So recently, our very own P.Jasmine fell into a fangirl rabbit-hole of Lee Je Hoon love, and proceeded to embark on some cross-border adventures, in the name of that fangirl love. 😁

She’s generously sharing her fangirl experiences with us in this guest post, and has made an effort to include insights that would appeal to the established Lee Je Hoon fan, as well as information that a more casual fan would be able to appreciate too.

Thanks P.Jasmine, for your labor of love; I’m sure Lee Je Hoon would be touched by your words, if he read them!

Please enjoy.

~KFG ❤️

In the Mood for (reel/real) Lee Je Hoon Love

At a poignant moment in the classic Wong Kar-wai movie In the Mood for Love, Tony Leung’s character says this dialogue: “Feelings can creep up just like that”.

Now this is how I would sum up my fan-love for the K-actor Lee Je Hoon (LJH) that honestly happened out of nowhere and the one that I was least prepared for.

And after 4 plus years of K-drama watching and having gone to many fan-events of my other biases Ji Chang Wook (JCW) and Kim Nam Gil (KNG) all over Asia over the last 2 years, I honestly thought I was really sorted when it comes to my “fangirling activities”.

But after attending his fan-meets in Sep and watching many of his dramas/movies this year, I have now become a good fan of LJH ❤️🌟🧿.

How I became a fan of LJH

Now I had been wanting to watch the K-drama Move to Heaven (MTH) for some time now because of its theme and when Elaine suggested a group watch in Sep 2023, I joined in as well.

And that was the first time I was seeing (or even knowing) LJH and though I liked his acting and wrote good words on him in the group watch discussions, I confess that I didn’t really warm up to him or his character up until the first half of the drama.

Even in the second half of the drama though I genuinely felt empathetic towards his character that was that really.

Because I get obsessive over “cleanliness” when my OCD flares up and thus there was no way I could have become a fan of LJH back then given how “chaotic” he was presented in the first few episodes (remember that in-house tent scene) of MTH 🙈.

At the same time, in Nov I was planning a year-end trip to Hong Kong (HK) for the first time and thanks to YouTube algorithms (that suggests videos based on our search history), I somehow ended up watching his vlogs on his 2023 HK/Macau trip and saw an amazing fun version of LJH (that is completely different from his character in MTH or what I had envisioned of him based on MTH).

Then I watched his Singapore vlog and other travel vlogs and ended up liking him well enough. And I read up on him in detail to know that he is a well-regarded K-actor (how ignorant of me really 🙈).

But even with this “new-found liking”, I couldn’t follow up on any of his acting work up until Apr 2024 for lack of time if any.

Thankfully two things happened in Apr 2024 that turned me into a good LJH fan: The first is his Tokyo vlog that came out at that time and I had also just returned from a beautiful Mar holiday in Japan and I could really connect with the way he enjoyed Tokyo in that vlog.

There is a moment in there wherein he takes out a neatly sealed bag filled with coins to pay for dinner and honestly I couldn’t believe he is the same person whom I had despised in MTH for being so “chaotic”.

The second is the Chief Detective 1958 K-drama which aired during that period and I watched it whilst airing and really enjoyed his performance in that drama.

I find this “interesting” because in case of my other biases it was their acting work that made me their fan first and it all happened instantly.

Whereas in the case of LJH, it was his vlogs that clicked for me first followed by his acting work (and thankfully he is a brilliant actor with an amazing filmography).

And it all happened over a period of time in the sense that I wasn’t giving that “undivided attention” that I gave my other biases when I first became their fan.

Summary of the Fan-Meets

Thus as a newly minted fan, I wanted to attend his fan-meets from May onwards and I finally did attend his fan-meet in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Taipei in Sep on back-to-back weekends 🙏.

And my first impressions of seeing him in real is that he comes across as a genuine person who happens to be an amazing K-actor (and a handsome one at that). In other words, his fun and warm personality shines through everything really.

And thankfully my first fan-meet in KL had English translation and hence I was able to observe everything very well.

Fan-Meet Activities

LJH started first half of the event by singing a Korean song and walking along the hallway making his now famous finger hearts so that fans could see him more closely.

TBH he is not a naturally talented or trained singer and I was anxious about his singing skills but he pulled it off very well with his sweet simple voice.

After the customary introduction, the first segment was Apple Talk wherein random fan-notes were read out and fans’ requests obliged and LJH autographed Apple replica was gifted to those fans by LJH himself.

Now as per his admission LJH has an apple everyday first thing in the morning for the last 30 years of his life (and maybe this could be one reason for his youthful looks because he is well put-together in real for his age and that’s no mean feat really)

What stood out for me in this segment was a fan-request to have Taxi Driver (TD) Season 3 and that she wanted to be Madam Lim (for those of you who haven’t seen TD series – now this is an iconic character that has a hilarious ongoing love story with Wang Tao Zhi which is one of the many superb make-believe characters that LJH plays in that series).

