Lee Min Ho Career Beginnings

2006–2008: Beginnings

Lee Min Ho started auditioning and landed minor roles in several television dramas such as Nonstop 5 and Recipe of Love. His official debut role was in an EBS series, Secret Campus (2003). Early in his career Lee went by the stage name Lee Min because his agency thought his birth name was too ordinary. However, as his stage name was pronounced and written (Hangul) in the same way as the Korean word imin, which means "immigration", he later said it was difficult to find himself in internet search results. He eventually went back to using his original name.

"Secret Campus" 2003 photos

In 2006, his acting career was put on hold for a year following a serious car accident, while riding with fellow actor Jung Il-woo. Lee was severely injured and spent several months bedridden. Upon recovery, Lee received his first leading role in the high-school drama Mackerel Run in 2007, but the series was reduced to only eight episodes due to low viewership ratings. In 2008 he appeared in various roles on television (dramas Get Up and I Am Sam) and two movies, Public Enemy Returns and Our School's E.T.. During the shooting of the latter he became good friends with actor Kim Su-ro, who later praised him on a variety show: "I recognize a star when I see one. When I was doing Our School's E.T., I knew that Lee Min-ho would become one of the top actors in the country".

"Mackerel Run" 2007 Photos 

"Get Up" 2008 Photos 

"I am Sam" 2008 Photos 

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Lee Min Ho | "Our School's E.T." Movie September 11, 2008

Our School's E.T. (Korean: 울학교 이티; RR: Ulhakgyo Iti) is a 2008 South Korean comedy-drama film directed by Park Kwang-chun (also known as K.C. Park). It stars Kim Su-ro as an unconventional, "alien-like" high school P.E. teacher whose position is put at stake when the school adopts a new policy to boost Englisheducation, so he decides that becoming an English teacher (E.T.) overnight is his only hope.

Chun Sung-geun (Kim Su-ro) is the gym teacher of a private high school in an upscale district where competition is heated among students to enter top colleges. Called "E.T." by his students because of his quirky appearance and behavior, he is a teacher who has lived life his own lazy, ignorant way for years without any worries. But one day he's hit with a crisis: At the school's board meeting, a parent requests that the school get rid of "useless" gym classes and expand the hours for English classes. The school decides to hire another English teacher— at the cost of a gym teacher. In danger of losing his position, he remembers by chance that he obtained a license to teach English a decade ago. The school board president tells him to pass a test in order for her to acknowledge it. So Sung-geun, who hasn't spoken (much less taught) English for ten years, faces the near-impossible task of becoming an English teacher within two weeks. His only weapon is his amazingly incomparable physical strength, and with the help of a few students who understand his warm heart, the simpleton Sung-geun begins his rigorous training to exercise his brain "muscles" to master English in his journey to become the school's E.T.

Lee Min-ho as Oh Sang-hoon.

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Lee Min Ho | "Public Enemy Returns" Movie June 19, 2008

Public Enemy Returns is a 2008 South Korean film directed by Kang Woo-suk. It is the sequel to Public Enemy (2002) and Another Public Enemy (2005), also directed by Kang.

2007 was a poor year for South Korean cinema, largely due to the reduced screen quota from 146 to 73 days as part of the 2007 free trade agreement between the US and South Korea. This resulted in production costs rising, a series of box office failures, and the number of Korean films sold overseas dropping. During May 2008, only 7.8% of films shown in South Korea were Korean, the lowest level since records began in 2000. It was hoped that the Korean film industry might rally behind Public Enemy Returns. The film sold 4,337,983 tickets nationwide and was the 4th most attended film of 2008.

Kang Chul-jung has been a detective fighting crime for 15 years, but he leads a financially insecure life. Meanwhile, the men he’s put behind bars in the past are now doing much better for themselves, which drives Chul-jung to regret choosing to be a cop. On the other side of the spectrum is Jae-young, the wealthy honcho of a large network of businesses including finance, butchery, construction, and entertainment, as well as a number of clubs. He trains young boys to work for him while at critical times forcing them to take the fall on his behalf by falsely confessing to the crimes he committed. KANG Chul-jung feels an incredible anger towards Jae-young, who is quick to turn young boys into criminals for his own selfish gains. Chul-jung vows to get him.

Lee Min-ho as Jung Ha-yeon.

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