Lee Jung-jae to Launch Beauty Brand After Year Away From Filming

Actor Lee Jung-jae says serious skin problems kept him from working this year. That break, he explained, is what led him to launch a cosmetics brand.

Lee shared the update in a short video posted to his social media on Nov. 13. "It's been a while," he said. "Today is already Nov. 13. 2026 has already gone by. How have you all been?"

He said his skin got much worse starting last fall. "I wanted to work hard this year on films and dramas, but my skin got really bad starting last fall," he said. "It got so serious that I couldn't film at all. So I was forced to take this whole year off."

The unplanned time off turned into a chance to build something new. Lee said he wanted to make products he could use together with people who struggle with skin problems the way he did.

The launch is close, and he admitted to feeling anxious about it. "There are only a few days left until the launch, so I'm really nervous," he said. "It feels like a movie is about to open."

Lee also said his team talked about sharing photos of his skin from when it was at its worst. The idea was to explain why he started the business in the first place.

"My staff told me that if Lee Jung-jae suddenly launched cosmetics, fans and the public would probably think, 'Why is Lee Jung-jae launching cosmetics all of a sudden?'" he said.

"They suggested releasing photos to show how bad my skin problems were in the past, but I told them absolutely not," he added. Showing his skin in that condition felt like too much, he explained.

He hasn't fully closed the door, though. "Thinking it over, it could give hope to people who had it as bad as I did that they can get better too," he said. "So I'm going to think about it for a few more days."

Artist Company, the agency where Lee is the largest shareholder, is working with TikTok on a brand business built around actors' intellectual property (IP). Its first project is a beauty brand that Lee is helping plan and develop. The company plans to release it in the fourth quarter of this year.

For an actor who lost a full year of work to his skin, the new brand is more than a side project. It turns a personal struggle into his next public role.