Clara Lee

Clara Lee (Korean: 클라라 리; born 14 January 1985)^[1], birth name Lee Sung-min (이성민) and better known by her mononym Clara, is a British and South Korean actress and model.^[2]

Clara was born January 14, 1985 in Bern to Korean parents. Her father is Lee Seung-kyu, a member of the bilingual band Koreana.^[3] She spent part of her childhood in South Korea. Clara's mother reportedly encouraged her to pursue a career in acting. At the age of 14, she relocated to California, United States, to learn English, where she lived for six years separate from her parents. She later earned an associate degree in Fashion Design from El Camino College.^[4]

Clara 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.^[5]

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.^[6] She has since been hailed as an up-and-coming star and a sex symbol.^[7][8] 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.^[9][10] 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).^{[11][12][13][14]}

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.^[15] In July 2015, prosecutors cleared Clara of the blackmail allegations and indicted Lee for making threats against her that implied physical violence.^{[16][17][18][19]}

On 18 September 2015 Clara dropped her suit against Polaris Entertainment, bringing their legal battle to an end.^[20]

After 2015, Clara shifted her focus toward the Chinese film industry, where she gained increasing recognition. She starred in the romantic comedy Some Like It Hot (2016), which was a major box-office success in China.^[21] Clara subsequently appeared in several other Chinese-language films, including the action thriller Bodies at Rest (2019) and the science fiction blockbuster The Wandering Earth 2 (2023).^[22]

In 2024, Clara was awarded with the Best Actress in Asian Film and Outstanding Actress in Asian Film awards at the Asia International Film Festival (AIFF) for her work in Chinese-language productions.^[23]

In January 2019, she announced her marriage to a Korean-American businessman.^[24][25] The couple divorced in August 2025.^[26]

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