Biography: John H. Lee

John H lee, who is also known by the name of Lee Jae-han, is a famous South Korean film director and screenwriter. He is counted among one of the most incredible directors of East Asia and is currently serving as a member of the rising generation of international directors from the region.

He has marked his name through the success of films, “A Moment to Remember” (2004), “Sayonara Itsuka” (2010), “71: Into the Fire” (2010), and “Operation Chromite” (2016).

He was born in 1971 in Seoul, South Korea, and was shifted to the US in his early years. After finishing his high school education from one of the pre-eminent schools, he attended the film school at New York University. After graduating from University, he decided to follow his passion and entered the film Industry. Lee made his feature debut with “The Cut Runs Deep”, a poetic independent film about East Asian youth gangs in New York City. It attained immense fame after its release in the year 2000 in Korea and attained the status of a cult classic. His first featured film was a grand success and granted him enormous fame.

Following that, he landed on several projects and directed abundant international music videos and T.V. commercials in East Asia and Europe, and moved back to Seoul. Soon, He released his second directional featured film and first Korean language film based on a love story named “A Moment to Remember”. The movie revolves around a man and a woman, two star-crossed lovers, separated by the slow loss of the woman’s memory. It was soon recognized as the highest-grossing domestic film in the romance genre in the history of Korean cinema.

Eventually, it was released in Japan the following year and made a record of becoming the most successful Korean film ever in Japan. It was considered as one of the greatest Romantic Korean movies and gave immense limelight on Lee. Further, he continued his journey and took a challenging step for his third feature film, i.e., “Sayonara Itsuka” by working with a top-notch Japanese actor, alongside the best Korean film crew. It was released in 2010 and was a mega-hit. It attracted many colossal audiences as it portrayed the story of a lost love that spans over 25 years.

Lee never stopped and made sure to follow his passion in the film industry and released numerous movies as a director, like “The Third Way of Love” (2015), “Operation Chromite” (2016), and “Jaejoong: On the Road” (2021).