In Lee Jung Eun’s Time of Need as a Struggling Actress, Three Generous Actors Lent Her a Large Sum of Money

In light of Lee Jung Eun‘s recent win of the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in Parasite, her past confession of three actors that helped her in a time of need resurfaced in online communities.

Lee Jung Eun was a struggling actress until she was 40 years old, and worked all sorts of part-time jobs in order to make ends meet.

In a recent interview, Lee Jung Eun revealed that when she barely made 200,000 won (~$170 USD) in a year, she called up a few of her fellow actors for help.

19 years ago, I didn’t have enough money, so I called Shin Ha Kyun, Woo Hyun, and Ji Jin Hee for help, and they generously lent me money. I borrowed 50 million won (~$43,000 USD) from them.

– Lee Jung Eun

Lee Jung Eun added that she thought she could pay them back quickly, but that it took her 13 years to do so.

She even explained what she did so that she could express her gratitude to her fellow colleagues.

I wrote down their names on a piece of paper. Just in case I died away from home, I kept their names with me so that my mother or father could express my gratitude instead.

– Lee Jung Eun

Fans responded to this gesture in awe with comments such as “That’s a lot of money, so it’s impressive they lent it to her so willingly” and “It’s also impressive that Lee Jung Eun kept their names with her for such a long time“.