Urban and sophisticated image, flawless beauty. The words that used to describe actress Lee Joo-been have now been further enriched by the garments of "lyrical melodrama" and "deep emotion." Lee Joo-been, who delivered a surprising performance in Queen of Tears, became the owner of 400 million cumulative views through Spring Fever and, ahead of her 10th anniversary since debut, has emerged as a "reliable leading actress" that audiences trust.
On the 13th at a cafe in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Lee Joo-been was the very Yoon Bom of Spring Fever. He perfectly embodied a character who appears cold but is endlessly tender inside, making her all the more sympathetic, and she expressed both the sadness of finishing the work and a sense of accomplishment.
Spring Fever recorded 410 million cumulative views in just its fourth week on air, achieving an outstanding result among tvN Monday-Tuesday dramas in 2025. But Lee Joo-been felt greater happiness in the audience reactions she encountered directly on set than in the numbers.
"The figure of 400 million views didn't really sink in at first, but people around me congratulated me saying it was amazing, so it felt real. Above all, at a photo shoot a mother and her daughter gave me their homemade "Dubai jjondeuk cookie" as a gift, and when flight attendants were sad the series had ended, I welled up thinking, 'Ah, so many people really loved our drama.'"
At the center of that popularity was the "big-and-small chemistry" with Ahn Bo-hyun. Lee Joo-been said, "Actor Ahn Bo-hyun was a reliable partner who never said 'that won't work,'" and laughed, "In kiss scenes or embrace scenes that were close to action, he lifted me up and spun me around, and I felt so lucky that I thought, 'this works.'"
For Lee Joo-been, who has steadily built her filmography since her 2017 debut, the weight of the crown called "lead" was heavier than expected. When she chose Spring Fever, she even blamed herself and fell into deep confusion.
"The burden of having to carry a work as the lead was great. I kept blaming myself, asking, 'Am I doing well?' and 'Am I causing harm because I'm lacking?' But I suddenly realized that blaming myself alone for a work that reflects the careers of all the staff and actors is also 'arrogance.' From then on I let go of external greed and focused only on the script and the set. The time I spent questioning and reflecting on myself seemed to ultimately build my confidence as an actor."
Those intense worries were proven through her acting. She paid attention to detail to the extent of proposing to the director that Yoon Bom's emotional line be divided into three stages as she experiences trauma, and she captivated viewers by delicately portraying a gradual change from a colorless, cold image to one where "spring seems to be blooming."
During the interview, Lee Joo-been also cheerfully clarified the "fake news" and misunderstandings surrounding her. In particular, she said there were many inaccuracies in the open dictionary "Namuwiki" and set out to correct them herself.
"I'm not from Gangwon Province but from Gui-dong (laughs). And some of my family live on the U.S. mainland, not in Guam. I've never participated in boxing or taekwondo competitions, so I don't know where those stories came from. During the ID photo misuse case the court contacted me and it was embarrassing, but now I have the composure to think, 'how strangely my photo is used,' knowing my pictures are used in other countries too."
Lee Joo-been, who will soon mark her 10th anniversary since debut next year, says she now has the composure to 'trust the flow of the set and script' instead of the obsession that 'I must not mess up.' Having moved past the urban glamour of Queen of Tears to the lyrical romance of Spring Fever, she now dreams of professional-genre works or action that throws her body into the role.
"Beyond the work itself, I think I can do activities or schedules that bring me closer to fans. I might do variety shows or fan meetings, and I have plans to pay attention to activities beyond acting."<
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