Let’s Meet: Lee Min Ho

You must be wondering what this is right? For those who have read the past few posts of mine, would know that I have started quite a number of running series on my blog, in my attempt to categorise things on my blog. This series was something I thought of much before I thought of the others but I was pretty confused about it’s execution. But nevertheless, I have decided to start it, and will continue it.

Now whenever I write a post, you must have noticed that I first give all it’s details in bold. If it’s a movie, the director, story writer, actors, if it’s a book, the author and other details and so on. When I keep doing that I see that some names make quite a bit of repetition on my blog. I go research on them and start watching/reading/listening to more of their works, exploring quite a bit. On that note, I would like to talk a little bit about them.

For my first part of this series, I have decided to talk about Lee Min Ho. He was the lead in the first K-Drama I have ever watched and is definitely one of my favorites in the Hallyu world.

Now you must be wondering, why should I read this? I mean I could just read about these people on Google right? Well this post is an account of the works of this artist that I have gone through and just my thoughts on it.

Born: 22 June 1987 (31 years old)

Active from: 2003-present

Active in: Mostly in the Korean drama and film industry, also sings.

In the beginning of his career he had landed a number of minor and lead roles in dramas, but there was one very famous Korean drama that highlighted an immense breakthrough not just for his career, but for the K-Drama business or the Hallyu wave as it propagated more into the world, and that is none other than the famous series – Boys Over Flowers.

Lee Min Ho as Gu Jun Pyo , in the series ‘Boys Over Flowers’

In this series, he appears and makes his way (literally) into the hearts of millions of women across the world as Gu Jun Pyo. His character is the son and heir of one of the biggest conglomerates in Korea called Shinhwa. His friends are all billionaires as well and they all study in this fictional school meant only for the extreme rich. He and his four friends are called ‘The F4’ and they make the rules in the school and torture other students. On such a torture incident, the student is saved by a girl called Geum Jan Di (played by Ku Hye Sun) and to avoid bad press, even though she is from a rather poor background is admitted into the school. She is not scared of the F4 or Gu Jun Pyo, and he soon starts having a liking towards her, the story then talks about the difficulties that the couple face. (The review on this will soon be up on the blog)

Lee Min Ho appears in exuberant curls on his hair and even more exuberant clothing. He really looked the part and from a character perspective, although he on the outside looks like a bully, he really was not so. The drama was highly succesful and if you have gone through dramas other than this, you must have realized that this is a recurring theme. For a sake of entertainment and fun, Boys over flowers is highly recommended. Most people make their journey into K-dramas through this particular drama.

Lee Min Ho as Jeon Jin Ho from the series ‘Personal Taste’

This was another favorite drama of mine. Here Lee Min Ho is the architect Jeon Jin Ho. He runs his own office and is looking at a massive art gallery project as his breakthrough. He hears that the judging panel is quite fond of a certain famous architect’s home, which is a fusion of traditional Korean and modern architecture. He goes hunting for that home and realises that the architect’s daughter lives there with her friend. The daughter played by Son Ye Jin, is cheated by her best friend and boyfriend when she finds out that the two are dating and are getting married. She kicks out her best friend who was living with her, and after some ‘incidehts’ lets Jin Ho rent out that room as she thinks he is gay and it’s safe to have him with her. Things however don’t work out the way they thought.

This drama in essence was an entertaining chick flick kind, but Lee Min Ho shone here as well , as a good entertainer and as the serious and career focused Jin Ho. This was also one of the first dramas I watched, and it really boosted his career forward to more shows.

Lee Min Ho as Yoon Sung in the series ‘City Hunter’

In my personal opinion this was the real breakthrough, as far as acting and character development is concerned. City Hunter has him in the role of Yoon Sung , a young talented and well trained man who is on the mission to bring out the corrupted people in power to the rightful place of law and order, to the people. It’s a thoroughly exciting drama, with the action, the plot, the characters and what more. It really brought on challenges to an actor and Lee Min Ho crusaded through it well. The drama in fact, is in itself really good with an amazing and large supporting cast. This one will definitely be one of my most favorite Lee Min Ho performances and dramas, so far.

Lee Min Ho as Choi Young in the drama ‘Faith’

Now I won’t go much into the plot of this one because I already published a post on this on my blog, which you can read here.

The drama had a lot of flaws to point out, and both he and the lead heroine had an enormous amount of screen time together. I had already mentioned this in the original post, but without any kind of scenes where they seem to be having any physical contact whatsoever, things that we usually see a lot in movies and dramas , both of them together pulled off one of the best on-screen chemistries I have seen so far in dramas. That in fact, saved this drama for the certain plotholes and confusion here and there.

Lee Min Ho as Kim Tan in the drama ‘The Heirs’

The Heirs was one of the more recent projects by Lee Min Ho that also garnered a lot of success. This was another kind of spin on the theme in Boys over flowers, where almost the entire cast comprises of a set of rich and privileged kids, who are to inherit their parents fortune. But the kind of problems they face are-lets just say sad. I guess money isnt everything! Lee Min Ho plays Kim Tan the heir to his parents fortune with a little snag. His mother had him out of wedlock, while his father was married to someone else. His elder half brother runs the company and exiles Kim Tan to America (to a rather luxurious but lonely life) while his mother who is unknown to public must stay hidden. He meets Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye) who is a struggling student and the rest of the story follows.

This drama too garnered a lot of attention in Korea and in Asia. Although I didn’t enjoy it maybe as much as the others it was definitely well made, with a really great OST and production was done well. By this point, it seems Lee Min Ho will rise well and high into his career.

Lee Min Ho as Dam Ryeong in ‘The Legend of the blue sea’

Lee Min Ho as Ho Jeon Jae in ‘The Legend of the blue sea’

From my personal experience and from what I have heard fellow fans say, ‘Legend of the blue sea’ was highly anticipated and definitely didn’t disappoint. It was a supernatural theme where the story was developed from the legend of a mermaid and a man. It spans across two different eras. One in the historic times of royal rule and the other during the modern era, where Lee Min Ho plays two starkingly different but equally good roles. Along with his co-star Jun Ji Hyun, they portrayed an incredibly entertaining performance that garnered attention and more fans and popularity worldwide. From all the dramas of Lee Min Ho’s that I have watched, this one ties as my favorite with City Hunter.

Update

Lee Min Ho as Lee Gon from “The King : Eternal Monarch”

I had written this post just as Lee Min Ho was leaving for his military enlistment and now he’s been back some time and has already finished another drama and that’s The King : Eternal Monarch, where he plays the King of a parallel universe Kingdom of Korea, Lee Gon. He gets a magical flute that helps his travel the dimensions which is when he meets Kim Go Eun who plays a police officer in the Republic of Korea, we know. Unfortunately the enemy has the power too and it’s a power against time, parallel dimensions and fate.

Of course, this being his comeback was HIGHLY anticipated. However for me, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wish I could. The detailed reasons can be found on the link. However, Lee Min How’s portrayal of the character was very satisfactory. Unfortunately the story wasn’t that strong.

Lee Min Ho is an extremely popular actor that is loved both internationally, and in his home country. For those who go through his dramas and projects it’s not a wonder why that happened. I will definitely be updating my blog on the individual posts on these dramas and projects. Of course I haven’t traversed through his entire filmography where he has also taken a shot at films and he even sings! He actually has quite an extended discography that extends from OSTs from his on-screen projects and others. I definitely haven’t been able to talk about everything but I hope I covered enough to highlight this talented artist’s life. Do check out his work- you won’t be disappointed.

As of now, he is working on a new show for Apple TV called, Pachinko, and I for one can’t wait!

Image courtesy: Google Image Search

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