Kim Hee-chul

Kim Hee-chul was born in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on July 10, 1983.[2][3] His family consists of his parents and an older sister, Kim Hee-jin.[13] In 2004, Heechul graduated from Sangji Youngsoe College with a bachelor's degree in English tourism translation.[14][15] In addition, in 2009, he graduated from Sangji University with a bachelor's degree in informatics through Bachelor's Degree Examination for Self-Education.[2][3]

In 2002, after seeing Psy, who was singing "Champion" on a television program, he searched the internet for entertainment companies and found out that SM Entertainment was having open auditions.[16][17] He moved to Seoul when he was twenty years old with his friends in order to take part in the auditions.[18][19] Being unfamiliar with the area, he got lost and missed the open Starlight Casting System audition.[18][19] However, they still allowed him to perform because of his looks. He sang the Korean national anthem and passed the audition.[18][19] He was cast and signed a contract with SM Entertainment and became an official trainee, being trained in singing, acting, dancing, and other performing talents such as hosting and modeling.[18]

He was initially placed in a four-member group called Four Seasons along with Jaejoong, Yunho and Kangin.[20] The project group was dropped when Yunho and Jaejoong joined TVXQ in early 2003.[21] He was preparing to debut as the main vocalist of Trax, but during his trainee days he had frequent clashes and misunderstandings with the person in charge at SM at the time.[22][23] He became frustrated and abandoned his Trax debut and returned to his hometown in Gangwon Province.[22][23] Later, with Trax's Jungmo's, Jay's, TVXQ's Yunho's and Donghae's encouragement and positivity, he returned to SM.[22][23] He joined other trainees under the company to form the group Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.[24]

His first acting role was in the second season of teen drama Sharp in 2005, where he played Baek Jin-Woo, co-starring labelmates Go Ara and Kibum. The drama was loved by young people.[25] At that time, he gained popularity among female student fans due his unique appearance that made him seem like he popped out of a genuine manga.[26] That same year, he appeared as an extra in the KBS2 TV series Loveholic and was a regular MC for the cable music show Show! Music Tank.[27][28] He also appeared in his first advertisements for Lotte's Pepero.[29]

On November 2, 2005, Super Junior 05 made their official debut as a twelve-member group on SBS' Popular Songs, performing their first single "Twins".[30][31] Their debut album Twins was released on December 5 and debuted at number three on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.[32]

SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation in March 2006.[33] However, plans changed and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations.[34][33] Following the addition of the thirteenth member Kyuhyun, the group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior.[34][33] The re-polished group's first CD single "U" was released on June 7, 2006, which was their most successful single until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.[35] Heechul faced criticism from Super Junior's fans when his voice cracked while performing "U", which negatively affected him and made him want to quit singing.[36][37]

Apart from Super Junior's activities, Heechul has acted in several television series. In 2005, he landed his first leading role in the TV series Rainbow Romance,[26] followed by a supporting role in Bad Family in 2006[38] and Golden Bride at the end of 2007.[39] Golden Bride achieved high ratings and Heechul received wider public recognition.[39] In 2007, he made his film debut in Attack on the Pin-Up Boys, which was released on July 26.[40] The film failed to attract viewers and was proven to be a big loss for SM Pictures.[41] However, both versions of the film's DVD became a best-sellers and were sold-out in both Korea and overseas markets.[41]. He also stepped into the field of voice-over, contributing his voice for the Korean-dubbed version of the American live action/animated film Alvin and the Chipmunks as the main character, Simon, the eldest and the tallest of the Chipmunks, along with fellow labelmates Kangin and Shindong.[26] Heechul also appeared as a radio DJ on SBS Power FM's Young Street Radio with Park Hee-von from November 2005 until mid-2006.[42][43] Moreover, he co-hosted SBS's weekly live music show Inkigayo as a substitute for Andy of Shinhwa, later going on to become a permanent host starting April 23, 2006.[44] On May 4, 2008, Heechul left his position after hosting the show with Song Ji-hyo.[45]

He debuted as part of Super Junior sub-group Super Junior-T on February 23, 2007, performing the trot single "Rokuko".[46] It was Korea's sixteenth best-selling record and the number one best-selling single of 2007.[47] The debut also marked his comeback performance after recovering from his injury, which he had gotten in a car accident that occurred in August 2006.[5] In November 2008, the subgroup returned with a debut in the Japanese music industry, releasing the Japanese version of "Rokuko", now titled "ROCK&GO".[48] On August 29, 2007, he won an award under the category "Best Pretty Boy" in the first Mnet 20's Choice Awards.[49]

In May 2008, he played the role of Sonny in Xanadu, the first production of SM Art Company, in rotation with his bandmate Kangin.[50][51] The production ran between September 9 to December 28, 2008 at the Doosan Art Center, Yonkang Foundation, Seoul.[50][51] Casting was carried out via a reality television programme, To be Kangin and Heechul.[52] In the same year, he co-hosted a program called 8 vs 1 but it was canceled due to low ratings.[53] He later became a cast member on the shows Good Daddy and Band of Brothers.[54][55]

In 2009, he starred in the surrogacy melodrama Loving You a Thousand Times, which became the first Korean drama to be exported to Bulgaria.[56][57] On November 6, 2009, he released his first solo single, "First Star", as part of the soundtrack for his drama Loving You a Thousand Times.[7]

