Born in 1989, Yi Yikyung first enlisted for physical education studies, but had a change of mind after he had the opportunity to watch television series for the first time in his life while doing his military service. He came back home with the ambition to become an actor, and thus transferred to the acting school of the Seoul Institute of the Arts. He debuted in 2011, appearing in short movies and variety shows, but also in the drama series <Heartstrings>. He then join...
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Born in 1989, Yi Yikyung first enlisted for physical education studies, but had a change of mind after he had the opportunity to watch television series for the first time in his life while doing his military service. He came back home with the ambition to become an actor, and thus transferred to the acting school of the Seoul Institute of the Arts. He debuted in 2011, appearing in short movies and variety shows, but also in the drama series <Heartstrings>. He then joined the cast of the teen sitcom <School 2013>, but his career really took off when he landed a supporting role in <My Love from the Star> (2013-2014), one of the most popular Korean drama series across Asia in recent years. He went on to play in another series that was a sensational hit abroad, <Descendants of the Sun> (2016). His film career was more audacious, since one of his first big screen roles was in Leesong Heeil’s gay drama film <White Night> (2012) as one of the leads, while homosexuality still largely remains a taboo in Korea. He then starred in one of Kim Kiduk’s films, <One on One> (2014). In 2014, he took on his first role in a mainstream film as he joined Son Yejin’s crew in <The Pirates> (2014). He later became widely known for his supporting role in the romantic comedy series <Confession Couple> (2017), which helped him significantly increase his presence on television, as he appeared in five series in 2018 only, most notable among them <Welcome to Waikiki> and <Children of Nobody>, which saw him land his first lead roles. He then played against Jung Jaeyoung and Jung Yumi in the police procedural series <Partners for Justice> (2018), and he was cast in the action-comedy film <HITMAN: AGENT JUN> (2019). In the period detective drama <Royal Secret Agent> (2020-2021), he played the trustful servant of a secret royal inspector tasked with investigating corruption among the Kingdom’s elite. In 2022, he starred as a lucky North Korean border guard who finds by chance a winning lottery ticket carried by the wind from the South in the surprise hit comedy <6/45> (2022).
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