Lee Ha-na (Korean: 이하나; born September 23, 1982) is a South Korean actress. Lee made her acting debut with Alone in Love (2006). She is best known for her role as Kang Kwon-joo in the multiple seasons-proceduralthrillerVoice (2017–present).
Lee Ha-na first appeared in a commercial for telecom KTF's "umbrella service" in 2005. A year later, she made a memorable acting debut in the critically acclaimed television dramaAlone in Love, as the extremely odd younger sister of the female protagonist.[2]
She played another supporting role as a small-time swindler in When Spring Comes in 2007. Later that year, Lee was cast in her first leading role in Merry Mary (also known as Me-ri vs. Dae-gu's Attack and Defense Battle), a quirky romance between a mediocre singer and a failed novelist.[3] This was followed by her big screen debut in Le Grand Chef, a film adaptation of Huh Young-man's manhwaSikgaek, in which Lee played a TV producer who teams up with an aspiring chef.[4]
Unlike her previous cheerful roles, Lee surprised critics and audiences in 2008 when she played a darker character in Women in the Sun (also known as Sisters in Love).[5] In the melodrama, her character wreaks revenge when she learns that her older adopted sister abandoned her (when she was a five-year-old child) at a train station out of jealousy, causing her to grow up impoverished in an orphanage.[6] Lee won an Excellence Award at the year-end KBS Drama Awards.
From November 21, 2008 to April 17, 2009, she was the host/MC of the live music program Lee Ha-na's Peppermint.[7] Before she turned to acting, Lee had early aspirations of becoming a singer, so aside from introducing and interviewing guests, she frequently performed on the show, sometimes accompanying herself on the guitar or piano.[8]
Lee then underwent training for her role as a figure skating coach in Triple, who finds herself in a love triangle with her ex-husband and his best friend who pursues her.[9][10]
In 2010, Lee was cast opposite veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki in Shin Yeon-shick's film The Fair Love. She played a role of college student who after her father's death, embarks on an awkward yet endearing love affair with his friend, a bachelor in his fifties.[11][12] This was followed in 2012 by the aviation action filmR2B: Return to Base, a remake of Shin Sang-ok's 1964 film Red Scarf.[13]
After a five-year absence from the small screen, Lee returned in High School King of Savvy, a 2014 cable romantic comedy about a high school student who masquerades as an executive at his brother's IT company; she played a temp who shows him the ropes.[14][15][16]
In 2015, Lee was cast in the film Journalist, about the ruthless and at times unethical world of news reporting.[17] In the same year, she also starred in KBS2's family-romance Unkind Ladies.[18]
In 2017, Lee starred in OCN's drama Voice as a policewoman with an enhanced sense of hearing.[19] The drama was a hit, and its ratings broke existing OCN viewership records when it aired in Korea.[20][21] She then filmed comedy film Summer Vacation.[22]
In 2018, Lee reprised her role in Voice 2, the sequel to OCN's drama Voice.[23][24] Despite the shorter run, Voice 2 surpassed the first season's ratings and eventually became the highest-rated OCN drama.[25] That same year, Lee was appointed as an honorary member of the police force by South Korea's National Police Agency.[26]
In 2019, Lee once again reprised her lead female role in the third season of Voice.[27]
^Yoon, Hee-seong (June 24, 2009). "MBC <트리플> "아, 모르겠다. 지금은 그냥 뺏고 싶을 뿐이다!"" [MBC <Triple> "I don't know. I just want to steal her away!"]. TenAsia (in Korean). Retrieved April 16, 2014.
^Jeong Bit (June 22, 2022). "[공식]이하나x임주환, '삼남매가 용감하게' 출연…주말 안방 찾는다" [[Official] Hana Lee x Joo-Hwan Lim to appear in 'Three Siblings Bravely'... looking for a weekend home] (in Korean). Sports Chosun. Retrieved June 22, 2022 – via Naver.
