Lee Mi-sook (Lee Mi-sook) is a South Korean actress born on April 2, 1960, in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province. Active since 1979, she is considered one of the leading female figures in Korean cinema of the 1980s. Along with Lee Bo-hee and Won Mi-kyung, she was part of what the press dubbed the «Troika of the 1980s.».
She made her film debut in 1979 with Thoughtless Momo and quickly became a star thanks to films such as Whale Hunting and That Year's Winter Was Warm (1984), then Mulberry, Eunuch and Winter Hiker (1986). She also began playing several historical figures on television at an early age, including Jang Hui-bin in 1981, Hwang Jin-yi in 1982, and Jang Nok-su in the 1980s.
After her marriage in 1987, Lee Mi-sook retired from film, though she continued to work occasionally in television. Her career experienced a true second wind in 1998 with An Affair by E J-yong, in which her portrayal of a woman who falls in love with her sister’s fiancé drew particular attention. The role earned her the Best Actress award at the 1999 Chunsa Film Art Awards.
She then went on to pursue a career that alternated between film and television. On the big screen, she appeared notably in Untold Scandal (2003), a Korean adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, Hellcats (2008) and Actresses (2009), in which she plays a version of herself. More recently, she returned to the big screen in The Plot (2024), playing the role of Jackie.
On television, Lee Mi-sook has particularly distinguished herself in roles as strong-willed women, matriarchs, or morally ambiguous characters. Among her most notable series are East of Eden (2008), Cinderella's Sister (2010), A Thousand Days’ Promise (2011), Love Rain (2012), You're the Best! and Miss Korea (2013), Money Flower (2017) and Wok of Love (2018). Several of these performances earned her awards at the MBC, KBS, and SBS Drama Awards.
After a few years of being less visible on screen, she returns in The Empire and makes an appearance in The Law Cafe in 2022, and then plays Cha Yeon-hwa in Perfect Marriage Revenge and Na-bi in Family: The Unbreakable Bond in 2023. In 2024, it gained further international exposure thanks to Queen of Tears, in which she plays Mo Seul-hee, Hong Man-dae's girlfriend and one of the series' central antagonists.
She is continuing this new phase of her career with Tempest (2025), in which she plays the lead role of Im Ok-seon, and then In Your Brilliant Season (2026), in a supporting role. Having begun her career in the late 1970s and still active nearly half a century later, Lee Mi-sook belongs to a generation of actresses who have spanned several major eras of South Korean film and television.
