Singing or Acting? FT. ISLAND Lee Hong-ki Can Do it All!
Are you a fan of K-pop? If you are, then you must be familiar with Korean dramas, as well. Most K-pop fans enjoy watching Korean dramas, even becoming addicted to them. That doesn’t mean that all K-pop fans like to watch Korean dramas, but they will probably watch one if an actor in the drama is their idol in a K-pop group.
We have seen a lot of Korean idols that not only sing, dance, or rap, but also try to act in Korean dramas. For example, Do Kyungsoo or D.O from EXO, Im Si-wan and Park Hyung-sik who were former members of idol group called ZE:A, Yoon Do-joon who is the leader of boy-group Highlight, Seo Hyun-jin and Park Hee-von that were a former members of the girl-group called M.I.L.K, etc. They made seamless transitions into acting.
But we’re not going to talk about idols that turned into an actor or actress in general. Instead, we’re going to talk about one particular Korean idol that slowly turned into an actor. This Korean idol doesn’t come from a boy-group, for your information, he came from a well-known Korean rock band that debuted ten years ago.
Who is this person?
Yes, it’s Hong-ki or Lee Hong-ki from FT. Island.
Starting with playing a supporting role in a drama called You’re Beautiful on 2009, Hong-ki little by little started showing us his developing skills as an actor. From time to time, he would to act in various type of dramas. Hong-ki didn’t take a lot of offers, also he didn’t take the big part or become the main character. That’s why we said that he made it in a baby step way.
Are you curious about what kind of dramas Hong-ki has appeared on? And how his acting skills fare? Well then, you might as well scroll down to get to find out more!
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in You Are Beautiful
This series was the first time of Hong-ki appeared in a Korean drama. In October 2009, Hong-ki, the vocalist of FT. Island, was chosen as one of the cast in a drama called You Are Beautiful, along with Jung Yong-hwa, who is a vocalist and guitarist for the group CNBLUE.
Just like the background of the two band members, Hong-ki and Yong-hwa played as members of a band in that drama. The band was called “A.N.JELL”, and it consisted of four members. Aside from Hong-ki and Yong-hwa’s characters, the other two members were played by actor Jang Geun-suk and actress Park Shin-hye.
Hong-ki played as Kang On-yu, or Jeremy. He is the drummer of the band “A.N.JELL”. Jeremy grew up in England, which is why he has an English name. Jeremy is the youngest member in “A.N.JELL” and he is also the funniest member, who will bring you to laughter with his behavior.
Even though this was Hong-ki’s first time acting, his skill was quite good and entertaining. Hong-ki didn’t look awkward at all when he played as Jeremy.
Let’s take a look at some of Lee Hong-ki’s moments as Jeremy in You Are Beautiful!
Hong-ki once said that to play this role, he needed to lose his weight since Jeremy likes to show his body in sleeveless shirts. To lose his weight, Hong-ki often did sit-ups or some other quick exercises even during his break time. He said that he succeeded in losing 7 kg of his weight. Good job, Hong-ki!
In 2017, Hong-ki shared a picture of Jeremy and Kang Shin-woo’s character, that was played by Yong-hwa of CNBLUE, on his Instagram. This post made a lot of fans feel surprised and they suddenly started missing You Are Beautiful. Apparently Hong-ki is not the only one who missed Jeremy, right?
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox
The next drama where Hong-ki appeared was My Girlfriend is a Gumiho or My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox. In this seriesa, Hong-ki only played as a cameo. His scene was only a little, where he played a celebrity who worked with Eun Hye-in. And the name of his character is.. Jeremy from “A.N.JELL”!
Yes, Hong-ki appeared in My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox as his previous character in You Are Beautiful, Jeremy. Not only did Jeremy make an appearance, Park Shin-hye, who played as Ko Mi-nyeo, also appeared as a cameo in the seriesa. If you’re wondering why Jeremy and Ko Mi-nyeo from “A.N.JELL” appeared here, it was because the same writer was behind the creation of both dramas.
In this drama, Hong-ki, or Jeremy, looks a little bit different than his appearance in You Are Beautiful. His hair is dyed dark brown while Jeremy’s hair in the other series was silver. Even though it was only a small appearance, it warmed our heart to see that A.N.JELL’s members were doing fine after the drama ended.
