Lee Seung-gi (; born January 13, 1987) is a South Korean singer, actor, host, lyricist and entertainer."What makes Lee Seung-gi, Lee Seung-gi?" Hancinema. June 18, 2015 As one of the highest paid celebrities of South Korea and recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including a Golden Disc Award for music and Baeksang Arts Award for acting, Lee has been featured multiple times in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list since 2010, and recently ranked sixth in 2022. His success as a singer, actor and host has earned him the title of "Triple Threat" entertainer and has established him as a top Hallyu star."Triple threat with singing, acting and hosting skills" Asiaone. March 19, 2012
He has numerous hit songs as a singer such as "Because You're My Woman", "Will You Marry Me", "Return" and "The Ordinary Man". He has garnered further recognition as an actor and rose to popularity in parts of Asia with leading roles in popular dramas such as Brilliant Legacy (2009), My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho (2010), The King 2 Hearts (2012), Gu Family Book (2013), You're All Surrounded (2014), A Korean Odyssey (2017–2018), Vagabond (2019), Mouse (2021), and The Law Cafe (2022). He was a member of the first season of weekend variety show 1 Night 2 Days from November 2007 to February 2012, and the host of talk show Strong Heart from October 2009 to April 2012.
Lee was first included in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list in 2010 placing seventh, subsequently ranking fourth in 2011 and sixth in 2012, 2015 and 2022.
In 2021, Lee was selected as one of the 200 actors (100 males and 100 females) to be featured in the Korean Actors 200 Campaign, run by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). This methodical project's aim is to select actors that best represent the present and future of Korean film and to introduce them to other people that work in the film industry overseas.
Early life and education Lee Seung-gi was born on January 13, 1987, in Banghak-dong, Dobong District, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and younger sister. During his elementary and middle school days, Lee was considered a good student, he was an all rounder and performed equally well in sports, academics and arts and was the elected president of the student council throughout his school years. In school, he became well-versed in English, Japanese and Korean. Lee was also part of a band in his local high school, where he was the lead vocalist. Their band name was initially called Brain Hemorrhage to give a strong impression, but it was later changed to Natural. During his band's last activity, he was scouted by singer Lee Sun-hee when she saw him perform in a small theater. Although Lee initially rejected the offer to concentrate on his studies, he later accepted it after his mother's persuasion as Lee Sun-hee was her favorite singer. He trained for 2 years before making his singing debut at the age of 17.
While busy in his career, Lee graduated from Dongguk University obtaining his degree in International Trade and Commerce on February 20, 2009, and received a special achievement award during graduation. He then continued his studies obtaining two master's degrees, Marketing, Trade Theory as well as Finance and Cultural Contents at Dongguk Graduate School. He successfully received Child Psychiatry Counselling Certificate while he was doing Little Forest variety show.
Career 2004–present: As singer Scouted by singer Lee Sun-hee, Lee trained for two years before debuting on June 5, 2004, at the age of 17. "Because You're My Girl", his debut song from his first album The Dream of a Moth, became a popular ballad which created a 'liking older women' syndrome in South Korea. With this song, he won the Best Newcomer award in various music awards ceremonies in 2004, such as the M.net KM Music Festival and Seoul Music Awards. In 2007, he also won the Best Male Solo Artist award at the M.net KM Music Festival with his song "White Lie" from his third album Story of Separation."이승기, 신혜성 불참한 MKMF '남자가수상' 수상" Newsen. November 17, 2007
He released a digital single titled "Will You Marry Me" in 2009, which became a hit in South Korea. With this single, he received the Digital Single Bonsang award in the 24th Golden Disc Awards. The same year, he released his fourth album Shadow, which was a success and received 40,000 pre-order copies before its release.
In 2010, he recorded a duet version of his 2007 song "Smile Boy" with South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna, which became the official 2010 FIFA World Cup commercial song in South Korea."Kim Yu-na, Lee Seung-gi Collaborate on World Cup Commercial Song" The Chosun Ilbo. May 17, 2010 He also received the Digital Single Bonsang award for the second consecutive time at the 25th Golden Disc Awards with his song "Love Taught Me To Drink"."골든디스크 본상 디지털 음원 본상, 이승기 수상! 활동 많이 못했는데..." BNTnews. December 9, 2010 This was followed by the release of his fifth album, Tonight in 2011, a departure from his usual traditional ballads and encompasses more of a rock band-style sound and melodies. The title song "Aren't We Friends" instantly topped online music charts upon release. His other single, "Era of Love" also earned the No. 1 spot on that week's Billboard K-Pop Hot 100.
