Clara
Lee in 2017.
Born	Lee Sung-min (1985-01-15) 15 January 1985 Switzerland
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Alma mater	El Camino College
Occupations	Actress model
Years active	2005–present
Agent	CL ENM
Spouse	Samuel Hwang (m. 2019)
Parent	Lee Seung-kyu (father)
Korean name
Hangul	클라라
Revised Romanization	Keulrara
McCune–Reischauer	K'ŭllara
Birth name
Hangul	이성민
Hanja	李成敏
Revised Romanization	I Seong-min
McCune–Reischauer	I Sŏng-min

Clara Lee (Korean: 클라라 리; born Lee Sung-min (Korean: 이성민) on 14^[1] January 1985), better known by her mononym Clara, is an actress and model based in South Korea.^[2]

Career

Clara (born Lee Sung-Min，이성민, 李成敏) made her entertainment debut under her birth name in 2005 and starred in her first film in 2009, Five Senses of Eros. In January 2012, she adopted Clara as her stage name, which was announced at a press conference for the drama series, Take Care of Us, Captain. Reasons given for the name change included that her birth name, Sung-min, was "male-sounding" and that her English name had always been Clara.^[3]

In May 2013, Clara became an overnight sensation online after throwing a ceremonial first pitch in a professional baseball game dressed in form-fitting leggings.^[4] She has since been hailed as an up-and-coming star and a sex symbol.^[5][6] In September 2013, Clara drew criticism from South Korean netizens for apparently contradicting herself on television by saying she liked to eat chicken and drink beer in one program and stating the contrary in another. Consequently, she closed down her Twitter and Facebook accounts.^[7][8] Afterwards, she again played supporting roles in the television series Goddess of Marriage (2013) and Emergency Couple (2014), followed by a leading role in the sex comedy film Casa Amor: Exclusive for Ladies (2015).^{[9][10][11][12]}

In December 2014, she filed a lawsuit against her agency Polaris Entertainment to nullify her contract on the grounds of being sexually harassed by its president Lee Kyu-tae; Polaris denied those allegations and countered that Clara had been blackmailing the agency to end her contract which is due to expire in 2018.^[13] In July 2015, prosecutors cleared Clara of the blackmail allegations and indicted Lee for making threats against her that implied physical violence.^{[14][15][16][17]}

On 18 September 2015 Clara dropped her suit against Polaris Entertainment, bringing their legal battle to an end.^[18]

Personal life

Clara is the daughter of singer Lee Seung-kyu, a former member of the bilingual band, Koreana.^[19] She was born in Switzerland, educated in the United States, and now based in South Korea.^[2] Clara is a British citizen.^[2]

In January 2019, she announced her marriage to a Korean-American businessman.^[20][21]

Controversy

The actress admitted “having lied several times in an attempt to cover up past lies.” She had appeared on Korea’s version of Saturday Night Live and was reprimanded by the host of the show, top comedian Shin Dong-yup. She apologized by saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” to the host of her past dishonesty.^[22]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Media related to Clara Lee at Wikimedia Commons
• Clara on Facebook
• Clara on Cyworld (in Korean)
• Clara at HanCinema
• Clara at IMDb