minozDee: Faith

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Lee Min Ho Global Fame 2011-2013

In 2011, he played the titular character in action drama City Hunter, which was loosely based on Tsukasa Hojo's popular manga. The drama was a commercial success and contributed to Lee Min-ho's growing popularity, most notably in Japan, Philippines, China and in France. He participated in a popular Chinese variety show Happy Camp in December 2011.

City Hunter Official Poster

Lee Yoon-seung (City Hunter 2011)

Lee Min Ho guesting in Happy Camp (2011)

In 2012, Lee starred in historical-medical drama, Faith with Kim Hee-sun. Although the drama garnered viewership ratings around the 10% range, it was a commercial failure due to its high budget.

General Choi Young (Faith 2011)

In April 2013, Lee's wax figure was unveiled at the Madame Tussauds Shanghai. He then released his first album "My Everything" in May 2013 and went on a fan meeting tour in Asia.

Madame Tussauds in Shnaghai 2011

Madame Tussauds in Shanghai 2011

My Everything Album (2013)

My Everything Global Tour 2013

Lee also announced his return to television with a new drama titled The Heirs, a teen drama written by Kim Eun-sook. On why he decided to take on the role of a chaebol heir in high school four years after playing one in Boys Over Flowers, he answered "Before I grew past my 20s, I wanted to play a more upbeat character, one that would allow me to return to that feeling of simple, uncomplicated innocence that I had when I was younger." Premiering on October 9, 2013, The Heirs enjoyed immense popularity both locally, with a peak rating of 28.6%, and internationally, having over one billion hits on the Chinese streaming website iQiyi. Lee experienced an increase in his popularity globally.

Kim Tan (The Heirs 2013)

Photo credit to the original owner!

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Lee Min Ho's "Faith" TV Series 2012

Faith (Korean: 신의; Hanja: 信義; RR: Sin-ui; also known as The Great Doctor) is a 2012 Siuth Korean television drama starring Lee rrMin-ho and Kim Hee-sun. The title Sin-ui, can mean faith, as in belief in justice. The Hanja 神醫 means Divine Doctor, but in Hangul italso means divine healer or great doctor. It was broadcast by SBS from August 13 to October 30, 2012, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 (KST) time slot for 24 episodes. It is about a modern-day plastic surgeon, who is kidnapped and brought back in time to the Goryeo period, 700 years in the past, where she falls in love with her kidnapper, a warrior who is the leader of the royal guard.

After King Gongmin of Goryeo (Ryu Deok-hwan) marries the Yuan princess, Noguk (Park Se-young), they return to Goryeo. On their way, they are attacked, and the queen is fatally injured. According to the advice of his royal advisor, the king orders the Captain of the Royal Guard, Choi Young (Lee Min-ho), to pass through a mystical portal ("heaven's gate") and find the "heaven's doctor". Choi Young travels to the future and brings back Yoo Eun-soo (Kim Hee-sun), a modern-day doctor from Seoul, to save the queen's life. He promises that he will return her to her world once she saves the queen, but the royal advisor schemes and persuades King Gongmin to force Eun-soo to stay as she can be useful to him.

As Eun-soo accustoms herself to her new surroundings, she and Choi Young gradually fall in love with each other. But problems arise as others become fascinated with her as the "Heaven's doctor", and Eun-soo becomes a pawn in the political power plays between King Gongmin, the Yuan overlords, the sociopathic nobleman Ki-Chul (Yu Oh-seong) and Prince Deok-Seung (Park Yoon-jae) King Gongmin's uncle. Constantly risking his life, Choi Young thwarts numerous attempts by Ki-Chul and Deok-Seung, who are out to have Eun-soo in their possession.

The series follows how Choi Young and Eun-soo evade and overcome impending problems and whether or not they succeed in getting her to heaven's door in time before it closes for good.

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