Lee Joo Young

Lee Joo Young (이주영) has built one of the more interesting actor trajectories of her generation by moving between festival-circuit credibility and mainstream series visibility without losing the intensity that made directors notice her in the first place. After debuting in independent film, she began stacking attention through supporting turns in dramas like Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo and Something in the Rain, then broke into a much wider public conversation with her role as Ma Hyun-yi in Itaewon Class.

What followed was not a simple commercial pivot. Lee kept pushing into more character-specific film work, including Maggie, Baseball Girl, Broker, and Green Night. That run made her one of the clearest examples of an actress who can carry the emotional naturalism of indie cinema into larger productions without sanding off the edges. Her first television lead in Times also showed that she could anchor a series, not just sharpen one from the side.

In 2026, Lee appears in My First Graduation as Soo Ah, a role that places her opposite Park Ho San in a project built around unstable desire and emotional fallout. It fits her career well. Lee Joo Young is at her best when a script needs someone who can feel observant, disruptive, and hard to fully read, all at once.