Lee Min Ho | Was hospitalized for 7 months

Lee Min Ho and his close friend, actor Jung Il Woo, were traveling together when their vehicle was struck head-on by another car. The group of friends were driving to Gangwon Province when a car crossing from the opposite lane after fleeing from a previous hit-and-run hit them head-on, destroying the hood and engine of their car.

Tragically, the two friends seated in the front seats lost their lives instantly, while Lee Min Ho and Jung Il Woo, who were in the back seats, sustained serious injuries. He was only 19 years old when it happened in August 2006. His acting career was put on hold due to the incident. Lee was severely injured and in a coma for a month, after which he spent several months bedridden. His injuries included broken ribs, thigh and ankle, along with a tear in his knee cartilage. As part of his treatment, a 46-centimeter metal pin was inserted in his thigh, leaving one of his legs shorter than the other. He still has metal pins in his leg today and sometimes experiences discomfort from them.

At first, the doctor said that Lee Min-ho might not be able to walk again. But, thanks to his perseverance, he healed despite having to have 46 cm iron plates planted in his right leg for 3 years. The iron plates in his right leg were removed in 2009 after he filmed the drama Boys Over Flowers. The incident details were shared by Jung Il-woo when he guessed on KBS2’s Happy Together in 2020. 

Lee Min Ho became ambidextrous during his stay in the hospital for several months.

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Lee Min Ho Career Beginnings in 2002-2008

Lee Min-ho started auditioning and landed minor roles in several television shows such as Romance, Nonstop and Recipe of Love. His official debut (main) role was in an EBS series, Secret Campus (2006). 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 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.

Park Du-hyun (Secret Campus 2006)

In 2006, his acting career was put on hold for a year following a serious car wreck, which occurred while riding in the back of a car with fellow actor Jung Il-woo. Their two friends riding in the front seat were killed instantly. 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. Kim later gave him praise on a variety show called Win Win: "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".

Cha Gong-chan (Mackerel Run 2007)

Min Wook-gi (Get Up 2008)

Heo Mo-se (I Am Sam 2007)

Oh Sang-hoon (Our Schools E.T. 2008)

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