Twenty years into acting, Lee Je-hoon is looking back at the roles that built his career while already considering what should come next.
The South Korean actor will return to the Philippines on November 7 for the Manila leg of Our 20th Moment, his fan-meeting tour celebrating his 20th anniversary in the industry.
The event will be held at the World Trade Center Tent in Pasay City, according to promoter All Access Productions. Ticket prices and other ticketing details have yet to be announced.
The anniversary comes months after Lee completed the third season of Taxi Driver, one of the projects most closely associated with him.
Reflecting on his career after the series, Lee described his years with Taxi Driver as his most memorable period and said he hoped to find another work that could become similarly representative of him. He also spoke about how the projects he chooses over the next five to 10 years could shape his filmography.
Lee began acting in 2006, initially taking smaller screen roles before gaining attention through film. His performance in the 2011 independent movie Bleak Night became an early breakthrough, followed by The Front Line that same year. The 2012 romantic film Architecture 101 brought him wider mainstream recognition.
His television career later included Signal, Where Stars Land and Move to Heaven, followed by Taxi Driver, which debuted in 2021.
As Kim Do-gi, Lee played a former special forces officer working for the clandestine Rainbow Taxi service, which intervenes on behalf of victims failed by conventional avenues of justice. The role frequently required him to assume different undercover personas, moving between action, drama and comedy throughout the series.
After three seasons, Lee has indicated that he is already thinking beyond Kim Do-gi. In interviews this year, he spoke about continuing to create, developing stories and studying directing, although he has not announced a specific directing project.
His November trip will also continue a Philippine connection that predates Taxi Driver.
In 2015, Lee participated in Oxfam Korea’s LOVE Challenge. Oxfam Korea confirms his involvement in Philippine recovery efforts related to Typhoon Haiyan and his subsequent appointment as an ambassador for the organization.
Contemporaneous Korean reporting said Lee met communities affected by Typhoons Yolanda and Ruby and participated in mangrove rehabilitation in Bantayan, Cebu. Some later Philippine reports have identified Palawan when referring to the earlier trip, while Oxfam’s own profile does not specify a Philippine location. The humanitarian work itself is therefore the more firmly established detail.
Lee returned under markedly different circumstances in March 2023, when he held his first solo Philippine fan meeting, Vacation: Lee Je Hoon Fan Meet in Manila, at the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City.
By then, Signal, Move to Heaven and Taxi Driver had introduced him to a broad Filipino audience.
Three years later, Lee is coming back not simply with another drama to promote, but with two decades of work to revisit.
Our 20th Moment has expanded across Asia as an anniversary tour built around Lee’s career and his relationship with fans. Manila now joins that itinerary as he considers what the next stage of his work might look like.
Across 20 years, Lee has moved from independent cinema to mainstream films, television dramas and a three-season franchise. Yet his own comments suggest he is not treating the anniversary as a culmination.
He is still looking for the next role—or project—that could matter just as much.