Ruan (ルアン) (루안)

When JTBC's *Rookie Chairman Kang* climbed from a 3.8 percent debut to 8.2 percent viewership within four episodes in mid-2026, much of the attention landed on Lee Jun-young — the performer at the center of its soul-swap premise, playing a young soccer player whose body is occupied by the consciousness of a 72-year-old chaebol chairman. The rating made it the highest-performing JTBC weekend drama of the year to that point, and it marked a significant moment in Lee Jun-young's ongoing pivot from K-pop to acting. Known by the stage name Ruan (ルアン / 루안), and previously under his given stage identity within the boy group U-KISS, he has built a parallel career in Korean television that has grown steadily in scale and public profile.

From Idol to Actor

Lee Jun-young first came to public attention as a member of U-KISS, the long-running South Korean boy group. His transition into acting followed a path comparable to peers he has cited by name — Im Si-wan, Do Kyung-soo, and Park Ji-hoon — idol-turned-actors whose dramatic careers eventually eclipsed or ran alongside their music work. In a 2026 appearance on the YouTube series *Guerrilla Ha Ji-young*, Lee spoke openly about that trajectory, expressing hope that more artists from idol backgrounds would find similar footing in the acting world.

His own footing was consolidated through a role in the Netflix series *You Have Done Well*, in which he played the boyfriend of IU's character — a high-visibility part that drew considerable audience attention and introduced him to a viewer base beyond the U-KISS fanbase.

Rookie Chairman Kang

The JTBC drama *Rookie Chairman Kang*, which premiered in late May 2026, became the most discussed chapter of Lee Jun-young's acting career to date. He plays Hwang Jun-hyun, a promising young footballer whose body becomes the vessel for the soul of Kang Yong-ho, an elderly chaebol chairman played by Son Hyun-joo, after a collision leaves both men's consciousnesses displaced. The role required Lee to carry the physical and psychological presence of an aged, politically seasoned figure while inhabiting a young man's body — a dual register that critics and audiences noted as a test of range.

The drama's viewership numbers tracked the response. The premiere registered 3.8 percent nationally. By the third episode, that figure had risen to 6.7 percent, already the highest for a JTBC 2026 weekend drama. The fourth episode reached 8.2 percent. Coverage attributed the upward momentum in part to Lee's performance, with particular notice given to how he balanced tonal shifts between the comedic and the dramatic within a single character. The narrative extended into overseas settings from episode five onward, where Lee's character — alongside those played by Lee Joo-myung and Lee Sung-wook — pursued a contract critical to the Choi Sung Group succession battle at the center of the plot.

Lee Sung-wook's supporting role as Park Bong-gi, a character described as Hwang Jun-hyun's unlikely helper, drew its own coverage for adding comic texture to the series, with reviews noting that the interplay between the two actors contributed to the drama's tonal energy.

Activities Beyond Drama

Alongside the *Rookie Chairman Kang* run, Lee Jun-young appeared on the variety program *Please Take Care of My Refrigerator* in May 2026, where he disclosed that during one period he had eaten only instant ramen every day for two weeks — a confession that circulated widely and contributed to his visible presence in general entertainment coverage that month.

He also appeared on a travel-format program, *Narrow Mountain Path*, alongside actor Kim Ha-neul, framed around a generational gap of eighteen years between the two participants.

Standing

Lee Jun-young occupies a position that is still consolidating. His music career with U-KISS established his public profile, but the work that has generated the most sustained critical and ratings attention has come from television. The trajectory of *Rookie Chairman Kang* — the steepest viewership rise of any JTBC weekend drama in 2026 at the time of broadcast — represented a credibility marker for an actor still in the earlier stages of building a primary dramatic identity separate from his idol-group origins. His own public framing of that transition, referencing actors who made it successfully before him, suggests a deliberate and self-aware approach to how he navigates that shift.