‘Lady Vengeance’ Actress Lee Young-ae To Receive Excellence In Asian Cinema Award

Korean actress Lee Young-ae, known for her roles in Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area and Lady Vengeance, will be presented with the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award at this year’s Asian Film Awards (March 10) in Hong Kong.

With a career spanning three decades, Lee’s credits also include 2003 drama series Jewel In The Palace, which was broadcast in over 90 countries and introduced Korean history to a global audience.

One of two recipients of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, Lee is confirmed to attend the ceremony at Hong Kong’s Xiqu Centre in person. “I’m delighted to come to Hong Kong and take part in this prestigious event for the Asian film industry,” said Lee. “I look forward to more collaborations and engagements with Asian filmmakers across the region to raise international awareness of Korean cinema and culture.”

Park Kwang Su, chairperson of Busan film festival which organises the awards along with the Hong Kong and Tokyo film festivals, said: “Always challenging herself as an actress, Lee Young-ae is the embodiment of professionalism and inspiration to many young actors. We look forward to her breaking new ground in the film and television industry.”

Lee started her career in 1993 with Korean drama series How’s Your Husband? and later appeared in series including Medical Brothers, Invitation and Fireworks. She starred alongside Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho in Park’s Joint Security Area, one of the first major films of the Korean wave in the early 2000s.

She also starred in Hur Jin-ho’s One Fine Spring Day, produced by Hong Kong’s Peter Ho-sun Chan, marking one of the first collaborations between Korean and Hong Kong filmmakers. Her role as a vengeful woman in Park’s 2005 Lady Vengeance earned her best actress at Korea’s Blue Dragon Film Awards, where the film also won best picture.

In her most recent film, Bring Me Home (2019), she plays a distraught but resilient mother on a mission to find her abducted son. She has also recently starred in drama series Maestra: Strings Of Truth, playing an enigmatic and bold conductor.