~ ♥ My Life ♥ ~: All About Lee Min Ho

Lee Min Ho (Korean: 이민호) is a South Korean actor who is best known for his leading role as the leader of F4, Goo Joon Pyo, in the Korean adaptation of the popular manga series, Hana Yori Dango, titled Boys Over Flowers, in 2009.

His acting debut was in 2005, in MBC's Love Hymn, appearing as a minor character. His first lead role came in 2007, starring as Cha Gong Chan in SBS's Mackerel Run, an 8-part high-school drama.

However, his first big career break came when he was announced to be part of the Korean F4 on October 2, 2008. He was successful in getting the biggest role as F4's leader, Tsukasa Domyouji, from the manga Hana Yori Dango; his character was renamed Goo Joon Pyo in the Korean version, and he stars alongside the actress Koo Hye Sun, Kim Bum and SS501's Kim Hyun Joong. The drama first aired on January 5, 2009 on KBS as a Monday-Tuesday miniseries.

The role of Goo Joon Pyo catapulted him to fame, and led to many endorsements including Levi's Signature, LG Telecom, Samsung Anycall, Trugen, Market O, Cadillac CTS, Samsung, Cass Beer, Etude House, Pepsi and Dunkin Donuts.

Lee Min Ho's Childhood Photos Walk-through

As with his rapidly rising popularity,many fans are getting curious by the day how the childhood of the leading man from the popular KBS “Boys Before Flowers”, Lee Min Ho, is like. IS PLUS has exclusively got hold of some childhood photos of Lee Min Ho, along with descriptions of them. In addition, Lee Min Ho’s mother will be giving interesting narrations on Lee Min Ho’s childhood in a 5-part daily articles, beginning from the 16th.

From Lee Min Ho’s Mom

Young Lee Min Ho (0 - 4 years old)

I had a dream when I was bearing Min Ho, the dream scene is a plateau of chilli ground. Although the hospital did not gave me the sex of my child, but since having that dream, I was confident that it should be a son. I don’t normally like to eat meat, but for some strange reasons, I liked it alot during my pregnancy period. I ate beef every four days and now Lee Min Ho’s favourite dish is chilli with beef.

Min Ho was 3.2kg when he was born, a little lighter than the average newborn babies. His health was toward the weaker side from young till his elementary school stage. His Bronchus had some problems, therefore he is prone to cold whenever the season changes. And also, no matter how much food he ate, he just couldn’t get fat. I’m of blood type A, his body and personalities are very similar to me.

He doesn’t eat alot, nutritional tonics were given to him almost every season. We gave him a lot of food just like what others did to their child but he just can’t grow fat. He was always very shy with strangers and very sensitive. Therefore, I always had to carry him around and coax him.

Min Ho is especially beautiful when young. His eyes were bigger than his elder sister, his nose was high as well. The earliest signs showing his talent of being an actor was during young, due of his eloquence. Although his sister is fluent in her speech, Min Ho had learned to talk much earlier. When he was still in his infancy stage, he could quickly detect moving objects. The very first time he called “mom” was also about 3 to 4 months faster than an average child.

~ One Year Old Birthday ~

Lee Min Ho is only slightly taller than the average child when he was young. He isn’t really very tall. But as he grew up, he became much taller. His physique became better as well. This photo was taken at a banquet hall in Seoul. Young Min Ho who was only one year old at that time, was not interested in any of the food placed on the table. Instead, he wanted a mouthful of cola-flavoured ice-cream which his sister was eating that time.

~ Two years old ~

On the home bed

When he was young, we all called Min Ho “sudden blink”. The main reason was because due to his large eyes, it was very cute when his eyes blink continuously. Before Christmas, “little Min Ho” sat on the bed.

~ Five years old ~
Waiting to eat the cake that his father had brought,
with his sister

Min Ho had a very good relationship with his sister. The number of arguments they had were really countable. This day, they posed on the table with the cake that their father had bought.

~ Six years old ~

Tour to Chung Pyung with family

As with his role in “Boys Before Flowers”, Lee Min Ho in real life doesn’t know how to swim either. He was very timid during young and everytime, the whole family has to encourage and coax him, before he will play in the water. Only after several assurance from his mom and sister did young Lee Min Ho decided to play in the water, but with his life-jacket and sunglasses on.

~ Seven years old ~

Birthday at kindergarten

Min Ho is very shy, I had never dreamt of him becoming an actor one day. Even the song that he sang during his kindergarden birthday party was also after several practice at home with mom. Even though Min Ho was very shy when he was young, but he met plenty of friends when he progressed to middle school. He became more extrovert from then on.

