Lee Junho on “Cashero,’ ‘Veteran 3,’ New Music & More

Lee Jun-ho celebrated his birthday earlier this week by offering his fans a gift: a new single.

“So far it seems like the fans are really, really enjoying it,” he says of “Four Seasons (Always),” which he released on Monday. He debuted the ballad live during his two-day fan meeting “Stunning Us,” where he performed and shared anecdotes from his recent acting projects. 

“My fan meeting was also a birthday party,” says the performer, who uses the mononym Junho, who turned 36 on Sunday. “So the highlight was being able to celebrate my birthday with four to five thousand of my fans.”

It’s morning in Seoul, a couple days after the release, and the actor-musician is sipping an iced Starbucks drink from his office at O3 Collective, the creative agency that he founded last summer. A week earlier, he was in Paris to attend a cocktail party celebrating Berluti‘s new men’s collection and campaign during Fashion Week. 

“As their ambassador, I spent some valuable time learning about the brand’s history, its origins as well as some of their deeply meaningful stories,” he says. “Even though it was a short trip, I had a very fulfilling experience.”

Fashion played a central role in Junho’s approach to his two recent Netflix series, “Typhoon Family” and “Cashero.” The leading actor sourced and supplied personal pieces for both projects, and approaches costuming as a shorthand into showcasing his characters’ personality.

In “Typhoon Family,” set during Korea’s major financial crisis in the late ’90s, Junho stars as a young free-spirited CEO attempting to save the family business. The character is part of the “Orange Tribe,” a nepo-baby youth culture that arose from the Apgujeong neighborhood. “I put a lot of effort into bringing the character of an Apgujeong playboy to life by portraying he is a trendsetter who is fashionably conscious,” says Junho of the sartorial period.

In superhero-action series “Cashero,” physical coins cascade off his character, as payment for using his strength superpower. “I actually had to wear a device that would portray coins actually falling off my body when I would press a button while wearing a cropped hoodie and baggy clothes,” he says. “The hoodie was also great to wear as a superhero because I had to cover my face.”

Both series arrived on Netflix two years after his blockbuster romantic K-drama “King the Land,” and the three projects have brought his work to a larger global audience and minted him as a Netflix star. “It takes about one year to film a project,” Junho says. “So being able to show the work I’ve put so much effort into to a global audience is truly a wonderful and fulfilling experience as an actor.”

While “Typhoon Family” saw him taking on a “bad boy” persona, his next project places him firmly in the villain role for the first time. Junho is preparing to film “Veteran 3,” the third installment of a highly popular action-comedy franchise.  

“The character is honestly just a bad guy. Someone no one could ever love,” he says of his character n the film. “I was especially interested in the overall process that I would have to go through as an actor to prepare for this role. So right now, I’m in the stage of repeatedly reading the script and building the character step-by-step.”

“Veteran 3” also marks a full-circle moment for Junho, who made his acting debut in 2013 with the film “Cold Eyes.” “I’m feeling incredibly excited about returning to the big screen,” he adds.

Junho, who began his career as a member of K-pop boy band 2PM in 2008, has continued to cultivate a music career in tandem with his acting work. 

“The boundaries between singers acting and actors making music have become much more fluid,” he says. “I believe that if you’re able to do both music and acting, continuing to pursue both is the best choice.”

So far, that’s what he’s done. Although he hasn’t released a full solo album since 2019 — shortly before his mandatory military enlistment — he’s continued to perform and tour with 2PM and as a solo artist, with single releases along the way. Last year, he merged both practices when he recorded the opening theme song for “Typhoon Family.”

“Honestly, I don’t have any new music scheduled to be released at the moment,” he says, asked if there might be more music on the way after the release of “Always” — and that he is “always working on music at all times.” “If the timing feels right — like if I think this is a moment when I can release or share a song — I might suddenly share it with my fans,” he says. 

And with the support of O3 Collective, Junho has the agency to shape his creative choices moving forward — and, hopefully, help other artists wanting to do the same.

“Right now, it may look like a one-person agency since I am the only artist, but I never originally intended it to be that way,” Junho says of the idea behind O3. “I started this company because I wanted to take greater responsibility for my work, and to give myself the space to seriously reflect on what kinds of projects and activities I want to pursue moving forward,” he adds. “And if the opportunity arrives in the future — if there are artists who share a similar mindset and vision — I’d love to bring them on board.”