The Actor Who Promised to Go Home in Three Years: Lee Sung-min

Featured photo: Lee Sung-min at the press conference for tvN’s “Money Game” in January 2020. Photo: NewsInStar, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Lee Sung-min’s charm is that every year he held on is right there in his face. In 2002, at 35, he left his wife and daughter in Daegu and went up alone to Daehangno, Seoul’s theater district, with a promise: “I’ll try it for three years, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll come back” (Ilyo Sisa). He never kept that promise. Instead of going home, he became an actor who has won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor three times. And right now, in JTBC and Amazon Prime Video’s “Sacred Jewel,” he stands in the middle of the battlefield as Choi Gu, a battle-hardened veteran of the Goryeo kingdom.

I’ll be honest: every time I read about his years as a nobody, my throat tightens as a fan. Once a week he went down to Daegu, took a 100,000-won allowance (about $74) from his wife, and walked more than two hours from Dongdaegu Station to his home to save the bus fare. That man is the Manager Oh and Chairman Jin Yang-cheol we know today (Ilyo Sisa).

December 5, 2026: Commander Choi Gu in “Sacred Jewel”

“Sacred Jewel” is set in 1258, when Goryeo, the kingdom that gave Korea its English name, was sinking after nearly 30 years of war with the Mongols. It follows an escort unit that charges into the war zone to find the Gwaneum Bojoo, a holy jewel said to protect the nation, and the princess who helps them. Jeong Hyun-min, the writer of “Jeong Do-jeon,” wrote the 14 episodes and Jeong Dae-yoon directs (The Fact).

• Captain of a small unit. Choi Gu leads the Yabyeolcho, Goryeo’s special forces. He is the finest warrior of countless battlefields, and his mission is to protect Baek Gyeol (Ahn Bo-hyun), the young nobleman leading the escort (bnt News).
• The sword and the family. At the script reading revealed on November 5, he showed a warrior’s toughness and a warm heart for his family at the same time (iMBC).
• Chairman Jin and his director. Director Jeong Dae-yoon is the man who made “Reborn Rich” with him (TenAsia). Four years later, the Soonyang Group chairman put on armor in front of the same director.
• Comrades made at the Blue Dragon Awards. At the 2025 Blue Dragon Film Awards, Lee won Best Supporting Actor and Ahn Bo-hyun won Best New Actor. A year later, at the handprinting event on November 3, Lee said, “The drama I made with Bo-hyun, ‘Sacred Jewel,’ comes out in December,” then handed him the mic: “Bo-hyun will tell you the spoilers” (MHN).
• Airtime. It premieres Saturday, December 5, at 10:40 p.m. Korea time (8:40 a.m. the same day on the U.S. East Coast), airing every Saturday and Sunday night and streaming worldwide on Amazon Prime Video (Topstar News).

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video worldwide (JTBC in Korea). The title page isn’t live yet, so here’s the search link: Prime Video (checked November 8, 2026).

Filmography: from nobody to three Baeksang trophies

• 2014, “Misaeng.” As Manager Oh Sang-sik of Sales Team 3, he was the boss with bloodshot eyes who looked after “our kid.” The role won him Best Actor in TV at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards in 2016 (Wikipedia).

Where to watch: Netflix (U.S. and Korea, JustWatch, checked November 8, 2026).

• 2018, “The Spy Gone North.” He was Ri Myong-un, the North Korean trade official who receives a spy from the South. He walked the Cannes red carpet for the first time and won Best Actor in Film at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards in 2019 (Wikipedia).

Where to watch: Rakuten Viki in the U.S., Netflix Korea (JustWatch, checked November 8, 2026).

• 2022, “Juvenile Justice.” In the Netflix series he played Judge Kang Won-jung, who handles juvenile offenders, an adult hiding guilt behind his strictness.

Where to watch: Netflix (U.S. and Korea, JustWatch, checked November 8, 2026).

• 2022, “Reborn Rich.” Jin Yang-cheol, founder of the Soonyang Group. The chairman he built out of a Gyeongsang dialect and a cracked voice was parodied endlessly after the show ended, and the role won him Best Actor in TV at the 59th Baeksang Arts Awards in 2023 (Wikipedia).

Where to watch: Rakuten Viki in the U.S., Netflix Korea (JustWatch, checked November 8, 2026).

• 2025, “No Other Choice.” In Park Chan-wook’s film he played Gu Beom-mo, a paper-industry family man holding on in the hunt for a new job. The role brought him his first Blue Dragon trophy ever (Best Supporting Actor), and in May 2026 the Baeksang Award for Best Supporting Actor in Film. A year after that win, he said, “Chances like this don’t come often in life, and I’m honored that such a special chance came to me too” (Sports Chosun, MHN). That night, flustered, he forgot to thank his co-star Park Hee-soon, and a year later he apologized with a laugh. That’s so him.

Where to watch: Hulu in the U.S., Netflix Korea (JustWatch, checked November 8, 2026).

The stage actor from Daegu who said he’d go home after three years hasn’t left the stage or the screen in more than 30. Now he raises a sword in front of Goryeo’s young nobleman. The scene where Choi Gu puts Baek Gyeol behind him and faces the Mongol army is the one I’ll be waiting for, every Saturday night.

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Exchange rate: 100,000 won ≈ $74 (1 dollar = 1,357 won, open.er-api.com, as of November 7, 2026). This converts an early-2000s amount at today’s rate.