How Lee Tae-ran Relates to Motherhood: Insights from Her Emotional Role in ‘Pink Lipstick’
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On TV Chosun’s Sikgaek: Heo Young-man’s Baekban Journey, actress Lee Tae-ran said she empathized with a mother’s plight.
On the April 12 broadcast of TV Chosun’s Sikgaek: Heo Young-man’s Baekban Journey (hereafter Baekban Journey), Lee visited Hongseong to sample the region’s traditional fare.
When Lee arrived, a local resident laughed, “You looked so mean on TV,” referring to the strong impression she left as the rare villain Go Seong-hee in KBS2’s drama Glorious Days.
A 30-year veteran, Lee recalled her early days: after graduating high school she worked in an office by day and pursued small acting roles at night. She even appeared as an extra behind Lee Jung-jae in the 1994 film A Young Man, though her striking looks didn’t go unnoticed.
Best known for playing warm, good-hearted characters in series such as The Famous Chilgongju and Wang’s Family, Lee said taking on the antagonist in Glorious Days marked a deliberate image shift.
“Playing a villain was unfamiliar and not easy,” she said. “It was a role I’d never tried before, and the sheer volume of lines was exhausting. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it — and winning awards made the effort feel worthwhile.”
Lee returned to the theater after a 21-year absence and is currently starring in the play Pink Lipstick. She described the production as a family drama about reconciliation, in which a daughter-in-law comes to understand a mother-in-law with dementia as a fellow woman.
“There’s a scene where she’s heartbroken because of her son and screams in private,” Lee said. “Every time she cries, it’s heartbreaking. Even though I don’t have children, I deeply understand a mother’s feelings.”
Lee married entrepreneur Shin Seung-hwan, her peer, in March 2014. The couple have no children.
Kim Eun-jung, TenAsia reporter
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