| Fashion model-turned actress Stephanie Lee / Courtesy of YG KPLUS |
This is the third in a series of interviews on Korea's leading models. — Ed.
By Kim Jae-heun
A fashion model-turned-actress Stephanie Lee has never let go of her ethnic identity as a Korean despite spending half her life in America.
Even after she debuted with one of the world's top chain modeling agency, Elite Model Management based in New York, and shot with a number of global designers for a year, Lee decided to work in Korea
"For me, Korea was an escape zone," said the 21-year old model in an interview with The Korea Times at the YG KPLUS office in Sinsa-dong, Seoul, on May 27. "I had a fantasy about Korea. I was an outsider back in the U.S. and I felt more connected to Korea."
Lee was born in Michigan in the U.S., but her family moved back to Korea right after she was born. Until the age of 11, she attended public school like a typical Korean girl. It was then when her family decided to return to the U.S. to pursue family business and education for their children. Lee, a Korean-American who did not speak English at all, came to live in the island town of Rockport, outside of Boston, Mass, where she was the only Asian at her school.
Lee attributes her success in modeling to the food she ate there. By the time Lee turned 14, she had grown to be 177 centimeters tall.
"I think the food I ate in the States made me tall. I wasn't super tall when I was in Korea. I ate so little and I was rather skinny. But, when I went back to States, the food was amazing, like hamburgers, pizza and everything. My genes obviously played a huge role, too," Lee said.
Lee was given business cards by modeling agency scouts both in Korea and the U.S. because of her height, but she never thought about becoming a professional model. Back then, she would watch a lot of Korean dramas, such as "Princess Hours" or "Gung" in Korean, with her Korean friends from church. A standard beauty to her friends was Korean actress Kim Tae-hee. Lee's friends only told Lee she was tall, but not pretty.
Then, it was the model reality survival show, "America's Next Top Model" that gave her self-esteem in her looks and gave her the courage to become a model.
"I thought I would be like an alien standing next to them, and could never dream to become a model, but when I saw them, they were kind of similar to me. So I was like, maybe I can try," Lee said.
Lee went to New York and visited Elite Model Management. Lee knew nothing about how to become a model, nor had she been preparing to become one. But, she signed a contract with the agency right away.
"Debuting with Elite Model Management was the grand prize of America's Next Top Model. It was the only agency that I knew. And I just went there and asked ‘I want to be a model, how do I do it?' And they said, ‘OK, I will show you how. You can sign here,' and I said OK," Lee recalled.
Elite agency dressed her up at the back of their office and checked her body size. Lee's innate body proportion also amazed Tyra Banks, who was one of the world's top-earning models in the early 2000s as an original "Angel" member of the lingerie brand "Victoria's Secret." Banks debuted as a fashion photographer back then and asked Lee to be her model, which prompted Elite agents to hurry signing a contract with the Korean rookie model.
Lee began working as a model on that day and followed a successful path onto the global stage. But her Korean roommate, Lee Hye-jung, who is also a popular female model now with the Esteem agency, woke up American Lee's longing for her motherland.
"Watching her interact with the Korean market just made me feel like I am Korean too, why can't I do that? And she helped me get to Korea," Lee said.
Lee's exotic look of Asian-looking facial features with Western body proportions and height put her into a top model position instantly as she debuted in Korea. Her international image provided her a chance to reach out to the public, when she shot a commercial for American skin care brand "Neutrogena." The brand was looking for a model with an international background and look, and that perfectly suited Lee. The fashion model's strong American accent in the commercial caught the audience's attention and went viral online, giving her the nickname "Neutrogena girl."
"People in Korea and in America find different charms in me. Koreans like me for a global and international look and some Asian essence, but in the eyes of Western people, I look totally Asian with some Western-style features," Lee said. "I would say Asian look refers to having a small eye, small nose and other parts of body features that are comparatively small to that of Westerners, which may come attractive to them."
Lee picked her energy and bright personality as her appeals apart from the appearance. And she believes modeling is a job that can best show her charms.
"Modeling is a job with a scent. Every model has his or her scent and characteristic that they expose to the public. Modeling allows me to find my charms within myself rather than invent one because a model is a selling item. I also found many ‘scents' of mine through modeling," Lee said.
Lee now sees her future acting in drama and movies. She regrets eating too much when she was young in America, so that she could have stopped growing.
"I think I would have been successful even if I was little shorter. I prefer to be 173, because it is not so tall or huge. I never really thought about my height when I was a model, but now I am transferring to an actress and it does affect me. I sometimes regret eating all the pizzas and spaghettis that I ate," Lee said.
Lee has been seen on drama series called "Sunam Girls High School Investigators" on cable TV network JTBC that ended on March 17. She plans on appearing in a new TV drama in the near future.