Lee Jun Young is the kind of performer whose résumé makes a single job title feel inadequate.
He entered entertainment through K-pop, taught himself acting by recording and reviewing his own performances, became an award-winning screen actor, and even exhibits paintings under another artistic name—making his path especially interesting for anyone curious about how one creative career can grow into several.
Who Is Lee Jun Young?
Lee Jun Young is a South Korean actor, former singer, rapper, dancer, and visual artist represented by BILLIONS.
He entered K-pop as a member of U-KISS in 2014, later finished first on The Unit and joined project group UNB, then established a separate acting identity through Avengers Social Club.
Performances in Goodbye to Goodbye, Class of Lies, D.P., Love and Leashes, Mask Girl, When Life Gives You Tangerines, Weak Hero Class 2, Melo Movie, and Pump Up the Healthy Love have shown how comfortably the idol-turned-actor can switch between sympathetic leads, troubled outsiders, villains, and romantic characters.
- Real Name: Lee Jun Young (이준영)
- Stage Name: Lee Jun Young; formerly Jun during part of his music career
- Popular Name: Lee Jun Young
- Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
- Date of Birth: January 22, 1997, based on gluwee
- Zodiac Sign: Aquarius
- Height: Approximately 185 cm (6 feet 1 inch)
- Estimated Net Worth: Undisclosed
- Main Occupations: Actor, former singer and rapper, dancer, and visual artist
- Agency: BILLIONS
- Education: Theater and Film studies at Pai Chai University
- Fashion Style: Minimalist streetwear, relaxed city dressing, contemporary denim, and clean tailoring
- Instagram: @real_2junyoung
- X: @1ee_Jun_Yxxng
- X — Official: @LEEJUNYOUNG_TWT
- X — Japan Official: @Leejunyoung_JP
- YouTube: maybe monday
- Official Japan Website: leejunyoung.jp
How Old Is Lee Jun Young?
Lee Jun Young is 30 years old in 2027. Born on January 22, 1997, the Korean performer is an Aquarius, a zodiac sign often associated with independence, originality, curiosity, and an unconventional approach to personal goals.
That description pairs interestingly with a career that has rarely stayed inside one creative lane. Jun Young moved from group music into acting, musicals, solo releases, dance, and painting instead of treating his first profession as the only identity he was allowed to have.
His development as an actor was particularly self-directed. Rather than relying solely on formal instruction, the former U-KISS member practiced monologues alone, recorded his voice, studied his expressions, and worked through scripts repeatedly as he tried to strengthen weaknesses he noticed in his own performances.
Where Is Lee Jun Young From?
Lee Jun Young is from Seoul, South Korea, and his early education was also centered in the capital. He attended Muhak Elementary School and Muhak Middle School before continuing his studies and later pursuing Theater and Film at Pai Chai University.
Dance and music entered his life well before drama sets did. The Seoul-born creative developed an interest in street dance and singing, skills that eventually became useful when he joined U-KISS as an additional member rather than entering the group through its original lineup.
Home also became part of his artistic routine once painting entered the picture. In an interview about his different creative identities, he described spending long stretches of free time drawing and painting, turning quieter days away from schedules into focused studio-like sessions.
Read: Lee Min Jung Bio, Age, Net Worth, Height & Fashion Style
How Tall Is Lee Jun Young and What Are His Physical Features?
Lee Jun Young stands approximately 185 cm, or about 6 feet 1 inch tall. His long proportions translate especially well into oversized outerwear, straight denim, wide-leg trousers, tailored suits, leather jackets, and other silhouettes that depend on a strong vertical line.
Dark hair, defined brows, a clean jawline, and a distinctive beauty mark near his eye give the Korean screen performer a recognizable face without limiting him to one visual archetype.
Softer styling can make him appear approachable, while shorter hair, darker tailoring, or a controlled expression quickly creates a more intimidating presence.
That adaptability has been especially useful because his acting résumé contains several characters designed to unsettle the audience. In D.P., Mask Girl, Brave Citizen, and Weak Hero Class 2, physicality becomes part of the characterization rather than simply a fashion asset.
