Lee Gi-kwang

The guy who debuted twice

Lee Gi-kwang walked into the rehearsal room at Cube Entertainment when K-pop was not yet a global phenomenon. In 2009 he debuted solo as AJ because the company wanted a profile similar to American pop stars of the era. That first attempt lasted barely a few months (a record even by Seoul standards).

The industry is that cold.

Shortly after, the company decided to bring him into the group Beast. That was when his career took a different direction, as he combined music with television for the first time. In 2009 he shot High Kick Through the Roof, and producers found that his memory was better than the average for idols of his generation.

And then came the name change.

In 2017, the group changed its name to Highlight after a legal dispute over the rights to the former brand. This independent phase forced Gi-kwang to choose his projects with surgical precision to keep the group relevant. The group's financial survival depended on its members' individual contracts on the small screen.

Science Fiction as a Refuge

Before fulfilling his mandatory military service, he looked for roles that would move him away from the image of a teen heartthrob. In 2017 he agreed to take part in Circle (a science fiction production split into two parallel timelines). His performance as Lee Ho-soo required an emotional restraint that Korean critics didn't expect from an artist trained on music stages.

Because acting on television requires body control that's different from dancing.

That series was a technical turning point. Gi-kwang had to shoot scenes in front of green screens for weeks, and that improved his sense of space on set. But the real test came in 2018 with Lovely Horribly, where he played a production director who can see ghosts.

Filming 2018 was exhausting because of the night shoots on location.

The return of 2024

After a forced break due to his duties to the state, he returned to acting with a more analytical mindset. In 2024 he appeared in Marry My Husband, playing Baek Eun-ho (a chef who represents the lead character's first love). The role required him to learn basic professional cooking techniques so his movements on screen would look natural.

So she spent hours practicing knife handling between takes.

The 2024 production drew massive ratings outside South Korea thanks to distribution on global streaming platforms. Gi-kwang decided his priority would be alternating strong supporting roles with his work as a mentor on talent shows. His fee per episode rose 20% after the international success of that latest series.

On the set of Marry My Husband in 2024, the crew used up to three different locations to recreate the character's restaurant.