K-pop singer and actress Lee Hye-ri on why her new film role, in Victory, was ‘intense’

The seasoned entertainer reveals why acting in Victory was ‘like preparing for a concert tour’, as she wins a rising star award in New York

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Lee Hye-ri at the 2024 New York Asian Film Festival, where Victory, in which she has the lead role, had its world premiere and the actress won the Asia rising star award. Photo: Raymond Tisch

Published: 6:15pm, 27 Jul 2024

Lee Hye-ri, also known as Hyeri, is one of South Korea’s most popular performers and a show business veteran who branched out into television and movies after starting out in K-pop group Girl’s Day.

Lee sat down for an interview with the Post while she was in New York for the world premiere of comedy drama movie Victory at the 2024 New York Asian Film Festival. In the movie she plays a problem student whose fortunes change when she helps form a cheerleading team.

Lee won a rising star Asia award at the festival, despite having already been a household name in Korea for many years through acting in TV shows such as Reply 1988 (2015) and My Roommate Is a Gumiho (2021).

These days, Lee also has a powerful social media presence, with 9.1 million Instagram followers and a YouTube channel with over 200 videos in which she travels, tries trendy restaurants, visits design shops, interviews guests, offers fashion advice and more.

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Lee was 16 when she joined Girl’s Day, and enjoyed success with the group as their songs “Twinkle, Twinkle” and “Expect” sold millions of copies, and the 2014 hit “Darling” topped Korean music charts.

“I started out as a singer, an artist, around the time I was 16,” she says. “Most of the singers who were around the same age took a long time to get to the point where they could debut. They spent a long time as trainees.