citizen of a Kind.^[17][18]

It was also announced that Lee has been cast in the upcoming thriller Hide, and will be starring alongside Lee Bo-young.^[19] Reportedly, Lee will join the cast of Gyeongseong Creature in Season 2 of the series that was expected for release in 2024.^[20] More recently, Lee has been cast in Blood Free in the role of On San, premiering on Disney+ on April 10, 2024.^[21]

Personal life

Lee married his girlfriend in 2011 and they have two children, a son and a daughter.^[22][23]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2006	See You After School	Joon-tae
2007	Resurrection of the Butterfly
	Our Town	Jung Myung-bo
2009	Running Turtle	Detective Lee
	The Sword With No Name	Sang-Hoon
2010	Troubleshooter	interrogation prosecutor
	A Long Visit	Joon-soo
2011	Homicide Sonata
2012	Sex, Lies and Videotape	Kyung-tae
	Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley	Chul-gi		[24][25]
	Plump Revolution	Min-ho
2013	Eating, Talking, Faucking	rapist
	Oldmen Never Die	Joon-soo
2014	The Suffered	Detective Lee
2015	Hot Service: A Cruel Hairdresser	Ji Yang-bae
2016	SORI: Voice from the Heart	NIS agent 1	Cameo
2017	Fabricated City	Prosecutor
2018	Fengshui	Feng shui expert 1
2019	Money	Funeral hall manager
	The Faceless Boss	Cha Joon-young
2020	The Faceless Boss: The Untold Story
2022	Broker	Seon-ho	Special appearance	[26]
2023	Noryang: Deadly Sea	Konishi Yukinaga		[17][27]
2024	Citizen of a Kind	Kim Yoon-gi		[18][28]

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2007	Behind the White Tower	Kwon Hyung-jin
2009	Wife Returns	Director Lee
2011	Special Affairs Team TEN	Ji Jin-hyuk
2013	Special Affairs Team TEN 2		Cameo (ep.11-12)	[4]
	Heartless City	Detective Kim Do-hoon
2014	Secret Love Affair	Chief Lim
	A Witch's Love	Detective Lee	Cameo (ep. 10,13)
2015	My Beautiful Bride
2016	Pied Piper	Prosecutor	Cameo (ep. 6)
2017	Irish Uppercut	Do Tae-min	Main Role	[29]
	The Idolmaster KR	Chief Yang
	Prison Playbook	Lawyer Kang Min-koo		[5]
2018	Something in the Rain	Jin Ah's boyfriend	Cameo (ep.15-16)	[6]
	The Miracle We Met	Kim Choong-man		[30]
	With Coffee	[Team Leader]
2019	The Crowned Clown	Prince Jinpyung		[7]
	One Spring Night	Nam Shi-hoon		[8]
	Designated Survivor: 60 Days	Kim Nam-wook		[10]
	Melting Me Softly	Jo Ki-beom		[9]
2019–2020	Chocolate	Jeong Se-un		[31]
2020	The World of the Married	Kim Yoon-ki		[11]
2022	Thirty-Nine	Kim Jin-seok		[13]
	Cleaning Up	Lee Young-shin		[14]
2023	Maestra: Strings of Truth	Yoo Jung-jae		[16][32]

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2021	The Silent Sea	Chief Gong Soo-hyuk		[33]
2022–2023	The Glory	Kang Yeong-cheon	Special appearance (Part 1–2)	[15]
2024	Hide	Cha Seong-jae		[34][19]
	Gyeongseong Creature	Captain Kuroko		[35][20]
	Blood Free	On San		[21]

Stage

Theater performances^[36]

Year	Title		Role	Venue	Date	Ref.
	English	Korean
2009	Hamlet Q1	햄릿Q1	Hamlet	Dongduk Women's University Performing Arts Centre	March 20 to 29	[37]
2009	Culture of Youth Northern District 2009 Performance - Wuthering Height	젊음의 문화북구 2009기획공연 - 폭풍의 언덕	Hatton / Heathcliff (past)	Ulsan Buk-gu Culture and Arts Centre	June 27 to 28	[38]
2011	Yasmin's first play <Meet the Gogol>	야스민의 첫 연극 <고골을 만나다>		Miari Village Theater, Daehakro Woosuk Repertory Theater	October 26 to 30	[citation needed]
2016	Death of a Salesman	세일즈맨의 죽음	Biff Loman	Asian Culture Center	December 3–4	[39][40][41]
				Arko Arts Theater	December 13–22
2017				Daejeon Arts	January 13–14	[42][43]
				Uijeongbu Arts	February 10–12
				Suwon SK Atrium	February 17–18
				Ulsan Culture	February 24–25
				Gyeongju Arts	February 28 – March 1