“ Actress or boxer? you must choose”

Lee Si Young (born Lee Eun Rae) decided that the best way to interpret the life of a boxer in a dramatic series for the network MBC-TV of South Korea, it lives as the character lives, with its daily inner struggles and its nights in the ring every Friday night. He put in so much work and trained hours and hours to perfect his moves that he fell in love with boxing. What started as a strategy in a sport turned into a passion.

get on paper

Born on April 17, 1982 in a working family in Cheong-won (South Korea), his family moved to seoul When I was nine years old. Her career aspirations led her to study fashion at the University of Dongduk and, what seemed to be a priori career in the world of design, turned into acting in 2008, at the age of 26, when he made his debut in season 3 in the series ‘Urban Legends Deja Vu’ on the SuperAction TV channel and a related role in the historical drama ‘The Kingdom of The Winds’.

Although the series he prepared as a boxer did not end, read fell in love with boxing. In 2010, she entered the 7th women’s amateur boxing championship in the -50 kg category. to start the test. They are dizzy years. Training, series, movies, recording discs, musical shows and boxing championships. Between 2010 and 2015, read he managed to combine his work with sports although at the representation agency their feet trembled every time they found out that Lee had another night.

Determined not to give his arm to the twist, he ignored all the advice of the directors. “No matter how hard we try to convince him, he doesn’t want to let go” said one of the owners of AceFactory.

The call of the national team

2011 was his big year. He started by winning the 47th Amateur Boxing Match of seoul in February in the 48 kg category. and in March, the 7th National Amateur Boxing Championship. He continued to rack up victories throughout 2012. In July he took down the 42nd Amateur Boxing Federation Seoul Boxing Prematch and the 33rd President’s Cup Amateur Boxing Contest.

Although in 2011 he closed the shooting of the disturbing and successful series ‘Poseidon’ for KBS2, his almost complete dedication in 2012 to boxing reduced his popularity in the field of interpretation. She did not receive any film roles and only had time to film the series ‘Wild Romance’ for KBS2 and perform a musical show with Jay Park. It was only in November 2012 that he received a call from the national coach. In December, the 66th National Amateur Boxing Championship was held, giving way to the first round of the national classification for 2013. read He participated in the light flyweight category.

At 28 years old, he is the oldest participant (there can be up to 34 years). He overcame his rivals and stood in the final where he lost on points. In 2013 he had to undergo surgery for a herniated disc and suffered a knee injury. Although he had to change his training plan, he only got two film performances in 2013, one of which, the most outstanding, was ‘Killer Cartoon’ by Kang Ji Yoon. On April 24, 2013, having recovered from his injuries, read won the women’s 48 kg title at the 24th National Amateur Boxing Championships in a controversial 22-20 decision that questioned the judges’ decision.

The retreat

Lee Si Young I had a dream to represent Korea at an international event. The Olympic Games they seem complicated but in 2014 the asian games. In these Games, the category where read former contender (48 kg) was not represented so he had to compete at -51 kg. Lack of time prevented him from reaching the final. In 2014 he shot two television series (‘Cruz Dorada’ and ‘Amor Justo’) and in 2015 only one (‘My beautiful girlfriend’). Papers began to become scarce and injuries took their toll on the delicate 33-year-old body. He even considered preparing to play in the early rounds Rio 2016.

Finally, in 2015, its representation agents breathed a sigh of relief. read he left boxing to focus on acting. Between 2016 and 2022 he shot one movie (Park En-ae’s ‘Merciless’), seven series (among them, he appeared in Netflix’s ‘Sweet Home’, Disney+’s ‘Red’ and ‘ HBO’s The Mentalist’) and He has participated in 6 musical shows. He is a celebrity in the television scene who has more than 10 million followers on Tik Tok and 3 million on Instagram.