We find that contrast one of the most effective parts of his screen image. A frame that looks elegant in a fashion campaign can become threatening through posture alone, while a relaxed smile and softer knitwear can reverse the impression just as quickly.
Dance training adds another dimension to that physical control. Years spent performing choreography gave the actor-painter an instinctive awareness of movement, rhythm, and body positioning that translates naturally into action scenes, stage performance, and editorial posing.
What Is Known About Lee Jun Young’s Personal Life and Relationship Status?
Lee Jun Young has kept romantic relationships largely outside his public professional identity and has not announced a marriage or a publicly confirmed partner.
When discussing dating in interviews, he has described himself as cautious rather than impulsive and said he prefers taking time to understand someone before entering a relationship.
Shared interests also matter to him. The multitalented performer has mentioned that meeting someone who appreciates drawing would be appealing, while an earlier variety-show conversation emphasized kindness, humor, and a caring personality when he was asked about his ideal type.
His immediate family includes his parents and a younger sister.
Although family details remain relatively private, Jun Young has spoken in interviews about the influence of his parents and the discipline they provided during his upbringing.
Work tends to occupy a large part of his personal narrative instead. Singing, acting, choreography, script study, fitness, and painting have often overlapped, making creative practice a more visible part of his off-screen life than celebrity dating stories.
Lee Jun Young’s Career Journey in the Creative Industry
Music was Lee Jun Young’s entry point into professional entertainment. He joined U-KISS in 2014 under the stage name Jun, contributing as a rapper, vocalist, and dancer after the group had already established itself.
Several years later, he competed on KBS survival program The Unit, finished first among the male contestants, and debuted again through the project group UNB.
Acting began to develop alongside that idol career. Avengers Social Club gave him his first substantial television role in 2017 as Lee Soo-gyum, and the experience encouraged him to keep studying a craft he initially approached through curiosity and self-training.
The move quickly proved worthwhile. In Goodbye to Goodbye, Jun Young played Han Min-soo, a university student confronted with the consequences of an unexpected pregnancy within his relationship.
The performance earned him Best New Actor at the 2018 MBC Drama Awards, giving his acting résumé formal recognition only a short time after his television debut.
Class of Lies pushed him in another direction as Yoo Beom-jin, a student whose calm exterior conceals something far darker.
The role became an early example of his willingness to play characters who could challenge the pleasant image attached to his idol background.
Comedy followed through Good Casting, while Please Don’t Date Him gave the Korean drama actor a lighter romantic role.
Imitation brought music and acting together as he played K-pop idol Kwon Ryoc, allowing real performance experience to inform a fictional entertainment-industry character.
Netflix’s D.P. became an important showcase for transformation. As deserter Jung Hyun-min, the former idol appeared rougher, more volatile, and deliberately removed from polished celebrity styling, which helped viewers focus on the character rather than his music background.
Jun Young later described being pleased when audiences failed to recognize him immediately because disappearing inside a role was exactly the kind of reaction he wanted.
His film work widened that range again with Love and Leashes. Starring opposite Seohyun as Jung Ji-hoo, he played an office worker whose private preferences lead to an unconventional consensual relationship with a colleague, mixing comedy, vulnerability, and romantic awkwardness rather than approaching the character as a simple stereotype.
Musical theater has been another meaningful branch of his career. His work in Swag Age: Shout Out, Joseon! earned him Best New Actor at the Korea Musical Awards, giving the former group performer recognition in a format that requires acting, vocals, and physical performance at the same time.
May I Help You? placed him opposite Hyeri as Kim Tae-hee, a man working for an errand service whose story gradually intersects with a funeral director able to communicate with the dead.
Romance remained part of the drama, but grief and emotional healing gave the role a quieter tone than his brighter comedy projects.
Then came another sharp turn with Mask Girl. Playing Choi Bu-yong, Jun Young joined a darker Netflix story built around appearance, identity, obsession, and violence.
