For being one of Hallyu’s top actresses, Lee Young-ae, also known as CF queen (others have laid claim to that title, but Lee Young-ae has approximately 240 CFs to her credit in 17 years), has remained out of the spotlight for the past three years. Her last film was 2005’s Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and her last drama the Hallyu hit Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace), which ended in the spring of 2004.

(For a while, her name was bandied about as the female president role in the high-profile drama Daemul, but that role went instead to Go Hyun-jung before the project ultimately fizzled.)

Lee Young-ae did make a surprise appearance last May on the variety program Infinity Challenge, but otherwise has remained out of sight. Apparently she’s also turning down any personal interviews, only choosing to discuss her work. So it’s a bit of a change hearing that she’s making a “comeback” not through her acting but via an MBC special documentary program called “I Am Lee Young-Ae.” The special takes a look at Lee’s long career, offering viewers a “frank look” into the actress’ life.

I Am Lee Young-ae airs on September 26.

Via Newsen

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Tags: comebacks, Lee Young-ae

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Actor Song Il Kook

 
Or perhaps the question should be: Who’s getting attention for voting?

On the 19th (yesterday in Korea if we’re going by the time difference), Korea held its presidential elections. (Psst. Lee Myung-bak won.)

As for voting — turnout was low, but that didn’t stop the celebrities from showing up to exercise their civic duty. As with anything, people are much more interested when a famous person does it! (God I feel shallow).

Some highlights:

Lee Young Ae: The A-list actress got up early to cast her vote at 6:50am: “I’m a morning person.”

Actress Kim Hee Sun arrived at 4pm in Kangnam to vote quickly and speed away; her husband voted at a different station, since the newlywed couple’s marriage registration paperwork isn’t complete yet.

SONG OF THE DAY

TA Copy - “Glory Days” [ zShare download ]

Who else showed up to vote? >>

Tags: Han Ye-seul, JYP, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Young-ae, Moon Geun-young, Younha

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(Whenever I see distinguished actress Lee Young Ae, I think she looks so classy.)

She’s deciding on her drama comeback next year (she’s been away from television for four years, last seen in her mega-hit series Dae Jang Geum aka Jewel in the Palace), which’ll come sometime in the first half of 2008, and SBS is trying to woo her over to their upcoming series Daemul.

At a December 13 press conference revealing SBS’s broadcasting plans for the next year, an SBS rep explained their plans to adapt hit manhwa Daemul. The series is the work of artist Park In Kwon, who also created War of Money, the series that brought SBS a lot of success this year as a “national drama” (so classified because it pulled in over 30% viewership ratings).

Though casting isn’t settled, SBS is in negotiations with Lee Young Ae for the lead role. (She’s their top pick, but also in consideration are Kim Sun Ah, Sohn Yejin, Lee Na Young, and Jang Jin Young.)

About Daemul:

It comes described thusly:

“Love is one part of a man’s life, but everything in a woman’s. … So if you could discard one part to gain the whole, wouldn’t you try?”

The manhwa bears an “adults only” restriction and centers on “the love and ambition that unfolds when a male escort seduces the female president.” Ooh la la.

Via Newsen

(I learned a new word today! “Zeroth” or “0th” (in Korean, 0순위) refers to the place in front of “first” — which seems kind of redundant, doesn’t it? Acting as the antithesis of made-up words “umpteen” or “kazillion,” it essentially means top choice but is SO top-choice that the number 1 is insufficient to denote its super-duper-special-oneness. Which is ironic since only “one” means one. But apparently zero is more “one” than one? Anyway. Lee Young Ae is SO in the top choice position that she’s the “zeroth” choice. Languages are funny.)

SONG OF THE DAY

“Braves” by 흰수염고래 (White-Bearded Whale) or Whale with a White Mustache, which has a nice ring to it. I freely admit the only reason I checked out this group was because of its name. I’m shallow like that. Heh. [ zShare download ]

Tags: comebacks, Daemul, Lee Young-ae, manhwa adaptations

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