[Lee Hwa-jeong’s Deep Detox] “Keep Running Without Rest With an Athlete’s Grit.” Meeting Actress Yeon Lee, Star of “Tango at Dawn” and “Gyeongju Trip” ③

▶ The meeting with actress Yeon Lee continues in Part 2.

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Unlike how she appears—bright-minded and bold in taking on challenges—what I heard is that the reason she started acting in the first place was a process meant to heal her fear. I think there must have been a moment where the acting she began suddenly pulled her in—like, ‘Oh, the fit is real. I want to do even better.’

Yes. Exactly. It’s the truth. I was originally doing music, but stage fright hit so hard I couldn’t even produce a voice. So I started acting for treatment purposes. At first, I was doing acting workshops, and it was so much fun. But I think for this to become truly my job, when those painful moments arrive, I have to get through them well. That was exactly the first feature-length project, 〈Pago〉. The shoot was really difficult. With a small budget, we kept shooting only within an island. We had to film a scene running up to the top of a mountain more than 20 times, and I even ended up gagging. Once during filming, I said out loud—without meaning to—“There’s so much to do,” and my own voice slipped out. Then director Park Jeong-bum laughed and said, “You have to. You’re an actor.” (Laugh) During the shoot I was genuinely struggling and sometimes angry, but later when I saw the final results, they were so good. It made me think, “Is that person really me?” I also felt regret, thinking, “Did I start this for no reason?”—but I ended up feeling the enjoyment that comes from enduring that kind of suffering. That’s when I thought, “So I really do like this job. This is my job going forward.” I made up my mind to do it properly. Meeting director Park Jeong-bum through 〈Pago〉 as her debut film might be the start of that ‘fortunate process that carried forward like luck in my life’ I mentioned earlier.

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〈Pago〉 was my first feature. How did the casting happen?

At first, a different actor was set to play the lead. But when that person withdrew, I—who had originally been cast for a supporting role—suddenly became the lead. To be honest, I went through quite a few auditions back then, and the project I met when things didn’t work out came right away: 〈Pago〉. After that, I met 〈Dagaengi〉. Director Han Jae-i kept encouraging me on set, saying, “Yeona, you’re really a great actress. I really like you. You’re okay!” and kept cheering me on.

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〈Dagaengi〉 is a story about the couple—same-sex lovers Eun-soo (Woo Mi-hwa) and Yewon (Yeon Lee)—and how everyday life gets shaken by Eun-soo’s sudden traffic accident. Yewon is a character who’s positive and honest about her feelings. Compared with 〈Pago〉, she looked a lot like Yeon Lee in real life as well. I wonder if that sort of straight-ahead, audacious side might have come from her experience as a track-and-field athlete and from the mindset of an athlete. She quit because of an injury, but it still feels like the training attitude from that time remains.

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It’s really big. I thought about why I’m so simple and carefree, and I think the long-term exercise expanded the scope of the accident. When you only think about it without trying, you end up thinking a lot. But once you actually try, you don’t have to think. That’s probably why I keep repeating, “I’ll just try first.” If I don’t try, all kinds of thoughts come in—those really small worries like, “That’s why it’ll be bad,” “That’s why it won’t work.” But when you actually do it, everything becomes very simple. It was the same with exercise. When I was a track athlete, you don’t know how hard it is unless you run, and if you don’t do what you have to do, you end up not wanting to do it even more. So you have to do it no matter what. Of course, I don’t like the idea of going out to work out itself, though. (Laugh)

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When you think about it, you could say that whether it’s sports or music, you also quit midstream from the path you originally intended to take. Instead of sitting down, you challenged a new job with another source of drive. Maybe it’s the recovery power that comes with the person named Yeon Lee.

Now that I’m acting, I feel like everything I did in the past helped, and I’m grateful. Because I exercised, I built stamina. That’s why I could do action acting even in 〈Gilbok-soon〉. I also feel that the stamina management and athletic ability I built when I was young are closely connected to acting. Music also ends up helping acting. I don’t know what role I’ll end up playing later, but as an entertainer, being able to sing is a huge weapon. So I’m grateful for all the processes I went through—both the times when I did it, and the times I didn’t do it halfheartedly; I always gave my best back then too. I’m really grateful to my past self. There’s a feeling of, “Thank you for doing your best even when you wanted to give up.”

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Now that the promotional schedule for 〈Tango at Dawn〉 (2026) is wrapped up, and soon another independent film, 〈Gyeongju Trip〉, is set to open. This is a period where filming is on a rare break.

I truly think break time is really important. What you do during your downtime helps raise the quality when you meet your next character. During breaks, I just try to rest really well. I read a lot of books and watch works I missed. And the most important thing is, I think I should get closer to media videos but move away from the internet world. If too many stories come in, it feels like I’d get confused about what I like. So I deliberately try to stay a bit distant. I don’t want to lose my sense of what I like and what kind of person I am.

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I’m also curious about Yeon Lee’s balance as a real person—beyond acting—and the goals she holds in between.

There’s something I really want to do. Later, I definitely want to work on issues related to childcare centers. To do that work, I’d probably have to keep volunteering too, and there would be a lot to learn. I would also need to make a lot of money to buy land and build buildings. (Laugh)

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I was asking about her goals as an actress and her greed for particular works, but I heard an answer that was genuinely unexpected. I’m curious from when she started thinking that way, and whether there was a special trigger.

I played troubled teenage roles a lot. (Laugh) While doing that, I ended up studying those kids, and I’ve actually gotten to interview people who work in that field several times. What I learned from hearing stories about runaway youth is this: when they become teenagers, they suddenly have to step out from a childcare center into society. From that point, it becomes harder for those kids to get protected. So I started thinking that I want to do something that would be genuinely helpful to those kids. It’s not common to have a job where you can meet as many people as I can. It’s a job where you can bring people together, and Reporter Hwa-jeong Kim could come and educate them too. In the end, I think people are the most important. Maybe that’s why I like acting too—it’s ultimately about people. I grew up with so much help from my mother since I was young, and because I received so much support, I feel a big desire to give something back.

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Yeon Lee’s running—holding the center, picking up speed, and finding the rhythm—is something I’m looking forward to and cheering for.

I really hope so. The truth is, in the past I compared myself with other people a lot. I’d think, “Why can’t I become like that person?” But in the end, I think I came to feel that everyone has a different pace. I hope I’m truly a “person you want to work with again.” And I want to live well. I want to act well, love well, and also want to have a positive influence on people. Going forward, too, I want to keep running without resting and keep becoming new.

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Cineplay Lee Hwa-jeong, Guest Reporter, Photo by Lee Sang-yeob