The role contributed to a period in which audiences increasingly associated him with character transformation rather than with one dependable leading-man persona.
Cinema reinforced that darker edge through Brave Citizen, where he portrayed Han Su-kang. As an aggressive student antagonist opposite Shin Hye-sun, the Korean film actor leaned into cruelty and physical intimidation, demonstrating again that being disliked on screen could be creatively useful when the character required it.
His filmography expanded further through The Impossible Heir and Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale, followed by a particularly varied group of projects including Melo Movie, When Life Gives You Tangerines, Weak Hero Class 2, and Pump Up the Healthy Love.
Across those titles, Jun Young moved between romance, period-spanning family drama, school violence, and broad physical comedy.
In When Life Gives You Tangerines, he appeared as Park Yeong-beom, whose relationship with Geum-myeong becomes part of the drama’s larger multigenerational story.
Weak Hero Class 2 placed him at the opposite emotional extreme as Geum Seong-je, a dangerous fighter whose unpredictability gives the school-action series additional tension.
Pump Up the Healthy Love let the genre-switching actor move back toward comedy as gym owner and former bodybuilding champion Do Hyeon-joong opposite Jeong Eun-ji.
Preparing a character defined by exercise demanded substantial physical work, while the exaggerated seriousness with which Hyeon-joong approaches fitness created much of the comedy.
Awards followed that broad run of performances. His recognition includes multiple Asia Artist Awards as well as acting honors connected with Goodbye to Goodbye, Pump Up the Healthy Love, and other projects across television and streaming.
The actor also starred in Reborn Rookie as Hwang Jun-hyeon, a soccer player whose body becomes connected with the consciousness of a powerful conglomerate chairman.
The body-swap premise required Jun Young to balance physical youthfulness with the mannerisms and authority of a much older corporate figure.
Another 2026 project, Netflix’s Four Hands, Two Sonatas, paired him with Song Kang. As self-taught pianist Choi Jeong-yo, he plays a gifted musician shaped by financial hardship and family responsibility, creating a contrast with Song Kang’s elite prodigy Kang Pi-o.
Away from acting, visual art gives the BILLIONS performer another professional identity. He began painting seriously in 2018, has participated in exhibitions under the artist name Jun0, and works with materials including acrylic paint, pens, and spray techniques. Some of his pieces have also connected back to his music through album artwork.
Fashion collaborations have become part of that creative portfolio as well. PLAC has worked with Lee Jun Young on campaigns featuring denim, bomber jackets, knits, workwear-inspired outerwear, and other contemporary wardrobe staples.
The clothing partnership feels especially compatible with his own preference for uncomplicated silhouettes and relaxed proportions.
Earlier, RDVZ collaborated with him on the Perfectly Imperfect collection, with Jun Young participating in design rather than appearing only as a campaign face.
His advertising résumé has also included Burger King, UNO, and other consumer brands, extending the connection between acting visibility and commercial work.
What Is Jun Young’s Signature Fashion Style?
Lee Jun Young’s strongest off-duty looks sit somewhere between minimalist streetwear and a relaxed city-boy aesthetic.
Instead of depending on complicated layering or obvious luxury logos, he often builds outfits around basics with good proportions: denim, loose trousers, sweatshirts, leather jackets, simple tees, knitwear, caps, sneakers, and practical outerwear.
Denim is particularly important to that visual language. Straight and wider jeans give his tall frame an easy line, while trucker jackets, washed gray pieces, dark indigo, and workwear-inspired shapes introduce texture without making an outfit look overly styled.
His work with PLAC makes sense in that context. The collaboration includes brown leather-collar bombers, gray gradient denim jackets, navy work jackets, beige half coats, rugby shirts, vintage-effect sweatshirts, wide denim, and straightforward knits—the same categories that fit comfortably into his personal wardrobe.
Neutral colors do much of the work. Black, charcoal, white, cream, beige, gray, navy, brown, faded blue, and indigo create a muted foundation that lets fabric and silhouette provide the visual interest.
