Lee Joo-young made her screen debut in the short independent film Encounter (2012). She spent the next few years acting in multiple independent films before earning critical acclaim for her role in A Quiet Dream (2016; NYAFF 2017 selection/US Premiere) directed by Zhang Lu, who she had met at the 2013 Busan Peace Film Festival when one of her films was showing. That same year, she expanded her career into television alongside Irene, member of a popular K-pop girl group Red Velvet, in web drama Game Development Girls, which led to her breakthrough role in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo. After garnering critics’ praise with her role in Jane (2016; NYAFF 2017 selection/North American Premiere), she was awarded the Actress of the Year Award at the 2018 Busan International Film Festival for her performance in Maggie (2018; NYAFF 2019 selection/North American Premiere) then the Special Short Drama Actress Award at the 2019 KBS Drama Awards for Home Sweet Home (2019). Lee continued to rise to fame as she appeared in JTBC’s Itaewon Class (2020) which ended as the seventh highest rated drama in Korean cable television history and a runaway hit internationally thanks to a high profile NetFlix run, where it can still be seen. Lee last appeared in Choi Yun-Tae’s Baseball Girl (2019) where she plays the leading character.