The year she turned 5, she began working as a child actress in the drama The Brothers’ River.
The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 11, she played the young Choi Geum-young in MBC’s Jewel in the Palace and began to make her name.
In 2004, she won a child actor award at the Chunsa Film Art Awards for When I Turned Nine. In 2005, she won the young actress award at the KBS Drama Awards for Sonagi.
In 2007, she appeared in the film The Wonder Years. In 2008, she played Gook Se-young in the MBC sitcom Kokkiri (Elephant). In 2012, she played Chun Gwan-nyeo in KBS1’s Dream of the Emperor.
In 2014, she signed with Prain TPC and appeared in the film Hot Young Bloods. She says that in 2015, as a university student, she had no work and went to her agency’s office every day. In 2016, she won the Best Newcomer Award at the KBS Drama Awards for The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop. In 2017, she won Best New Actress in television at the Baeksang Arts Awards.
In 2018, she appeared in tvN’s A Korean Odyssey and joined Weekend Playlist. In 2019, she played Queen Yoo So-woon in The Crowned Clown, and won an SBS Drama Awards Excellence Award for Doctor John. In 2020, she played Han Ae-ri in MBC’s Kairos.
The year she turned 29, she played the court lady Seong Deok-im in The Red Sleeve and won the MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award for Actress in a Miniseries. In 2022, she appeared in KBS2’s The Law Cafe and won the Best Couple Award at the KBS Drama Awards with Lee Seung-gi. In 2023, she won a second MBC Top Excellence Award, for The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract.
In 2024, she played Hong in Coupang Play’s What Comes After Love. In 2025, she signed with Fantagio and won the Best Actress Award at the MBC Drama Awards. In 2026, she was cast in the Netflix series Long Vacation and became the MC of SBS’s Love Against Time.
Lee Se-young (born Dec 20, 1992) debuted as a child actress in 1997, the year she turned 5, and became known in 2003, the year she turned 11, when she played the young Choi Geum-young in MBC’s Jewel in the Palace. She first won the MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award for Actress in a Miniseries on Dec 30, 2021, the year she turned 29.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.