This Day, That Year – June 22

This day in history we feature Lee Min-ho. A South Korean actor, singer, model, creative director and businessman was born on this day in 1987.

Trivia – Lee Min-ho

Lee Min-ho gained widespread fame worldwide with his role as Gu Jun-pyo in Boys Over Flowers which also earned him the Best New Actor award at the 45th Baeksang Arts Awards. His notable lead roles in television series include Personal Taste, City Hunter, Faith, The Heirs, The Legend of the Blue Sea. In 2020 he starred in Studio Dragon’s The King: Eternal Monarch, which grossed US$135 million. Apart from his television career, Lee featured in the first lead role in the film Gangnam Blues. This was followed by his first China-produced film Bounty Hunters, and the mini-romance-web-series Line Romance, both collectively grossed US$51 million.

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The success of Lee’s television series established him as a top Hallyu star; he is the most followed South Korean actor on social media. Lee became the first Korean celebrity to have a wax figure made in his image at Madame Tussauds, with figures being unveiled in Shanghai in 2013, and Hong Kong in 2014. He earns US$2.5 million from product endorsements alone. In 2014, Lee set up the PROMIZ website, a fund-raising platform to raise awareness and encourage donation for social and humanitarian causes. Proceeds from the sale of PROMIZ merchandise are given to the selected partners to execute the charity projects. The site has raised US$50,000 from him and his fans to help create wells in Malawi through non-profit organization Charity: Water. It has also raised funds and contributed donations to causes such as Good Neighbours, World Water Day, the “Transparent Umbrella Project” and the “Making Warm Winter for Both Bodies and Hearts” campaign. In 2016, PROMIZ won the Korea Good Brand Awards. In 2015, Lee donated 100 million won to UNICEF to aid victims of a devastating earthquake in Nepal. In 2016, Lee was recognised by the Ministry of Health and Welfare for his contribution to society. To mark the 10th anniversary of his debut, Lee’s fans participated in several charitable events. Lee’s Chinese fans planted 510 trees in Inner Mongolia, while his Mexican fans donated to children stricken with cancer with proceeds earned from selling plastic bottle caps to recycling companies. Taiwanese and Hong Kong fans also made donations to profit organizations World Vision and UNICEF. In previous years, his Chilean fan club donated to the humanitarian organization Patagonia Compassion and also participated in several other charitable causes. As of October 2020, Lee has over 3 million followers on Twitter, 23 million followers on Weibo and was the first Korean celebrity to garner 20 million followers on both Instagram and Facebook. In 2014 and 2015, Lee topped an online poll organized by a Chinese entertainment magazine and was voted as the “Asian Male God”. In 2017, Lee was chosen as the “Most Favoured Korean Actor” by fans of the Korean wave in the United States. With a combined total of 65 million followers, he is referred to as the “King of Social Media”. Lee Min-ho launched the YouTube channel “leeminho film” where he serves as executive producer and creative director.

Source – Wikipedia