Honey Lee

Lee Hanee, professionally known as Honey Lee, is a South Korean actress, model, gayageum player, and beauty pageant titleholder. Born on March 2, 1983, she first gained national and international prominence through her success in beauty pageants before establishing a career in television, film, and theater. She is widely recognized for her roles in hit feature films such as Extreme Job, Deranged, The Bros, and Black Money, as well as television series including The Rebel, The Fiery Priest, One the Woman, and Knight Flower.

Lee grew up in a family with deep ties to Korean traditional arts and public service. Her father, Lee Sang-eob, was a high-ranking official with the National Intelligence Service, while her mother, Moon Jae-suk, holds a doctorate in Korean music history and works as a professor at Ewha Womans University and music director of the Gimhae Gayageum Orchestra. Her elder sister, Lee Seul-gi, plays in the KBS Orchestra of Traditional Korean Music, and her maternal uncle is politician Moon Hee-sang. Lee studied traditional Korean music at Seoul National University, graduating with high honors before completing her master's degree at the same institution.

Her public career began in 2006 when she was crowned Miss Korea. Representing South Korea at the Miss Universe 2007 pageant, she placed as third runner-up and entered the Top 5. That same year, she was named Miss Grand Slam 2007. Alongside her pageant endeavors, Lee established herself as a professional gayageum player, earning recognition as a prodigy from the Kumho Art Center. She has released four CDs, performed in more than 25 countries—including concerts at Carnegie Hall—and participated in a massive group performance at the Uijeongbu International Gayageum Festival. In 2018, she featured in the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, performing a reinterpretation of the Joseon royal dance Chunaengmu.

Lee transitioned into entertainment broadcasting as a co-host on the SBS program Real Time TV Entertainment. She made her acting debut in the 2008 musical Polaroid and later starred in stage productions of Legally Blonde and Chicago. Her screen career expanded with roles in television series such as The Partner, Pasta, and Iron Daughters-in-law, for which she earned the Best Newcomer award at the MBC Drama Awards. She made her feature film debut in the 2011 action movie Hit, subsequently appearing in productions including Deranged, I Am a King, Tazza: The Hidden Card, and Shine or Go Crazy.

Her career reached further prominence with critical and commercial hits across film and television. She portrayed Jang Nok-su in the 2017 historical drama The Rebel, earning several awards for her performance. In 2019, she starred as a narcotics detective in the comedy film Extreme Job, which sold 16 million tickets, and as a prosecutor in the hit series The Fiery Priest. She later played dual roles in the 2021 drama One the Woman, earning a top excellence award at the SBS Drama Awards, and went on to win the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 2024 series Knight Flower.

Outside of performing, Lee holds a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo, is a scuba diver and competitive skier, and has engaged in charity work with organizations such as UNICEF, Compassion, World Vision, Beauty Mind Charity, and the Korea Green Foundation. She married a Korean-American office worker in December 2021, and the couple has two daughters.