Jump to content

Clara Lee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the South Korean actress. For the South Korean actor, see Lee Sung-min (actor). For the South Korean idol-singer from Super Junior, see Lee Sung-min (singer).

Clara
Lee in December 2024
Born
Lee Sung-min

(1985-01-15) 15 January 1985 (age 39)
Switzerland
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma materEl Camino College
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
Years active2005–present
AgentCL ENM
Spouse
Samuel Hwang
​
(m. 2019)​
ParentLee Seung-kyu (father)
Korean name
Hangul
클라라
Revised RomanizationKeulrara
McCune–ReischauerK'ŭllara
Birth name
Hangul
이성민
Hanja
Revised RomanizationI Seong-min
McCune–ReischauerI Sŏngmin

Clara Lee (Korean: 클라라 리; born Lee Sung-min (Korean: 이성민) on 14[1] January 1985), better known by her mononym Clara, is an actress and model based in South Korea.[2]

Career

[edit]

Clara (born Lee Sung-Min，이성민, 李成敏) made her entertainment debut under her birth name in 2005 and starred in her first film in 2009, Five Senses of Eros. In January 2012, she adopted Clara as her stage name, which was announced at a press conference for the drama series, Take Care of Us, Captain. Reasons given for the name change included that her birth name, Sung-min, was "male-sounding" and that her English name had always been Clara.[3]

Lee in October 2013

In May 2013, Clara became an overnight sensation online after throwing a ceremonial first pitch in a professional baseball game dressed in form-fitting leggings.[4] She has since been hailed as an up-and-coming star and a sex symbol.[5][6] In September 2013, Clara drew criticism from South Korean netizens for apparently contradicting herself on television by saying she liked to eat chicken and drink beer in one program and stating the contrary in another. Consequently, she closed down her Twitter and Facebook accounts.[7][8] Afterwards, she again played supporting roles in the television series Goddess of Marriage (2013) and Emergency Couple (2014), followed by a leading role in the sex comedy film Casa Amor: Exclusive for Ladies (2015).[9][10][11][12]

In December 2014, she filed a lawsuit against her agency Polaris Entertainment to nullify her contract on the grounds of being sexually harassed by its president Lee Kyu-tae; Polaris denied those allegations and countered that Clara had been blackmailing the agency to end her contract which is due to expire in 2018.[13] In July 2015, prosecutors cleared Clara of the blackmail allegations and indicted Lee for making threats against her that implied physical violence.[14][15][16][17]

On 18 September 2015 Clara dropped her suit against Polaris Entertainment, bringing their legal battle to an end.[18]

Lee at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival

Personal life

[edit]

Clara is the daughter of singer Lee Seung-kyu, a former member of the bilingual band, Koreana.[19] She was born in Switzerland, educated in the United States, and now based in South Korea.[2] Clara is a British citizen.[2]

In January 2019, she announced her marriage to a Korean-American businessman.[20][21]

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role
2009 Five Senses of Eros Lee Yoon-jung (segment "Believe in the Moment")
2013 Ask This of Rikyu Joseon noblewoman
2015 Casa Amor: Exclusive for Ladies Oh Nan-hee
2016 Line Walker Assassin
Some Like It Hot Yoyo
2017 The Jade Pendant[22] Peony
2018 Fat Buddies Chinese immigrant's wife
Love Illusion
Killing Mobile Webcam model
2019 Bodies at Rest Ankie Cheng
Shenzhen Love
Jump Out of Primitive Tribe
Space Intellectual
Run Amuck AK Queen
2021 Kill the Monster
Big Red Envelope Ellie
Empathic Master
Double Patty Foreign journalist
Detective Chinatown 3 Photo-taking girl
Some Like It Hot 2
2023 The Wandering Earth 2 Space-elevator attacker

Television series

[edit]
Year Title Network Role
2006 Invisible Man, Choi Jang-soo KBS2 Cha Hye-jin
2006-2007 High Kick! MBC Kim Yoon-joo (ep.64)
2009 Hilarious Housewives Lee Sung-min
Creating Destiny Shin Jin-hee
2010 Happiness in the Wind KBS1 Choi Mi-ran
2011 Baby Faced Beauty KBS2 Chae Seul-ah
2012 Take Care of Us, Captain SBS Hong Mi-joo
Tasty Life Min Young-woo
2013 Goddess of Marriage Cynthia Jung
Reckless Family 3 MBC Every 1 Clara Park
Love For Ten - Generation of Youth Mobile drama[23] Kim Yang
2014 Emergency Couple tvN Han Ah-reum
You Are My Destiny MBC Hye-jin (ep.1)
America's Next Top Model The CW Herself (season 21 ep.14)
2016 Entourage tvN Herself (ep.2)
2017 Strong Girl Bong-soon JTBC Lee Bong-soon/Dental Hygienist (ep.16)
Meloholic OCN Yun Kyung-ae
2018 Happiness Chocolate Mango TV
The City of Chaos iQIYI Zheng Mengqi
2020 Detective Chinatown beauty in S1E9

