Lee Eun-ju ( December â€" February , ) was a South Korean actress.
She was the star of hit films including Taegukgi and The Scarlet
Letter. She died by suicide at age .Born in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do,
South Korea, Lee studied piano for much of her youth, without giving
much thought to becoming an actress. She moved to Seoul after
graduating high school and was first noticed in the mid-s as a model
for school uniforms. After finding work as a model, she began to be
offered roles in various TV dramas, including Start and KAIST. Her
film debut came in , when she played the younger sister in Park
Chong-wan's award-winning feature Rainbow Trout. Her first lead role
came as the title character in acclaimed director Hong Sang-soo's
Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (), where she gave one of the
most memorable performances in all of Hong's films. Following this,
she teamed with actor Lee Byung-hun in the hit film Bungee Jumping of
Their Own, and also scored a hit opposite Cha Tae-hyun in the
melodrama Lovers' Concerto.Lee's later career was marked by several
turns in films that failed at the box-office, plus a key role in the
record-breaking Korean War film Taegukgi. In she appeared in the very
popular Korean drama, Phoenix, and later that year she starred in her
last feature, Daniel H. Byun's The Scarlet Letter which screened as
the Closing Film at the Pusan International Film Festival."I'm called
a new generation star, but I don't want to be the kind of person who
achieves instant fame and then is quickly forgotten. I want to learn
step-by-step how to become a good actress, and gradually work my way
up. A star achieves brilliance, but is soon forgotten; to become an
actress takes more time." [Interview Excerpt: Kino, #, February ]
She was the star of hit films including Taegukgi and The Scarlet
Letter. She died by suicide at age .Born in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do,
South Korea, Lee studied piano for much of her youth, without giving
much thought to becoming an actress. She moved to Seoul after
graduating high school and was first noticed in the mid-s as a model
for school uniforms. After finding work as a model, she began to be
offered roles in various TV dramas, including Start and KAIST. Her
film debut came in , when she played the younger sister in Park
Chong-wan's award-winning feature Rainbow Trout. Her first lead role
came as the title character in acclaimed director Hong Sang-soo's
Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (), where she gave one of the
most memorable performances in all of Hong's films. Following this,
she teamed with actor Lee Byung-hun in the hit film Bungee Jumping of
Their Own, and also scored a hit opposite Cha Tae-hyun in the
melodrama Lovers' Concerto.Lee's later career was marked by several
turns in films that failed at the box-office, plus a key role in the
record-breaking Korean War film Taegukgi. In she appeared in the very
popular Korean drama, Phoenix, and later that year she starred in her
last feature, Daniel H. Byun's The Scarlet Letter which screened as
the Closing Film at the Pusan International Film Festival."I'm called
a new generation star, but I don't want to be the kind of person who
achieves instant fame and then is quickly forgotten. I want to learn
step-by-step how to become a good actress, and gradually work my way
up. A star achieves brilliance, but is soon forgotten; to become an
actress takes more time." [Interview Excerpt: Kino, #, February ]
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