Yeah, same here! But the agency sure IS acting weird fanning the fire like that... ~_____~ Name and age can be faked (Asian tend to be older than they look...), but fake persona? Is it normal to try and stage a fake persona? Sounds a very dumb move in my ears because such things as well as lies are usually exposed in the end and it's hardly worth the damaging effect it can have...

Real life drama... meh. I just hope Beethoven Virus is good!!

From what I read, there's some controversy over the Pasadena Design Institute bit in her resume. That would be the most damaging bit. Having a stage name or bumping your age +/- one year are standard practice. She in general is still pretty enigmatic.

Maybe it's just me, but anybody else think she could pass as Brian Joo's sister?

i love lee jia.. she's such a cutie & she's from LA.. my homegirl..

what exactly do they mean by fake persona? isn't that a little redundant? she's an actress for crying out loud.. i think ppl just don't get her bc she's different.. so they've started their witch hunt..

@ belleza, brian joo has the most adorable face.. every time i look at him i feel like pinching his cheeks.. they both have a certain cuteness ;)

It's not a witch hunt if she's actually lying. Not saying she is, but it looks suspicious and she won't even confirm her name. school records should be easy to confirm if she's a real student there.

I dunno, I don't hate her but she always comes off conceited and i didn't think she was so great in Taewangsashingi.

@carol,

I'm not sure she comes off as conceited, but she definitely comes off as American. So, same thing. :D But, yeah, faking school degrees is a much bigger deal than if your nose is real or not.

@marcel,
" i love lee jia.. she’s such a cutie & she’s from LA.. my homegirl.."

Damn straight. Korea could use more emo punks from the SGV!!! :D

i like today's song javabeans. Thanks for sharing!

Was she interviewed speaking English ever? If so, that could possibly clear some things up. And I'm with carol in that I never saw the big deal about her. IMO, she's just really lucky to be under 배용준's wings.

Lemme tell ya what the big deal with Lee Ji Ah is. She's (probably) 27 yet her clothing comes from Hot Topic. She calls herself E (hello!!! Trainspotting is 10 years ago already!!) And when she does appearances and interviews, she (always) does a 2-finger chest salute. As Confucius would say, "oh no you didn't!!"

Ji Ah is my idol! :D When Belleza is at the Baeksang in 2012 (wearing a Death Cab for Cutie tee plus black frames), Belleza will win an award for Coffee Jumong and sign off flashing Blood AND Crip signs to the camera, for all the thugs in Orange County. With a pacifier in my mouth. Like Ji Ah tells it, emo punx got to keep it hood!! Seacrest out!

i've seen an interview w/ lee jia (in korean) & she actually seems nice & down to earh.. she didn't seem conceited at all, but rather shy & on the quiet side.. they didn't ask anything about her schooling or background as far as i remember.. but she doesn't seem like the type to just fabricate those kinds of things..

@belleza, oh no you did-n't! ;) i'll be hollerin' atcha from the OC! yeah, death cab for cutie rules!

Guess it's just me, but she doesn't look like she was born in 1981. She looks a bit older... or maybe it's just that photo.
I know it's not major, but I think I would prefer it if celebrities didn't "fake" it so much to get famous. It totally makes me lose some of the respect.

@marcel,

I'm pretty sure she's American raised because there's just specific things she does that only we would pick up (and for which we revoke her "AzN" passport back to this country.) Same with Tablo -- he does the "I am in love with my HS best friend!!! I ono!" Xanga-nerd stereotype to the tee -- again something only we would recognize.

