Lee Ha-na

Lee Ha-na was born in Irwon bon-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul. Her father Lee Dae-heon is a composer, best known for folk-rock legend Kim Kwang-seok's signature song "Become Dust".[1]

In 2008, she graduated from the College of Music at Dankook University (Cheonan campus) with a degree in Life Musicology.

Lee Ha-na first appeared in a commercial for telecom KTF's "umbrella service" in 2005. A year later, she made a memorable acting debut in the critically acclaimed television drama Alone in Love, as the extremely odd younger sister of the female protagonist.[2]

She played another supporting role as a small-time swindler in When Spring Comes in 2007. Later that year, Lee was cast in her first leading role in Merry Mary (also known as Me-ri vs. Dae-gu's Attack and Defense Battle), a quirky romance between a mediocre singer and a failed novelist.[3] This was followed by her big screen debut in Le Grand Chef, a film adaptation of Huh Young-man's manhwa Sikgaek, in which Lee played a TV producer who teams up with an aspiring chef.[4]

Unlike her previous cheerful roles, Lee surprised critics and audiences in 2008 when she played a darker character in Women of the Sun (also known as Sisters in Love).[5] In the melodrama, her character wreaks revenge when she learns that her older adopted sister abandoned her (when she was a five-year-old child) at a train station out of jealousy, causing her to grow up impoverished in an orphanage.[6] Lee won an Excellence Award at the year-end KBS Drama Awards.

From November 21, 2008 to April 17, 2009, she was the host/MC of the live music program Lee Ha-na's Peppermint.[7] Before she turned to acting, Lee had early aspirations of becoming a singer, so aside from introducing and interviewing guests, she frequently performed on the show, sometimes accompanying herself on the guitar or piano.[8]

Lee then underwent training for her role as a figure skating coach in Triple, who finds herself in a love triangle with her ex-husband and his best friend who pursues her.[9][10] This led to her doing the narration for Queen Yuna! I am Korea, a TV documentary on Olympic-winning figure skater Yuna Kim, that aired on MBC. Lee was also the narrator for Dance of Time, a documentary film directed by Song Il-gon about the Korean diaspora in Cuba.

In 2010, Lee was cast opposite veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki in Shin Yeon-shick's film The Fair Love. She played a twentysomething college student who after her father's death, embarks on an awkward yet endearing love affair with his friend, a bachelor in his fifties.[11][12] This was followed in 2012 by the aviation action film R2B: Return to Base, a remake of Shin Sang-ok's 1964 film Red Scarf.[13]

After a five-year absence from the small screen, Lee returned in High School King of Savvy, a 2014 cable romantic comedy about a high school student who masquerades as an executive at his brother's IT company; she played a temp who shows him the ropes.[14][15][16]

In 2015, Lee was cast in the film Journalist, about the ruthless and at times unethical world of news reporting.[17] In the same year, she also starred in KBS2's drama Unkind Ladies,[18] which marked her 3rd time collaboration with screenwriter Kim In-young, after 2007s Merry Mary and 2008s Women of the Sun.

In 2017, Lee starred in OCN's drama Voice as a policewoman with an enhanced sense of hearing.[19] The drama was a hit, and its ratings broke existing OCN viewership records when it aired in Korea.[20][21] She then filmed comedy film Summer Vacation.[22]

In 2018, Lee left L&Company and signed with new management agency Saram Entertainment.[23] Lee reprised her lead female role in Voice 2, the sequel to OCN's drama Voice.[24][25] Despite the shorter run, Voice 2 surpassed the first season's ratings and eventually became the highest-rated OCN drama.[26] That same year, Lee was appointed as an honorary member of the police force by South Korea's National Police Agency.[27]

In 2019, Lee once again reprised her lead female role in Voice 3, making her the lead on all three seasons of the Voice series.[28]

In 2020, Lee starred in the melodrama A Piece of Your Mind.[29] She signed an exclusive contract with management agency Prain TPC. [30]

• 2009 PR Ambassador of 46th Daejeong Film Awards[32]
• 2011 PR Ambassador of Hurb-nanum Campaign (Korea Foundation for Persons with Disabilities)[33]
• 2016-2020 PR Ambassador of Seoul[34]
• 2018 Honorary Police Officer of the Korean National Police Agency[27]

• Lee Ha-na at Saram Entertainment
• Lee Ha-na on Instagram
• Lee Ha-na at HanCinema
• Lee Ha-na at the Korean Movie Database
• Lee Ha-na at IMDb