Actor Lee Joon-hyuk (40), who successfully took on the romance drama ‘My Perfect Secretary’ at the age of 40, said with a smile, “I‘m grateful that the public ‘likes my work.”

Lee Joon-hyuk recently had an interview to commemorate the end of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama ‘My Perfect Secretary’ at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

‘My Perfect Secretary’ is a drama that depicts the intimate romance between Kang Ji-yoon (Han Ji-min), the CEO of a headhunting company who is good at everything, and Yoo Eun-ho (Lee Joon-hyuk), a secretary who is also good at everything. Lee Joon-hyuk perfectly played the role of ‘single dad’ Yoo Eun-ho in ‘My Perfect Secretary’, adding another life character following ‘Secret Forest’ Seo Dong-jae and ‘The Outlaws 3’ Joo Sung-chul.

On this day, Lee Joon-hyuk said, “I guess my tastes were really minor. I should have done works like this to communicate with the public”, making the set burst into laughter.

He continued, “I’m glad ‘My Perfect Secretary’ did so well. When over 100 staff members and the public relations team come together to create something that doesn‘t exist in the world, and the result connects with the public, I feel like I had a bit of a communication connection. That doesn’t mean that things have to always turn out well to feel that way. However, since the goal of this work is a work with a popular goal, I think it‘s fortunate that what we created suited the public’s taste. Anyway, since I‘m in the position of a cook, I’m very grateful that the public likes it,“ he said.

Asked why he hadn‘t tried the romance genre so far, Lee Joon-hyuk said, ”When I first started acting, there was a trend of ’wanting to do deep acting or genre works.‘ Most actors would have been like that. That’s why I pursued that as well. I myself have a taste for various genres. I really liked Christian Bale, and like that actor, I wanted people to only see the character after watching the play. At the time, Christian Bale said in an interview, ‘I won’t do a melodrama,‘ and I thought that was really cool. I think it’s influenced by the times. These days, there are a lot of young actors who want to do melodrama. I feel that times are changing.“


Lee Joon-hyuk has mainly shown impressive acting in genre works. Why did he suddenly start doing melodramas? He said, “Rather than thinking, ‘I have to do melodramas,’ I tried to portray as many unique characters as possible, but at some point, these characters were no longer unique. Rather, Eun-ho seemed the most unique among them. I think this has an effect on my life. I thought my job was unique, but at some point, I realized that there were only people like that around me, so it wasn’t unique. Rather, to me, a normal friend who works at a company and raises a child, living a very normal life, felt like the most fantasy. I think this script was accepted in a situation where my fantasy about that part was growing.”

‘My Perfect Secretary’ is boasting extraordinary buzz, ranking first in the drama brand reputation rankings in February 2025. When asked if he felt the popularity, Lee Joon-hyuk said, “Actually, I’m just starting my next project, so I’m not sure because I’m focused on that. But what I feel the most is that so many reporters came to see me in person. In fact, for someone like me who doesn‘t go out much, it was a huge deal for him to drive all the way to Samcheong-dong. And the CEO of our company didn’t come to the interview for (the previous work) ‘Dongjae’, but he came this time. It‘s kind of strange when that happens,” he said with a smile.

Regarding the reactions of his friends around him, he said, “It didn’t seem like they were paying that much attention to this one. But when people around me talked about it, they asked me for my autograph. I don‘t think that friend wants to see me kiss, even if I say that much,” making people laugh.

‘My Perfect Secretary’ was originally known as ‘Hello’. With the modifier ‘perfect’ attached, was it difficult to act as Yoo Eun-ho?

Lee Jun-hyuk said, “Eun-ho loses her purpose as the main character after the second episode. Eun-ho quits her job because her child is sick, and her goal is to find a job. But from the second episode, she starts looking for work. Usually, the main character continues to have a purpose, but from that point on, Eun-ho’s character lost her purpose. That‘s why the point after that was really difficult. In my opinion, Eun-ho’s character felt like a supporting role in every scene. When someone has an incident, she reacts to that person and reacts to that person‘s situation, so I thought that this character should be a base without standing out.”


Yoo Eun-ho is Kang Ji-yoon’s secretary and also her lover. Between her official work and her private romance, she has to walk a tightrope.

Lee Jun-hyeok said, “I think that there should be an accurate equivalent exchange when making a drama and releasing it to consumers. Since this is a romance, I have to give the exact fun point at some point. Before that, we need a montage scene that shows what kind of character this character is. At that point, the part that I paid the most attention to so that Eun-ho wouldn‘t feel burdened was the rhythm and humor between the bridges. In some ways, it could be quite cliche, but I thought that in order for our drama to be different, it had to be unconventional between the bridges. I kept paying attention to Eun-ho’s wit. He said, ”If we give that kind of fun to the viewers, they‘ll accept it even if it’s a cliché story.“

Lee Jun-hyuk said, ”There was a scene where he said, “How much do you want them to remember?” We filmed that scene so that Eun-ho‘s pain could be revealed more. The line itself wasn’t like that, but it expressed the line that Eun-ho, the character, couldn‘t cross when she was suddenly in a relationship. When we filmed that part, we all thought that it would be nice if this scene was like an ’adult‘. Rather, we filmed it thinking that it would be nice if they couldn’t act recklessly because they were adults.“

Is it because Yoo Eun-ho is a father that he didn‘t express himself to Kang Ji-yoon actively? Is it because actor Lee Joon-hyuk’s usually shy personality has been incorporated into his acting?

Regarding this part, Lee Joon-hyuk said, ”That‘s definitely Eun-ho. In the works I’ve done so far, there are many characters who actively appeal to women. I can‘t take my tendencies, and when we all create the character of Eun-ho, don’t we make a promise like, ‘This character is this kind of person’? It‘s the result of everyone making a promise and thinking hard so that Eun-ho doesn’t open her eyes too wide and act more aggressively. Personally, if I had to choose my taste, it‘s similar to Eun-ho’s style. When I look at the character Han Sun-soo that I played in ‘The Wives‘ Club’, he gets in a jeep and says, “Should I ride?” But I’m not the type of person to do that. That guy is cool, too,“ he answered honestly.

(Continued from [DA: Interview②])

Kim Seung-hyun, Donga.com Reporter tmdgus@donga.com
Photo | Ace Factory, Studio S, Io Contents Group

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.