She was seated a few seats away from me and LJH came all the way down to meet her and hand in the gift and he did this all so charmingly just like how that character Wang Tao Zhi would.

The next segment was talking about selected photos of him taken over the last one year and the only thing I want to add here is that LJH is photogenic.

The second half of the event had LJH singing another Korean song simply well again.

Then it was Quiz Time with fans having to answer many questions on LJH to select one final winner. For all my LJH fan-love, I lost in the second round itself and it went on for multiple rounds really.

There were many winners in the KL event and LJH obliged each one of them with a selfie.

Whereas in Taipei, it was only one winner at the end but the way in which LJH felt sorry and spent time with some of the finalists would have melted their heart really. He definitely knows how to serenade his fans in a nice way.

Also the way in which he engaged with the host when answering questions on him, he came across as a quick-feet thinking/attentive person and yet be free-flowing as well.

No wonder he has been chosen to co-host the upcoming prominent Blue Dragon Film Awards especially taking over from the legendary host actress Kim Hye-soo and might continue to host it in the future.

The next segment was the Dance Show wherein fans have to impress LJH with their dance moves whilst making heart poses and he gets to select the winners and so everyone in the hall was dancing as per their fan-love 💃🏻🕺🏻.

Many fans came in with prior preparation but what stood out for me was this: A fan in KL came dressed up as Kim Do-gi (LJH’s iconic character from the TD series) and rightfully won.

Three of the winners in Taipei were fanboys and they had a gala time dancing with LJH on stage when they went to collect their gifts. As for me, I happily enjoyed it all as I have two left-feet.

And talking of fanboys, I saw many fanboys for LJH both in Taipei and KL and they all seemed really excited to attend his fan-meet.

Now I have hardly seen fanboys in other fan-events let alone win something and share the stage with their bias. I thought about this a bit and maybe it could be because all his latest dramas have him playing solid action roles that would appeal to fanboys very well.

Another note-worthy segment would be the one in Taipei wherein towards the end of the event they played a short video compilation of all the movie characters of LJH starting from his first role in the movie Bleak Night to his latest role in the movie Escape.

And when it ended we all held out the chart-paper formation that read as “Lee Je Hoon We Love You”.

Seeing that LJH got all emotional and teary-eyed and thanked us and mentioned that he would work hard in the future to make us all proud with his acting work.

Now for me he is already an accomplished K-actor in his own right and needs no validation per se and yet in that moment he was modest enough to accept our love and support and reciprocate the same so beautifully.

Moments with LJH

Whilst travelling for the fan-meets, I confess that I did think about “how different can LJH make me feel” as I had already attended many fan-events by then and kind of seen/felt it all.

But in all fairness, I was pleasantly surprised as everything felt fresh and new.

I will actually give credit to LJH for this because he isn’t an accomplished singer or dancer to keep the event going and it was just his inherent fun/warm persona that kept the events so good.

In both the fan-meets I had the high-five opportunity 🙌.

So in KL I shook hands with him and he thanked me whilst shaking hands. But the best was in Taipei wherein he interlocked his fingers with me whilst doing high-five with such warmth that it was an “Aww moment” for me really 😊🫶🏻.

Actually he did this gesture for many fans who won the high-five lottery but just that I was shy enough to do that the first time around in KL.

The surprising part is that I am yet to shake hands with my other biases though I have got selfie/autograph/group photos with them.

Also I am someone who doesn’t prefer physical contact with celebrities in general as I want to have healthy boundaries for myself.

So that way I am glad it was LJH and looking back I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. And I did see him close enough in the group photo section as well🫰.

Now in the Taipei event I was seated in the 8^th row central section and the immediate right two seats next to mine were empty strangely and there were many times during the event when he was looking at my section keenly.

And at some point during this time, I suddenly started thinking about MTH drama wherein I first saw him and how I ended up becoming his fan and I got emotional.

Especially I loved Taipei 101 area when I first visited it in Apr 2015 and have such fond memories but never had I imagined that I would be re-visiting this place for a K-actor fan-meet and that too LJH of all the people.

Notable Works of LJH

I also use this opportunity to talk about those works of LJH that I have enjoyed greatly:

Dramas

Taxi Driver (TD) Series (Season 1 and Season 2 combined): In my view, LJH’s iconic role has to be his character Kim Do-gi in the TD series.

Between the 2 seasons, he played varied roles whilst going undercover to exact revenge and he excelled in each one of those roles.