There is still room for a stronger fashion moment. Leather textures, oversized shapes, graphic pieces, unusual washes, accessories, or more directional tailoring appear when the actor shifts from everyday dressing into campaign imagery or editorial work.
The actor-painter also seems comfortable letting clothing look genuinely wearable. Windbreakers, caps, baggy jeans, uncomplicated sweatshirts, and sneakers appear naturally in travel styling, creating an image that feels relaxed rather than constructed only for a camera.
We particularly like the balance between proportion and restraint in his better casual outfits. An oversized jacket may carry most of the silhouette, but the rest is usually simple enough that the look never becomes visually noisy.
Formalwear shows another side of the same aesthetic. Black tuxedos, clean suits, fine-gauge knits, and structured jackets emphasize his height, while minimal accessories keep the lines sharp rather than overly decorative.
The palette may be controlled, but texture prevents it from becoming flat. Washed denim, leather collars, soft knitwear, cotton sweatshirts, structured wool, and utilitarian fabrics give neutral outfits noticeably different personalities.
That combination also works well on Instagram. Performance photographs, acting stills, travel clothing, campaign work, and casual snapshots can sit beside one another because the visual identity is held together by clean grooming, relaxed proportions, and an uncomplicated approach to color.
Read: Kim Ji Suk Bio, Age, Net Worth, Height & Fashion Style
What Is Lee Jun Young’s Estimated Net Worth?
Years spent moving between K-pop, television, film, musicals, solo music, advertising, fashion, and visual art have given Lee Jun Young a particularly varied creative résumé.
A personal net worth figure has not been publicly disclosed, but his work spans considerably more than acting salaries alone.
Screen projects represent one major branch. Broadcast dramas, streaming originals, feature films, and increasingly prominent roles have kept the Korean performer active across different parts of the entertainment market, while awards have strengthened his professional standing.
Commercial fashion offers another route. PLAC has featured him across multiple seasonal collections, while the RDVZ collaboration added a design component that went beyond conventional modeling.
His advertising history also includes Burger King and men’s grooming brand UNO, placing his image across fashion, food, and personal-care categories.
Music and stage performance further diversify that picture. Years with U-KISS and UNB, solo recordings, concerts, fan events, and musical theater all belong to the same broader career, while painting has produced exhibitions and artwork under the Jun0 identity.
Rather than being tied to one blockbuster character, his financial profile is connected with the number of creative fields he has been able to work across.
Acting may provide the most visible foundation, but music, fashion, performance, advertising, and art make the overall picture considerably more multidimensional.
Inside Jun Young’s Lifestyle, Beauty, and Daily Routines
Painting is one of the clearest windows into Lee Jun Young’s life outside acting. He began using visual art as a way to organize thoughts and relieve stress, and during quieter periods he has described spending as much as eight hours in a day focused on painting.
The visual artist works under the name Jun0 and has experimented with pop-art and abstract approaches using mixed materials.
Participation in gallery exhibitions turned what began as a private hobby into something audiences could encounter independently of his acting and music.
Physical activity has a similarly natural place in his routine. Dance training was fundamental to his idol career, while roles such as the bodybuilding-focused Pump Up the Healthy Love required another kind of conditioning built around strength and muscular definition.
Soccer and bowling have also appeared among the activities associated with the multidisciplinary entertainer.
That mix of performance training and recreational movement suits someone whose career frequently requires choreography, action, stage stamina, or visible physical transformation.
His approach to downtime appears comparatively quiet. Jun Young has described himself as shy around unfamiliar settings, while drawing provides a solitary activity that contrasts with the highly collaborative nature of drama sets and music stages.
Grooming follows the simplicity of his wardrobe. Clean complexion styling, softly shaped brows, natural lip color, and controlled hair usually support the overall look rather than becoming its main feature.
Campaign work with UNO highlights that polished side more directly. The men’s grooming imagery paired clean skin and styled hair with both casual and urban-dandy clothing, reinforcing a beauty identity built around neatness rather than elaborate cosmetic effects.
