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“I’m not a film star, I am an actress.”
- British actress Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)

A star is born when a previously little-known artist is suddenly catapulted to fame. But just as “there’s no smoke without fire,” he or she must have a great potential that was underappreciated before. Lee You-young, a 25-year-old rookie actress, won the Best Acting Performance Female Award at the 14th Milano International Film Festival (MIFF), which ended on May 12, for her role in Late Spring, her first film. The award was the first such award that a Korean actress has ever won at the film festival.

Koreans were not finished taking home awards from Milan, however. Late Spring won the Best Cinematography Award. Back in April, the film also won Best Foreign Feature at the 23rd Arizona International Film Festival in Tucson, Arizona.

Lee became a Cinderella overnight by winning such a prestigious award for her first film role. The film received a standing ovation at its premiere, an honor reserved only for extremely high-quality works. She took the audience by storm by appearing at the award ceremony wearing a hanbok.

Lee said, “I feel like I’m dreaming.” Meanwhile, MIFF Director Andrea Galante praised the film, saying, “Everything from beautiful images and music to the screenplay and acting was perfect… I could not stop crying, even after the film ended.” In the film, Lee, who plays a young, poor mother of two kids, poses as a model for a bed-ridden sculptor. It will be released in Korea in the second half of this year.