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in Japanese Drama Muscle Girl
After the airing, You Are Beautiful became a success and got high ratings not only in Korea, but also a lot of countries such as Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. Because of that, the actresses and actors from the series, including Hong-ki, started to get more recognition, especially in the acting field. Hong-ki got an offer to be cast as a Korean man in a Japanese drama. Aalthough this is not a Korean drama, his acting is still worth watching.
The drama, called Muscle Girl, aired in 2011 on TBS channel. For the story line, the drama is about a girl named Azusa Shiratori, played by Yui Ichikawa. Azusa is the daughter of “Shiratori Girls Pro Wrestler”, who already passed away. Later on, she met a Korean man and asked him to help keep the wrestling company alive. The Korean man is the guy that we know, Lee Hong-ki. He played Yoo Ji-ho, who turned out to be not only an ordinary “Korean man”, but happened to be a Korean star.
Compared to the previous drama, You Are Beautiful, where Hong-ki only took a small role, we can see the high difference of his acting skill in Muscle Girl, since he acted as a main character in this drama. Even though he played a Korean man, he showed us his Japanese skills by speaking in Japanese in this series. Since FT. Island is quite popular in Japan and often promotes Japanese songs and album there, it’s no wonder that Hong-ki’s Japanese skills are good!
Let’s take a look at his moments playing Yoo Ji-ho in Muscle Girl!
Just looking at how serious he acts makes me forget about how ridiculous Jeremy was in You Are Beautiful, don’t you agree? Hong-ki really improved his acting skill! Well done, Hong-ki!
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in Bride of the Century
Hong-ki’s next drama started airing in February 2014. The name of the drama was Bride of the Century and it aired on TV Chosun. If he was chosen to play the main character in the Japanese drama before, it’s time for him to shine in a Korean drama, because he played the lead character.
Hong-ki played as the heir of Taeyang Company, Choi Kang-joo, who is supposed to marry a woman called Jang Yi-kyung, who is portrayed by Yang Jin-sung. Unfortunately, Jang Yi-kyung doesn’t want to marry someone who doesn’t love her and tries to run away. Jang Yi-kyung’s brother, Jang Yi-hyun, found a way to get Choi Kang-joo to still marry his sister. He found someone who looks a lot like his sister, Na Doo-rim, who is also portrayed by Yang Jin-sung, and makes her to pretend to be Jang Yi-kyung.
Na Doo-rim and Jang Yi-kyung have different personalities even though they look alike. Choi Kang-joo started to fall in love with Na Doo-rim due to her cheerful character. However, as an heir of Taeyang Company, Choi Kang-joo has been cursed and he will be dead soon. This is why Jang’s family took this opportunity to take over the wealth of Choi’s family.
Just like any other family drama, Bride of the Century has a melancholy genre which will make you fall into the emotion of the plot and story line. Hong-ki played as a serious character and he nailed it once again. However, when the production of the drama was still ongoing, Hong-ki injured his arm and even got some marks on his face because of the slippery road in a heavy winter. Hong-ki had to take treatment for more than a month because of that. Fortunately, he recovered after that and the production continued.
If you’re curious about how good Hong-ki is when he played as a rich guy, let’s take a look at some moments from when he played as Choi Kang-joo!
What do you think about his acting? He really improved a lot, right? Due to his brilliant acting skills, Bride of the Century had a really good rating in China, and has been aired in some countries outside Korea such as Cambodia, United States, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. Hong-ki did well once again!
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in Modern Farmer
Hong-ki continued with another role after the previous drama, Bride of the Century. On the next drama that he worked on, Modern Farmer, he again played the main character, this time named Lee Min-ki.
Lee Min-ki is just like Hong-ki in real life, he is a vocalist of a rock band. However, unlike FT. Island, the band consists of four members. The name of the band was “Excellent Souls”, and Kang Hyuk, Yoo Han-cheol, and Han Ki-jun were the members. Due to the farmland that Lee Min-ki was given by his late grandmother, the four of them decided to move to the countryside and become farmers.
There, he met Kang Yoon-hee (portrayed by Lee Honey), who happened to be his first love when he was in elementary school. Starting from that day, Excellent Souls faced a lot of funny, yet touching moments with people they met in the countryside.