Variety show

[edit]
Year Title Network Notes
2013
 Saturday Night Live Korea - Season 4 tvN Cast (episode 20-38)
2014
 Fashion King Korea - Season 2 SBS Cast
2017
 The Taming of the Shrew 2[24] JTBC2

Music video

[edit]
Year Song Title Artist
2007 "Same Pillow"[25] Tei
"Love Song"
2009 "Empty Bet" Kim Joon
"Toy"[26] Moon Hee-joon
2010 "Nothing to Lose"[27] Juno
"Shout to the World" December
"Dazzling Tears"[28]
"오고있나요"[29]
2013 "Joah" Jay Park
"Invitation"[30] House Rulez
2014 "Gwiyomi Song 2"[31] Clara
"Fear"[32] Clara ft. Yasu
2017 "Hitchhiking"[33] Clara
"I Am Clara" (Chinese ver of Hitchhiking)[34]

[35] [36]

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2004 1st Foce Digital Ulzzang Photo Contest — — Won
2013 Men's Health Cool Guy Contest Vital Woman Award[37] — Won
6th Style Icon Awards Chevrolet Find New Star Award — Won
6th Korea Drama Awards Hot Star Award Goddess of Marriage Won

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Lee, Clara [@actressclara] (14 January 2020). "명상은 "나는 누구인가?" 로 시작합니다. 오늘은 저의 생일이자, 저를 돌아보는 시간이기도 합니다. 명상으로 제 마음을 비우며 또 하루를 시작합니다" [Meditation is “Who am I?” starts with. Today is my birthday, It is also a time to reflect on me. I start another day by emptying my mind with meditation.] (in Korean). Retrieved 7 December 2021 – via Instagram.
  2. ^ a b c Ock, Hyun-ju (13 January 2014). "Is Clara turning into a Korean sex symbol?". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  3. ^ 클라라, 개명이유 "본명 이성민, 남자가 너무 많아". My Daily (in Korean). 3 January 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Pororo Beats Psy and Other Celebrities in Google Search Results". The Chosun Ilbo. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  5. ^ Ahn, Joo-hee (5 July 2013). "Clara shows off her bikini body for High Cut". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  6. ^ "Clara Makes Generous Pledge to Breast Cancer Patients". The Chosun Ilbo. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  7. ^ Im, Woo-jung (11 September 2013). "After series of gaffes, Clara swears off SNS". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  8. ^ Lee, Sun-min (12 September 2013). "Clara uses Internet to quit Internet". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  9. ^ Bae, Sun-young (25 June 2013). "PREVIEW: SBS weekend drama Goddess of Marriage". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  10. ^ Lee, Sun-min (16 August 2013). "Clara ranks baby-daddies". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  11. ^ Oh, Jean (21 January 2014). "Clara to show her true self". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Clara Speaks Out About Enduring Harsh Criticism". The Chosun Ilbo. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  13. ^ Kim, Se-jeong (15 January 2015). "Clara claims sexually harassment by agency owner". The Korea Times. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  14. ^ Choi, Hee-suk (15 July 2015). "Prosecution clears Clara of blackmailing, indicts Polaris chief". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  15. ^ "Ilgwang group chairman accused of threatening actress". The Korea Times. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  16. ^ Jin, Min-ji (16 July 2015). "Court sides with Clara in lawsuit". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  17. ^ "Actress Cleared of Blackmail". The Chosun Ilbo. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  18. ^ "Clara drops her suit against Polaris Entertainment". Allkpop. 21 September 2015.
  19. ^ Park, Si-soo (7 March 2014). "Stars and outstanding parents". The Korea Times. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  20. ^ "Actress Clara to marry Korean-American fiance in LA". 4 January 2019.
  21. ^ Han Min-seo (20 February 2019). 클라라 남편, 사무엘황 누구?…'한국계 미국인 사업가' [Clara Husband, who is Samuel Hwang? "Korean American Entrepreneur"]. news.mt.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  22. ^ Frater, Patrick (18 May 2017). "Cannes: China's 'Jade Pendant' Set for North American Release (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.com. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  23. ^ Kang, Jung-yeon (19 August 2013). "INFINITE Sung Yeol, 4minute Jihyun to Pair Up in Drama". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  24. ^ "[OFFICIAL] 170704 f(Luna) = JTBC 'The Taming of the Shrew' Promo Pics [7P]". FunctionLove.net. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  25. ^ "Same Pillow". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  26. ^ "Toy". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  27. ^ "Nothing to Lose". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  28. ^ "Dazzling Tears". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  29. ^ "Are you coming with Clara". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  30. ^ "Invitation". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  31. ^ "Gwiyomi Song 2". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  32. ^ "Fear". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  33. ^ "Hitchhiking". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  34. ^ "I Am Clara". YouTube. Clara Lee. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  35. ^ Clara Lee at hkmdb.com
  36. ^ "⓿⓿ Clara Lee - Actress - Filmography - TV Drama Series - Chinese Movies". chinesemov.com.
  37. ^ Ahn, Joo-hee (2 July 2013). "Clara wins awards, reps games". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clara_Lee&oldid=1264635465"