~ Nine years old ~

Grade 2, camping behind the school compound

During his elementary education, Min Ho learned soccer and started to like mountain climbing and playing around in the fields. During summer, he liked to catch insects.

~ Eighteen years old ~

High school graduation ceremony

Beginning from middle school stage, Min Ho is already very handsome and also enjoyed a high popularity among guy and girl friends. Even his sister’s friends called him “Yun Kyung’s ‘pretty boy’ brother”. He began his acting career when he was in his second year in high school. Although his looks is roughly the same as now, but he had pimples popping out as and when during that period.

Lee Min Ho’s Childhood Story Part 2

Nearly Became A Lost Child

This is a continuation to my previous article on Lee Min Ho’s childhood where his mother narrates on the interesting events and little details about Lee Min Ho when he was young. Pretty interesting I think. This second part will have the timeline set at 5 to 9 years old and also contained Min Ho’s missing act when he was five. And by the way, are you able to spot young Lee Min Ho from the photo above?

Description from Lee Min Ho's Mom

Lee Min Ho ( 5 to 9 years old )

Min Ho loved to read the newspaper. He first started learning Hangul from the colourful advertisements printed on the newspapers.

Min Ho who was enthusiastic towards reading newspaper, cultivated a habit to read the commentary articles on the children newspaper and daily papers when he entered elementary school. He could do addition and subtraction very fast and had a very good memory. Even the multiplication table and Hanja didn’t trouble him at all.

During his lower elementary school stage, he was shy child that didn’t like to stand in front of everyone. Despite this, he enjoyed a high popularity and had acquainted many friends. Since kindergarten, Min Ho has been very popular among girls.

Compared to other children of the same age, Min Ho was always half a head taller than them. Even when placed beside children with fair features, Min Ho’s appearance was still very prominent and stood out among them. Whenever the season changes, the little girls who played with Min Ho will also change accordingly. There were even fights among them because some girls wanted to gain exclusiveness to Min Ho.

After learning Taekwondo, his body became muscular. Nobody in the school dared to pick a fight with him. Min Ho once harbor the aim to be a famous soccer player. He had played four years of soccer under coach Cha Bum Kun’s Youth soccer team. With this as a basis, Min Ho who was previously weaker gradually became a sports athlete. He also met a lot of new friends, which eventually shaped his positive attitude personality.

When he was five, Min Ho nearly became a lost child. Even till now, discussions on “whether little Min Ho is scared at that time”, are still a common topic among the family members. It was only a short moment before Min Ho roamed around the playground and eventually went missing. Luckily, there was a little tag on his wrist that wrote his house address and his name. The citizens around that area sent him back home. Till now, the incident still sends a shiver down my spine whenever I thought of it.

Lee Min Ho’s Childhood Story Part 3

School Life

This is the third part of Lee Min Ho’s childhood story which focuses on his 10 to 15 years old period. It talks about Lee Min Ho’s elementary and middle school period and his eventual step into the entertainment circle.

Description from Lee Min Ho’s Mom

Lee Min Ho (10 to 15 years old)

After Min Ho entered elementary school, videos and computer games were his only focus. If I did not reprimand him, he would be thinking of playing games all day long. Min Ho’s dad played the kind role, while I had no choice but to be the strict mum.

Min Ho is thrifty. Although our family was not wealthy, we tried our best not to disappoint our children and gave them about 100 thousand won as pocket money each time. Min Ho didn’t spend every single cent away. Instead, he deposited them into his savings account. Due to his inward personality, he would sometimes give carnations during Parents’ Day and disappear immediately after saying “Mom, please wear it”.

After learning soccer from coach Cha Bum Kun, Min Ho’s physique improved all of a sudden. His sports (lesson) was often an “A”. His mathematics was also kept consistently above 90 marks. During his first and second year in the middle school, his height increased at an astounding rate. In fact, he isn’t much taller now compared to then.

During his elementary education, the thought of becoming an actor one day didn’t even crossed his mind but after he was promoted to the middle school, he was often approached by star scouts. Those managers would often say: “Please come to find me if you wish to be an artiste.” As such, Min Ho received a lot of name cards. In the beginning, we shrugged the idea off as we thought he did not have the qualities to be one.

However, as the number of such occurrences increased, Min Ho also started to go for auditions and meet some managers. When he returned home, he would put it simply: “Mom, I went for an audition today. It was very interesting.” His began to harbor the dream of becoming an actor.

During his middle and high school, he liked Sol Kyung Gu and Kim Soo Roh respectively and often mentioned that he wanted to become actors like them.

According to rumours, Kim Soo Roh gave his mother an apple crate full of 10000 won notes after he became famous. Min Ho then often said to us: “If I’m able to rise in popularity in the entertainment circle, I will give dad and mom an even more precious gift.”