Same time, he maintained the enduring nature of Kim Do Gi with all the trauma and trigger and that resonated a lot with me personally.

Not to mention all the terrific action work and some cool taxi driving skills by LJH himself and he totally deserved all the awards that came his way for his work in this series 💐🌟.

Given that many of the cases covered in this series are based on real-life incidents, it needed someone of the calibre of LJH having an inherent sense of morality to spearhead the series and convey the victims’ stories thoughtfully.

Specifically, the entire action sequence towards the end of episode 8 of season 1 would be one of the most cathartic scenes that I have ever watched on-screen. It was as if LJH’s character was exacting revenge for all the wronged women in this world.

I also want to mention the case covered in episode 5 and 6 of season 2 and there was an inherent compassion and kindness in the way in which he acted out all those scenes with the abused children.

A special mention of the opening sequence of season 2 which was chef’s kiss for all his fans 😜.

In summary, I thought LJH channelled a lot of Jason Bourne (from the Bourne movie franchise) and Batman (from the Batman movie franchise especially the 2022 Batman movie) in this series and it was just amazing to watch him do all that he did in this series.

Also LJH is a two-time recipient (in 2021 and 2024 respectively) of the prestigious Korea Popular Culture and Arts Awards presented by the South Korean government-run cultural agency and I attribute this commendation to the meaningful work he did in both TD and MTH.

Now I can’t wait for season 3 that comes out in late 2025 and I am suspecting that it is going to be even more grittier as the teaser shows him infiltrating the Korean military to uncover sexual abuse issues.

Also thanks to Ele and j3ffc for including Kim Do-gi cameo in their recently published original story Dark in the blog.

And for those of you who want to see a charming LJH doing some good realistic romance, I highly recommend the time travel fantasy K-drama Tomorrow with You.

Or if you are in the mood for some good old 60’s detective story, I suggest the K-drama Chief Detective 1958 wherein LJH again excels in solving many cases with such aplomb.

I now look forward to watching his other dramas in 2025 including the classic K-drama Signal and the K-drama Secret Door wherein he played the controversial Crown Prince Sado.

Specifically I am interested in Secret Door given all the history of that period that I understood from watching the acclaimed K-drama The Red Sleeve.

Movies

Now this was something that I was surprised to know about LJH when I first became his fan.

So it turns out that LJH’s first love is movies and he has an amazing filmography and has done both critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies.

That he watches a lot of Korean/International movies in his free-time and attends movie-screening/movie-discussion events in Seoul diligently and has a YouTube channel titled JeHoonCine wherein he visits independent theatres in South Korea and talks about their work/indie movies.

He has already directed an episode Blue Happiness (starring Jung Hae-in) in the short web series Unframed and has plans to direct movies in the future and wants to own a movie theatre wherein he would screen and discuss movies.

In other words, he lives, loves, breathes movies and in fact his first break-out acting performance was actually in an indie movie called Bleak Night.

And his breadth of knowledge on global movies/actors in general is impressive for a K-actor as evidenced from his many interviews/vlogs/reality-shows etc.

I do watch movies quite a bit myself and enjoy going to theatres and hence it was a happy surprise to know this side of LJH.

Also he is a good fan of Wong Kar-wai / HK movies in general and you could see all that enthusiasm in his HK vlog.

And he had visited the Chinese restaurant that gets featured In the Mood for Love and relived all the memories of that restaurant scene as per his own admission.

In fact some scenes between Madam Lim and Wang Tao Zhi in episode 1 of TD season 2 had Wong Kar-wai movies’ effect in a fun way.

I am yet to watch many of his movies, but I really enjoyed the movie Collectors and his 2024 summer hit Escape.

I actually saw Escape in theatre twice: first in Singapore when it released in July and then in Seoul in Aug when I was there for Revolver (starring JCW) movie stage greetings events.

TBH my Seoul trip was chaotic (not to mention the crazy Seoul summer) but somehow I took time off one-day and made that trip to CGV Daehakro and had a memorable time watching Escape in a Seoul theatre.

The movie was shot well and LJH did a brilliant job in it and it reminded me of one of my favourite movies The Shawshank Redemption. I also recently watched Time to Hunt and though the story was very dark to my taste LJH did an impressive acting work in it.

Thus it was a special moment when he attentively listened to/saw a 10-second video clip of me wishing him that was played on stage as part of fan-messages section in the KL fan-meet.

Specifically I wished him to direct a movie soon and that we fans will be there to support him for that. Manifesting that it happens soon and I am sure he would make amazing movies if any 🙏.

A quick mention of the movie scene/theatres in South Korea: In my Aug trip, I visited many theatres all over Seoul as part of the movie stage greetings events and was suitably impressed with the vibrant movie scene there.

