Debut
Debuts in the short film Jinsil Liteumeoseu (Truth Litmus)
Began acting in a short film.
Source 01 · The Fact (Korean) · Fan meeting for his 20th debut anniversary · opens in a new tabIn 2006, the year he turned 22, he debuted in the short film Jinsil Liteumeoseu (Truth Litmus).
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 27, he played the high school student Ki-tae in Bleak Night, an independent film that won the New Currents Award at the 2010 Busan International Film Festival, and made his name in Korean film. The same year he played Captain Shin Il-young, a company commander, in the war film The Front Line. For the two films he won best-new-actor awards at the Grand Bell Awards, Blue Dragon Film Awards, Buil Film Awards, Korean Film Critics Association Awards and Korea Culture and Entertainment Awards, five in all.
In 2012, he appeared in the romance film Architecture 101, seen by 4.1 million people. In Ghost Sweepers he took on comic acting for the first time. In October he entered the Nonsan training center and went on to serve as a conscripted police officer.
My Paparotti opened in 2013, while he was in the military. He played Lee Jang-ho, a gangster high school student with a talent for singing. In July 2014, he finished his service as a conscripted police officer and was discharged. He returned in SBS’s Secret Door as Crown Prince Sado (Yi Seon). For the series he won the Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama, at the SBS Drama Awards.
In 2016, he played the profiler Park Hae-young in tvN’s Signal. In Phantom Detective he played Hong Gil-dong. In 2017, he played the lead in Anarchist from Colony with Choi Hee-seo. In I Can Speak, with Na Moon-hee, he played the civil servant Min-jae.
In 2018, he played Lee Soo-yeon, a new employee at Incheon Airport, in SBS’s Where Stars Land. In 2019, he received a Presidential Commendation as a model taxpayer chosen by the National Tax Service. In 2020, Time to Hunt was released through Netflix. Collectors held the No. 1 box-office spot for nine days in a row.
In 2021, he founded the management company Company On and became its head. In SBS’s Taxi Driver he played the taxi driver Kim Do-gi. The peak rating was 16.0%. In 2023, he returned in Taxi Driver 2, which drew a double-digit rating from its first episode. For the series he shared the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards.
In 2024, he played the detective Park Young-han in Chief Detective 1958, the prequel to Chief Inspector. Escape, in which he played a North Korean army sergeant, also opened. In 2025, he played the M&A specialist Yoon Joo-no in JTBC’s The Art of Negotiation. He won the SBS Drama Awards Grand Prize again for Taxi Driver 3. In February 2026, the year he turned 42, he held a fan meeting for his 20th debut anniversary.
Lee Je-hoon (born Jul 4, 1984) debuted in 2006, the year he turned 22, in the short film Jinsil Liteumeoseu (Truth Litmus), and became known in 2011, the year he turned 27, when he won five best-new-actor awards for Bleak Night and The Front Line. He has won the SBS Drama Awards Grand Prize twice, both for the Taxi Driver series.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.