Teasing aside, I like her a lot, partially because K-dramas doesn't have enough freeks and geeks. For example, an ajuhmma family drama starring Youjeen Cho would be absolutely lovely(?)! ;)

But I think the crux really is her education status, because it's unclear about her status at Art College of Design. That's a difficult school to get into, but then again if you're a undergrad there, you probably would have finished by your mid-20s. Getting a call from Yonsama should not have stopped it. That all said, I really want her to succeed. She, black nail polish and misplaced ghetto cred and all, is kinda batting for us I guess? ;)

@dramabeans,

Yeah I wish we could export our pop culture with irony warning label attached to it. That right Mr. CEO Taji -- just because 10+ million bought Limp Bizkit, doesn't mean even anybody actually *liked* Limp Bizkit. Just pretend nu-metal didn't happen here, mm kay? ;)

Hey Sarah did you get healthy enough to nurse a hangover? :D

@belleza,

oh korea definitely needs more freaks & geeks like lee jia & tablo.. & don't forget where the genius of clazziquai comes from.. Korean Americans & Canadians should take hallyu by storm.. & i have mad respect for lee jia for having studied @ art college.. i hope she clears that bit about her past soon so ppl can give her the credit she deserves..

@marcel,

I'm hoping one of these days will have a sageuk where Tablo plays king (can Tablo grow facial hair though?!?) Instead of military campaigns, we'd have like MC battles between ancient heroes like MC Hae Mo Su, Da Notorious Yi Soon Shin, and Hong Gil's Dong; winner takes Joseon. Fusion sageuk? Tablo only does *fission* sageuk y'all! ;) (But no invisibility cloaks please. That's just pandering!)

Actually it would be funny if Alex became serious about K-drama crossover. That dude is neither freak nor geek; he's pure "greek." In one Entertainment Relay show, they featured his place and you can tell it was aerodynamically designed for maximal liftoff and minimal drag. 3 octave voice, 4 course dinner, 6 pack abs, and 12 seconds before you're naked by the end of this song. Even Kwon Sang Woo would be like "Alex, Japan's ajuhmmas are mine!!! Precious!!!!" ;)

I'd love to see Tasha do drama. It would say a lot about "things" if she did.

As for Ji Ah, the truth is, I think if her handlers keep her mysterious, it can only help her commercial appeal. The open door policy by so many Korean celebrities, at least to me, helps to feed into rabid netizen hate.

i like her in twssg. as a newbie she' s good and looks very promising. she's lucky to be partnered with stars with big names. probably many just envy her and media just can't dig any fault about her. she's been rumoured also to be the daughter of twssg producer.

for those curious about her english you may check her soompi thread. someone posted a site there when she's been interviewed in NHK. toward 5mins you'll hear her speak very clear english.

@belleza

It's funny you bring up Tablo. I know it's said he supposedly studied in the states but I've heard (from reliable sources) that it's not true. It seems he went to a bilingual school in Korea (learned English there) and the "he lived/studied in the states" story is made up.

About Lee Jia, I have no idea if she's American or not but I find it interesting that she's supposedly 27. She doesn't look 27 to me. She looks older than that. It wouldn't surprise if her agency lied about her age to make her younger.

is it really important to know her past? I don't think so. Pls stop all this nonsense that ruin her reputation. I like her acting in the legend. She's just look natural and innocent to me and do us no harm. She has just started her acting career so pls dun spread any irrelevant news about her if you don't know anything about her. That's ridiculous!

i love ejiah and she's a good actress..
that's all that matters...

i actually went to Pasadena Art Center with "Lee Jia" . She is a nice sweet girl, always has been. But she's always been a mystery indeed.

#
22 jennnn - Sep 2, 2008 at 9:03 pm

i actually went to Pasadena Art Center with “Lee Jia” . She is a nice sweet girl, always has been. But she’s always been a mystery indeed.

did you really???wow!

waaa...yup2...agree with yuli...^-^...ajaaaa ejiah!!!

In one of the Beethoven Virus episodes (ep. 11), she can be seen tutoring Kang Gun Woo (Jang Geun Suk) in English. It seems like she knows English fluently to me.
o_o

ugh, i just saw this girl in Danbi and I hate her. It basically looks like she's only there for self promotion.