The theatres are well-maintained / spacious and the tickets are affordable and on weekends it seemed that people enjoyed going to the theatres.

I write on this in detail later but for now I suggest that whoever is visiting Seoul to watch a movie in theatre there just for that experience.

Reality Shows

LJH did a travel show titled Traveler in Dec 2018 with fellow K-actor Ryu Jun-yeol wherein they were on a back-packing trip in Cuba for 14 days.

I really enjoyed this show and their travel vibes were so peaceful and they both complemented each other very well.

I love travelling this way and hence it was almost meditative to see them go about exploring Cuba in all its’ vibrant beauty.

And it was both fun and cute to see LJH trying to impress the Cuban ladies with his quickly learnt Spanish words especially when he had to negotiate the price or book a hotel or cab.

Also in general LJH’s travel vibes seems cheerful and chilled out as evidenced from his many travel vlogs 😎.

Now although I prefer capitalism these days as I got older, in my 20s I had genuine respect for the revolutionary communist leader Che Guevara (and I still do) and have read the book The Motorcycle Diaries and watched the movie that was based on the book.

So I was pleasantly surprised when he talked about a particular scene from that movie in the show and referenced suitable American actors to play their part for a movie based on the Cuban revolution.

I specifically liked this pic that has LJH posing in front of Che Guevara memorial in the Revolution Square in the capital city Havana.

Again really never in my 20s had I imagined that a decade or so later I would be watching a Korean travel show and see a moment in there that would bring together two people that I have good regards for.

I have enjoyed many other shows that featured LJH, but for lack of time I quickly mention about his appearance in the 2016 show Chef & My Fridge:

First, I honestly haven’t seen a fridge this organised with all the food items neatly labelled and ingredients ably prepared/stored that even the chefs were suitably impressed.

Looks like his mother maintains the fridge and does all the cooking for him and you could really see a Korean mother’s love for her son in that fridge (and now I know where he gets his organising skills from).

Well it turns out that she has a Korean food cooking license and then all the chefs joked that it will be tough for his future spouse to match up to his mother’s cooking skills. LJH’s reply was fun though.

I do get the feeling that he comes from a loving and supportive family based on whatever he has shared of them in the interviews/reality shows.

I generally refrain from commenting on celebrities’ personal lives but for LJH I make an exception for a good reason.

And say that probably his family and the good environment that he grew up in must have played a key role in being the warm person that I perceive him to be.

Conclusion 

Now LJH fandom in itself is peaceful and supportive and possible that he attracts like-minded people as fans or I just got plain lucky so far.

And many thanks to Indonesian fans Nikhen (whom I met in KL) and Lia (whom I met in Taipei) for keeping me company and discussing on many things including LJH.

And now the surprise is that I later found out that they both are Cardiologist from Jakarta and share LJH fan-love but yet to meet each other in person.

Honestly happy to have met them because when accomplished professionals are K-actor fans they bring in a certain balance to fangirling activities in general.

Also special thanks to Sarah (from Afternoona Asks podcast) with whom I first talked about our shared LJH fan-love.

I know LJH is unique in his own way but I take the liberty to summarise as this:

Lee Je Hoon is a good combination of the intellectual acting prowess of American actor Matt Damon and the Asian sensibilities / sincerity of Hong Kong Chinese actor Tony Leung / Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada (I combined some wishful thinking in here as these three actors are some of my favourite actors in general).

And the next decade looks very promising for him career-wise and I look forward to watching his future dramas and movies 👍🤞.

Also I am happy that I wrote this article based out of Singapore and it is getting published in a Singapore-based blog fangirlverdict run by our very own Singaporean KFG as Singapore is one of LJH’s favourite holiday destinations by his own admission.

And he mentioned in his Singapore vlog that he very much enjoys this clean walkable safe city.

To conclude, there is a beautiful moment in Traveler show wherein LJH sees the rainbow and the sunset on day 11 of his Cuba trip but forgets to capture them in his camera and mentions that “he will remember those moments with all his heart”.

Borrowing the same I conclude that my writing on him and pics of him haven’t done complete justice to all those beautiful memories I have had of watching his works/attending his fan-events but suffice to say that “I will always remember those moments with all my heart”.

~P. Jasmine

P.S – 1

Lee Je Hoon – if you are ever reading this, may I kindly suggest that you do not appear in bathrobes in your travel vlogs (to clarify he is fully clothed and no concerns on that) as it is too much of your personal space to show in a public medium and more importantly too hot for your fans to handle really 😜

P.S – 2

Now I am aware that my K-actor bias list is ever expanding but I promise that I won’t add anymore as I am already stretched out trying to play catch up on all the works/fan-events of my three K-actor biases 🙃