Meet Lee Si-an From 'Single's Inferno' Season 4: What to Know About Her Model Career and K-Pop Trainee Past

She's the new fan favorite on the hit Netflix dating show.

Lee Si-an in 'Single's Inferno' season 4.
(Image credit: Netflix)

Over its seasons, Netflix's Korean reality show Single's Inferno has recruited some cast members who were already famous before arriving in Inferno. (Shout out to season 3's Lee Gwan-Hee.) Among the Single's Inferno season 4 cast members with surprising pasts, including former UDT soldier Yuk Jun-seo and K-drama actor Theo Jang, model Lee Si-an stands out as a former aspiring K-pop star.

Before Single's Inferno season 4, Lee made her TV debut as a contestant on some of the most popular idol competition shows in history. Now that she's reemerged, tons of K-pop fans who rooted for her in the past hope she finds the "whirlwind romance" she's looking for. Below, read on to learn more about Lee Si-an and her K-pop trainee past.

Lee Si-an is a model who used to train as a K-pop singer.

Lee Si-an, 25, is a freelance model under the agency Leaders Entertainment. She's appeared in ads for brands including Samsung Galaxy, FILA, New Balance, and COSRX according to her bio. Per her Single's Inferno intro, she often works with athleisure brands.

Before beginning her modeling career, Si-an trained as a K-pop idol and even competed in idol survival shows. She was also a competitive swimmer until sixth grade and now swims as a hobby.

She competed on the survival shows 'Idol School' and 'Produce 48'.

Though Single's Inferno can at times be fierce, Lee Si-an has already survived the notoriously harsh world of K-pop survival shows. In 2017, she competed on the Mnet series Idol School and came in 16th place in the finale, missing out on one of the top nine spots to join the girl group fromis_9.

One year later, she joined the popular Mnet series Produce 48 and placed 30th, leaving the competition on episode 11. The 12 winners went on to form the temporary girl group IZ*ONE, which included another eventual Netflix star, Squid Game's Jo Yu-ri.

PRODUCE48 [단독/직캠] 일대일아이컨택ㅣ이시안 - ♬Rumor @콘셉트 평가 180817 EP.10 - YouTube PRODUCE48 [단독/직캠] 일대일아이컨택ㅣ이시안 - ♬Rumor @콘셉트 평가 180817 EP.10 - YouTube
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Though she was linked to a pre-debut girl group known as Happyface Girls for two years, Si-an appears to have focused on modeling since the group dissolved in 2021. She still maintains some friendships from her trainee days; last year, she was seen hanging out with LE SSERAFIM's Huh Yunjin, former After School member Lee Ga-eun, and Kiss of Life creative director Lee Hae-in.

Culture Writer

Quinci LeGardye is a Culture Writer at Marie Claire. She currently lives in her hometown of Los Angeles after periods living in NYC and Albuquerque, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from The University of New Mexico. In 2021, she joined Marie Claire as a contributor, becoming a full-time writer for the brand in 2024. She contributes day-to-day-content covering television, movies, books, and pop culture in general. She has also written features, profiles, recaps, personal essays, and cultural criticism for outlets including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Vulture, The A.V. Club, Catapult, and others. When she isn't writing or checking Twitter way too often, you can find her watching the latest K-drama, or giving a concert performance in her car.