Born: 1991.11.27
Hobbies: Aquariums/ Pet Fish / Piano / Guitar / Tap Dance
Appearances: Youth of May / Once Again / Special Labor Inspector Mr. Jo / To. Jenny / Home Alone / Running Man
Recent Awards: Best New Actor (Once Again) / Best Couple Award (Once Again) at 2020 KBS Drama Awards
Website: https://www.plkgoodfriends.com/contact
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leesangyi_/
Intro: After getting his start in traditional and musical theater, Lee Sang Yee has cultivated a wide acting range over the years, allowing him to steadily make his way into both film and television series. His previous performance in “Once Again” pulled on audiences’ heartstrings, causing them to fall head over heels for his boy-next-door persona. His relationship with Lee Cho-Hee on screen was simply #couplegoals. If that wasn’t enough, his knowledge on fish and home aquariums is so wholesome, you’ll end up wanting to start your own fish collection, too, as seen on Home Alone. To help us welcome the AAPI Heritage Month, we sat down with Lee Sang Yee to go over a couple of questions about himself and his character in the new series “Youth of May.”
Questions:
Q: Please briefly explain your role in ”Youth in May”.
A: In the 1980s, I played a role as Lee Soo Chan, who is the eldest son of the family, is an industrial revolutionist, and studied business administration in France. He returned to his home country [Korea] to run the company with his father.
Q: Since “Youth of May” takes place in the 1980s before you were born, what was it like playing this character? Did you do any additional research on the Gwangju Uprising for the time period and did you learn something new?
A: It was a little vague at first, but I asked my parents about their experience in the 80s, and I looked for many movies set in the 80s. Above all, I wasn’t familiar with the Jeolla-do dialect, so I kept playing local broadcasts introducing Jeolla-do on YouTube and tried to get used to the dialect. And, paying attention to the fact that Soo Chan had studied abroad for a long time in France, I prepared to showcase the 80s through numerous meetings with the stylist team and the director in order to portray the fashion style famous in France at the time.
Q: What was your favorite memory so far on or off-set of “Youth of May?”
A: When I filmed the scene where Soo Chan was drinking alone in Episode 6. It was the first scene where Soo Chan, who had been doing everything very well, fell into a sense of loss for the first time and was drinking alcohol. Despite the fact that I am terrible at drinking, this was also my first day of filming. To calm my nerves, I drank a little to act in the scene. It was memorable because I was actually a little bit drunk.
Q: We heard you became friends with actor Kim Sung-Cheol on the set to “To. Jenny” (another Popular KOCOWA show) and gave each other acting tips. What is the best advice he’s given you?
A: It was the first time that we had been out of school and worked together in the field. So, acting together was both familiar and fascinating. The director also allowed us to try a lot of things, so ideas poured out every time we filmed, but the parody of <Weflash> remains in my memory the most. The more intense the action was, the harder it was to keep from laughing, but Seong Cheol was worse off than me and really couldn’t hold back from laughing. (Laughter) This is where you can tell that we are very close friends. <To Jenny> was the first work that Seong Cheol and I performed together in the field, and thanks to a fun script, a lot of our chemistry was shown.
Q: You played a baseball coach in “When Camellia Blooms”, a pediatric dentist in ”Once Again”, and an industrial revolutionist in “Youth of May”. Are there any specific characters you want to play in other professional fields?
A: These days, I’m having fun watching the drama “Law School”. Although I’ve been in charge of various characters in professional fields, I haven’t played any roles related to the legal justice system yet. So, I want to take on the role of a lawyer, a prosecutor, or a judge. Also, I was a dentist in <Once Again>, but I didn’t show up with a doctor gown as much, so I would like to have a role as a doctor again in a medical drama.
Q: Who do you look up to when it comes to acting, and why?
A: There are two people that are on my mind. First is actor Cho Seung Woo. Apart from him being in musicals, dramas, and movies, I think that his acting is a genre of it’s own. h Until now, he has been constantly participating in musical productions, and it is really admirable to see him in dramas and movies as well, and it is also how I dream of becoming an actor.
And the second person I look up to is Oh Man Seok. He also works in musicals, plays, and dramas, and he is loved by many people. I think that the real all-round entertainer is Oh Man Seok, because he has also acted in variety programs for a long time. I think he is very talented both as an actor and as a variety program entertainer. I would like to learn these talents in the future.
“Youth of May” premiered on KOCOWA on May 3rd, so we would like to thank Lee Sang-Yi for taking the time to do this interview! We hope this past winter has been treating you and your fish well!
In the meantime, keep supporting Lee Sang-Yi and watch him and his castmates every Monday and Tuesday on “Youth of May” with English, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles!
