Lee Yo-Won was born on April 4, 1980 in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. In 1997, during her sophomore year in high school, Lee Yo-Won applied for a modelling contest and was picked as the winner. After the contest she debuted in the monthly fashion magazine "Figaro" (휘가로) for its November issue.[1] In 1998, Lee Yo-Won made her acting debut in the film "Scent of a Man". While acting for her first movie, Lee Yo-Won sometimes teared up because staff members only applauded the other actors for their work. Then some staff members noticed her tears and mentioned she was good at tearing up. That was the first time she positive words about her acting. With her confidence building and gaining more attention from the staff members Lee Yo-Won realized she wanted to pursue acting as a profession.[2] For her second film, Lee Yo-Won played gas station attendent Galchi in the hit movie "Attack the Gas Station!" - which sold 2.4 million tickets. Thanks to the popularity of that film Lee Yo-Won started to gain recognition from the public. Lee Yo-Won then acted in several television dramas. In 2001, Lee Yo-Wons big breakthrough came in the KBS TV drama "Blue Love" (Pureun Angae). For the first time Lee Yo-Won played the lead character in a TV drama and the series became a big hit. The drama itself contained a controversial (for its time) storyline involving a woman in her early 20s becoming involved romantically with a married man in his 40s. In the same year, 2001, Lee Yo-Won acted as one of the three main characters in the critically praised indie film "Take Care of My Cat" directed by female director Jeong Jae-Eun. The film was chosen as one of the 5 best films of 2001 by "Cine Seoul" magazine. Lee Yo-Won would also mentioned in a 2009 interview with "Elle Korea" fashion magazine that "Take Care of My Cat" was her most memorable work.[3] In 2003, at the age of 22, Lee Yo-Won made the surprising announcement that she will marry. By the end of January, Lee Yo-Won married professional golfer & businessman Park Jin-Woo. Lee Yo-Won temporarily put her acting career on hold while she went to the U.S. with her husband to study. In 2004, Lee Yo-Won had her first child. In an interview with TV show "Section TV - S Diary" on MBC, Lee Yo-Won mentioned that at the time of her marriage she was tired of acting and the demands placed on her.[4] In 2005, Lee Yo-Won made her acting comeback in the SBS drama series "Fashion 70s". She chose the role for three reason: because it was a historical drama, that it was directed by Lee Jae-Kyu (who previously directed popular female oriented detective drama "Damo: The Legendary Police Woman") and that it dealt with a woman career and success rather than a pure love story.[5] After "Fashion 70s," Lee Yo-Won acted in various drama and movies. In 2009, Lee Yo-Won performed in another smash-hit television series, this time in the MBC historical drama "The Great Queen Seondeok". Lee Yo-Won played main characer Queen Seondeok, who possessed extraordinary intelligence and strength. In an interview with "Star News," Lee Yo-Won stated she was tired of playing woman who were fragile and weak and eagerly took the role of Queen Seondeok because of this.[6] In 2010, Lee Yo-Wons next film "The Recipe" was released in late October. She appeared at the world premiere for "The Recipe" during the Pusan International Film Festival (in which AsianMediaWiki attended). During the question and answer session Lee Yo-Won stated she chose the film, because she wanted to work with another female director due to her great experience with "Take Care of My Cat." Although she was initially relunctant to take on another role of a "fragile woman," the movie producer Jang Jin and movie director Lee Seo-Goon convinced her this would be the right role for her.