Modern Farmer is a family drama that has a lot of comedy scenes. Hong-ki’s character, Lee Min-ki, is also represented as someone who is comically stubborn and annoying. In this drama, he showed us his comedic acting with his facial expression and he successfully showed a strong character. Even though Hong-ki didn’t have a serious type of character like before, he still succeeded in making viewer’s heart melt when Lee Min-ki became a gentle guy towards Kang Yoon-hee at some moments.
Let’s take a look at Hong-ki’s appearance on Modern Farmer!
What do you think about his acting skills? He really matched with a silly character, doesn’t he? Hong-ki really knows how to make us laugh!
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in A Korean Odyssey
You won’t get tired of seeing Hong-ki’s character in his next drama, A Korean Odyssey, as P.K. In this series, Hong-ki once again became the fool character who playfully made viewers laugh at his act!
A Korean Odyssey, which also known as “Hwayugi”, is a fantasy drama based on a classical novel from China called “Journey to the West”. Son Oh-gong and Woo Ma-wang looked for a peace and true light in the dark world. P.K is one of Woo Ma-wang’s team, he worked as an artist in Woo Ma-wang’s entertainment company. In “Journey to the West”, P.K represented Zhu Bajie or a pig monster.
Portraying P.K, Lee Hong-ki was praised because of his acting skills. Not only doing the silly gestures, he also did a very on-point expression in each scenes. If this wasn’t Hong-ki, then we might not have seen a better one who portrayed P.K!
Let’s take a look at some moments where Hong-ki portrayed the Korean’s pig monster, P.K!
What do you think about his acting? If you’re curious about the drama and want to know more about Hong-ki’s character, you might as well watch the whole drama since it got such a high responses from viewers!
Lee Hong-ki Appearance in Melting Me Softly
The latest drama where Hong-ki made an appearance was Melting Me Softly, a drama that aired om September 2019, on tvN. This drama has Ji Chang-wook and Won Jin-A as the main actor and actress. Once again, Hong-ki didn’t take part as the big role in this drama. His part was only a cameo that appeared in the year 1999.
Melting Me Softly is a series about a PD of a variety show, Ma Dong-chan (portrayed by Ji Chang-wook), who got involved in a project that froze him for 20 years. It supposed to be only 24 hours, but it turned out to be 20 years instead. Ko Mi-ran (portrayed by Won Jin-ah) came along with him on this project and they both ended up getting frozen. That’s why the timeline of Melting Me Softly was taken in 1999 at the beginning of this drama.
Hong-ki played as Son Hyun-ki, an assistant director who worked with Ma Dong-chan. He adored Ma Dong-chan a lot because Ma Dong-chan produced a big hit variety show before. As a junior, he looked up to Ma Dong-chan a lot and was willing to do anything for him. Hong-ki once again played as a funny and playful character. He was styled as a ’90s guy, with the trademark hair and fashion style.
Let’s take a look at his brief appearance in “Melting Me Softly”!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ptCeoQbRhE
What do you think about his acting? Although he was only doing a cameo appearance, Hong-ki really did a great job once again, right?
Lee Hong-ki Latest News
As a Korean male, just like any other male celebrity, Hong-ki has to say goodbye to his fans for a while, since he was reaching the age limit to serve his country. Before he officially turned 30 years old, Hong-ki joined the military service on September 30, 2019, and fans gathered to accompany him for the last time until his discharge and comeback to the entertainment industry.
In October 2019, after he finished doing the training session, Hong-ki, that has been loved by the fans even after he enlisted to the military service, wrote back to the letters which fans had sent to him. Hong-ki wrote the first letter for fans that wrote to him letters to the military camp. Since he wrote it in the military camp, he surely wrote it with his own handwriting.
He even put his signature at the end of the letter. The fan that got this letter was really lucky!
Next month, after the first letter, on November 1, 2019, Hong-ki continued to write the second letter for Primadonna, or FT. Island fans, who are still patiently waiting for his discharge.
Even in the military camp, he still knows to make us laugh! Hong-ki is really such a caring guy especially, towards the fans. Don’t you agree?
Let’s just hope that Hong-ki will finish his military service and come back safely. Hopefully, after he’s discharged, he will continue to act in various type of dramas. And, of course, comeback with FT. Island as a group. We really can’t wait to see him again. Until that time, please stay happy and healthy Hong-ki!
