Lee Jung-hyun wins Emerging Cultural Figure Award for directorial debut short film

Lee Jung-hyun picked up the Emerging Cultural Figure Award (신진문화인상) at the Gender Equality Cultural Figure Award ceremony for 꽃놀이 간다, the short film she directed, wrote, produced, and acted in — playing the character Sumi.

"I received an award as a film director for the first time," she said in her acceptance speech, adding that she dedicates "this glory to our staff members who worked hard." She also named director Yoon Ga-eun as a personal inspiration: "It is truly an honor to receive the award at the same place as Director Yoon Ga-eun, whom I really like."

The 2025 short is now available on Netflix.

Lee Jung-hyun has been a fixture in Korean entertainment for three decades. She debuted in the 1996 film 꽃잎 and swept multiple rookie prizes, including the Daejong Film Award and Blue Dragon Film Award for Best New Actress. Her 1999 debut album Let's Go To My Star produced the hit "와". The albums that followed gave her "바꿔", "너", "줄래", "미쳐", "반", "아리아리".

Her acting career kept pace. She won the Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Actress for the 2015 film 성실한 나라의 앨리스. She appeared in the 10-million-viewer film 명량 as Jeong-ssi woman. In 반도, she played Min-jeong — a film that crossed its 2.5-million-viewer break-even point in 11 days during the COVID-19 period. In 2024 she played Choi Jun-kyung in Netflix original 기생수: 더 그레이. Earlier this year she took the Excellence Award in the Reality category at the 2025 KBS Entertainment Awards for 신상출시 편스토랑.

(Film, streaming, television. Three awards in roughly a year.)