On March 6, 2012, Lee made his debut in Japan with the release of his first Japanese album Time for Love (also translated as Alone in Love) and a single of the same title. Both the album and single ranked number one on the Oricon Daily Chart. He held a concert at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, on June 1, 2012, three months after his debut. Back in South Korea the same year, he released an EP titled Forest. The title song "Return" set a record for being number one for six consecutive weeks on Billboard's Korea K-Pop Hot 100. On June 10, 2015, he made his music comeback with his sixth album And... after a hiatus of two years and seven months. On January 21, 2016, his agency, Hook Entertainment, announced that he would be enlisting for his mandatory military service on February 1. As a gift to fans, he also released a new track on January 21 at noon, titled "I Am Going to the Military". On March 3, 2016, his song "Meet Someone Like Me" was released. The single is the last song he recorded before joining the army, and was produced by Psy.
On November 15, 2020, he released a pre-released track titled "The Ordinary Man" (), ahead of his anticipated seventh album The Project, which was released on December 10, 2020. On June 21, 2022, his agency announced that Lee will be partnering with guitarist Lee Byung-ho from Captain Planet's songwriting team to release the project's theme song on July 1.
2004–present: As actor with pan-Asian fame In 2004, Lee starred in MBC's sitcom Nonstop 5. He then officially debuted as an actor in KBS's 2006 weekend drama The Infamous Chil Sisters. He was then cast as the male lead in SBS's weekend drama Brilliant Legacy in 2009, co-starring Han Hyo-joo. The drama maintained its top spot in viewer ratings throughout its run, with its final episode attaining a viewer rating of 47.1%. The huge success boosted Lee's popularity as an actor and led to increased advertising offers for the actor. For his performance in the drama, he received the "Excellence in Acting" award, the "Top 10 Stars" award and the "Best Couple" award with Han Hyo-joo at the 2009 SBS Drama Awards.
This was followed by SBS's fantasy drama My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox in 2010, playing a university student who (despite strong discouragement from his grandfather) wants to drop out in order to pursue his dream of becoming an action movie star. His performance earned him his second "Excellence in Acting" award at the 2010 SBS Drama Awards. He then starred in MBC's action drama The King 2 Hearts (2012) with Ha Ji-won, fantasy-historical drama Gu Family Book (2013) with Bae Suzy, and SBS's police drama You're All Surrounded (2014). In 2015, Lee Seun-gi made his film debut with romantic comedy Love Forecast which co-stars Moon Chae-won. In July 2015, Lee was cast in the period comedy film The Princess and the Matchmaker with Shim Eun-kyung, directed by The Face Reader director Han Jae-rim. The film was released in 2018.
In 2017, he was the lead actor in the fantasy drama A Korean Odyssey, written by the Hong sisters. This marked his first project after enlistment. In 2019, he and Bae Suzy starred in the spy action drama Vagabond as their second drama together. With this drama, he received the Top Excellence Award in a Miniseries and the "Best Couple" award with Bae Suzy at the 2019 SBS Drama Awards. In 2021, Lee starred alongside Lee Hee-joon in the crime thriller Mouse, playing the role of Jeong Ba-reum, which earned him the Grand Award (Daesang) for best actor in TV category at the 6th Asia Artist Awards. On April 7, 2022, Lee was confirmed to appear in a KBS drama alongside Lee Se-young titled The Law Cafe, it is a healing romance drama about a former prosecutor now landlord and a former Miss Korea now lawyer, based on a popular web novel.
2007–present: As host and entertainer Lee was a permanent cast member of the first season of 1 Night 2 Days, a segment of KBS's weekend variety show Happy Sunday, from November 2007 to February 2012. Known by his nickname heodang, his appearance on the show shot him to fame in Korea and made him a household name. In 2008, he received the Best Popularity award in the KBS Entertainment Awards due to his popularity with audience in 1 Night 2 Days. He also earned the Top Excellence Host award in the 2010 KBS Entertainment Awards and the Daesang award with the other cast members of the first season at the 2011 KBS Entertainment Awards.
In October 2009, Lee took on a hosting role in SBS's Tuesday night talk show Strong Heart with Kang Ho-dong. It was recognized as the Best Program at the 2009 SBS Entertainment Awards and he was awarded the Netizens' Popularity award. He was again recognized for his role in the talk show and received the Top Excellence Host award for two consecutive years at the 2010 and 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards. In March 2012, Lee announced his departure from Strong Heart in order to focus on his singing career. He recorded his last episode on March 15, which was broadcast on April 3."Lee Seung-gi to leave 'Strong Heart'" 10Asia. February 23, 2012 Lee reunited with 1 Night 2 Days cast members and PD Na Young-seok in the travel-reality show New Journey to the West in 2015. In 2017, he joined the cast of SBS variety show Master in the House.
In 2018, he was chosen to be the MC of Mnet's reality/survival program, Produce 48. The same year, it was announced that he will join the second season of Netflix's variety show Busted!. At 2018 SBS Entertainment Awards, he won the Grand Prize (Daesang) for Master in the House, becoming the youngest entertainer to receive the award. In 2019, he joined the cast of Little Forest – a healing variety program designed as a home kids garden development project for children. The same year, he featured in the Netflix travel show Twogether alongside Taiwanese actor Jasper Liu. In 2020, he hosted Friday Joy Package, Hometown Flex and a singing reality show Sing Again.