For editorial shoots or darker characters, the equation can change quickly. More defined eyes, textured hair, sharper contouring, or deliberately rough styling can alter his appearance significantly, making grooming another useful tool in the actor’s transformations.
Interesting Facts About Lee Jun Young
- He Debuted Through U-KISS: Jun Young joined U-KISS in 2014 and performed as a singer, rapper, and dancer before acting became the dominant part of his career.
- He Finished First on The Unit: His performance on the survival program led to a second group debut through UNB.
- He Taught Himself Acting Techniques: Practicing monologues, recording his voice, and reviewing his own work were part of the way he developed before gaining broader acting recognition.
- He Paints Under the Name Jun0: Visual art gives him a separate creative identity beyond his work as a performer.
- Painting Helps Him Clear His Mind: He began painting seriously during a demanding period and found that concentrating on artwork helped organize his thoughts.
- His Artwork Has Been Exhibited: Jun0 has participated in art exhibitions, including group shows and art fairs in South Korea.
- He Has Worked on Album Artwork: His interests in music and painting have overlapped through visual contributions to his own releases.
- He Is an Award-Winning Musical Actor: Swag Age: Shout Out, Joseon! earned him Best New Actor recognition at the Korea Musical Awards.
- He Likes Characters That Hide His Celebrity Image: Jun Young has expressed satisfaction when viewers fail to recognize him immediately because it means the transformation has worked.
- He Has Participated in Fashion Design: His collaboration with RDVZ involved a design component rather than functioning only as an endorsement.
- He Can Work Across Several Performance Formats: Idol stages, solo music, television dramas, films, musicals, dance, and visual art all appear within the same career.
What Can We Learn from Jun Young’s Success Story?
Lee Jun Young’s career shows how useful it can be to become a beginner more than once. Success as an idol did not automatically make him an actor, so he practiced independently, studied his own weaknesses, and treated acting as another discipline that had to be learned from the ground up.
The same mentality appears in the way he talks about talent. Rather than presenting versatility as something effortless, the Korean creative has credited sustained practice for the skills audiences eventually see, an outlook that makes his movement between music, drama, dance, stage performance, and art feel more grounded.
Risk-taking has mattered too. Roles in D.P., Mask Girl, Brave Citizen, and Weak Hero Class 2 asked him to abandon the polished charm that could easily have kept him inside safe romantic casting.
The former idol’s willingness to be unpleasant, strange, intimidating, vulnerable, or physically transformed on screen has arguably become one of his strongest professional assets. Each sharp character change makes the next casting choice less predictable.
We also find the relationship between his different creative interests especially valuable. Painting is not treated as a decorative celebrity hobby, dance is not simply an old idol skill, and music does not become irrelevant because acting grew larger; each discipline continues to influence the way he thinks about performance and expression.
There is a practical lesson in that approach. Building a career around several genuine skills can create resilience without requiring every skill to receive equal attention at the same time.
FAQ: Popular Questions About Lee Jun Young
Was Lee Jun Young a member of U-KISS?
Yes. Lee Jun Young joined U-KISS in 2014 and performed under the stage name Jun before building a larger acting career.
Is Lee Jun Young also a painter?
Yes. Lee Jun Young creates visual art under the artist name Jun0 and has participated in exhibitions in South Korea.
What dramas is Lee Jun Young known for?
Lee Jun Young is known for dramas and streaming series including Avengers Social Club, D.P., Mask Girl, When Life Gives You Tangerines, Weak Hero Class 2, Melo Movie, and Pump Up the Healthy Love.
Conclusion
Lee Jun Young has built an unusually flexible creative identity by refusing to let music, acting, dance, fashion, and painting exist in separate boxes.
His character transformations are matched by an equally adaptable style—relaxed denim and streetwear off duty, sharper tailoring when the setting calls for it, and enough artistic curiosity to keep both sides interesting.
Follow his acting and creative projects, share this profile with fellow K-drama fans, or leave a comment with the Lee Jun Young performance or fashion look that stands out most to you.