He returned as a radio DJ for the first time in four years on SBS Power FM's Kim Heechul's Youngstreet from March 29, 2010 until mid-2011.[58] In May of the same year, he was added as the eighth member of the family on the series Family Outing 2 along with Jang Dong-min during a recording, but the show was cancelled two months later due to low ratings.[59][60] In December Heechul was selected to be a host for Radio Star, the main segment in the talk show Golden Fishery. He was chosen to replace Shin Jung-hwan after he left the program following a gambling scandal. Other candidates that were short-listed include Kim Tae-won, Moon Hee-joon and Tony An.[61][62][63] His effort gained positive recognition from the viewers and his popularity skyrocketed. It became a factor in his winning of the Best Newcomer Award at the 11th MBC Entertainment Awards.[64][10]

In February 2011, he acted in a supporting role in the Chinese drama Melody of Youth, which became his debut in that industry.[65] In the same year, he formed a project group with label mate Jungmo of TRAX, called M&D ("Midnight and Dawn" or "Miari and Dangae-dong", after the members' hometowns).[66] They released their debut single "Close Ur Mouth" in June 2011.[66] Heechul wrote the lyrics and directed the music video for the song, while Jungmo composed and produced it.[66] Their first live performance was at Mnet’s summer awards ceremony 20's Choice on July 7.[67]

Heechul at the 10th Anniversary Special Album Devil press conference on July 15, 2015

Kim Hee-chul carried out his mandatory military service from September 1, 2011 to August 30, 2013.[68] He served as a public service worker for 23 months after undergoing four weeks of basic training at the Nonsan military camp in Chungcheongnam-do.[69] At the time of his enlistment, he was a host in the variety show Secret,[70] as well as one of the host of the talk show Radio Star. His role in Radio Star was taken over by bandmate Kyuhyun.[71] Shortly after he had enlisted, Kim Jang-hoon released a song titled "Breakups are So Like Me", which is a duet with Heechul. During live performances of the song on Music Bank and Show! Music Core, his part was performed by bandmates Yesung, Eunhyuk and Shindong.[72]

He was selected to be an internet broadcast radio DJ in January 2012 on Space for a Rest-Visible Radio, which was aired through Seongdong District's homepage every Friday, where he was serving his two-year mandatory military service.[73][74] He was responsible for filming and editing video footage to advertise the Seongdong District Office, but because of his experience and previous exposure in the media industry, they thought it will be a better fit for him to be a DJ.[73] Therefore, he appeared as a radio DJ from January 20 to May 18, 2012 and from January 14 to July 26, 2013.[74]

Heechul chose to appear in Ssulzun for his comeback appearance after finishing his military service in 2013.[75] Ssulzun was a debate program aired on JTBC which discussed current issues that affect South Korea.[76] He was a regular cast member from September 2013 until July 2014, making his stay in the program two months shy of a full year.[76] In his last recording for the show, he mentioned that he felt pressured to talk about people close to him.[76] On December 11, 2013, Super Junior released their fifth official Japanese single, "Blue World", which was the first song of the group involving Heechul after he came back from military service.[77]

In January 2014, he appeared on the second season of MBC's reality television program We Got Married: Global Edition, as an on-screen couple with Taiwanese girl group member Puff Kuo.[78] He also returned to the small screen with fantasy comedy drama Flower Grandpa Investigation Unit, starring Lee Soon-jae, Byun Hee-bong and Jang Gwang.[79][80]

In 2015, he became an MC and cast member on entertainment programs such as Wednesday Food Talk,[81] A Style For You,[82] MAPS,[83][84] Knowing Bros[85][86] and Korean-Chinese program With You All The Way, which was the first Chinese variety he was in charge of since his debut in Korean entertainment in 2005.[87] He also won his first Chinese award at the 12th COSMO Beauty Awards.[88] That same year, M&D released their first EP, Cottage Industry with the lead track "I Wish". It was released digitally on April 16 and physically on April 20.[89] The title track was written and composed by the duo, and it peaked at number two on the Gaon album Chart.[90]

With Super Junior on a temporary hiatus for much of 2016 due to the enlistment of four other members, he returned to hosting. In March 2016, Heechul was confirmed to become a temporary host for Weekly Idol until October 5, as replacement for Jeong Hyeong-don,[91][92] who underwent 11-month break from television activities.[93] On April 15, he released a duet with Wheein for SM Station. The single, "Narcissus", was written by him and produced by Jungmo, and it was his first collaboration with a female artist.[94][95] In early July, M&D returned as Kim Heechul & Kim Jungmo, with a second mini-album, Goody Bag, and trot-rock lead track "Ulsanbawi" on July 12.[96] In June, he appeared in the third season of the Chinese dating variety show Perhaps Love with Chinese actress and singer Li Feier.[97] This was his second time being in a virtual relationship.[97]

Heechul at the Singderella press conference in 2016

In the fall of 2016, Heechul and Buzz member Min Kyung-hoon released a duet titled "Sweet Dream". The two stars are known as "Universe Cowards" while promoting their music. They came up with the name while recording Knowing Bros.[98][99][100] Their stage name is a mix of Heechul's nickname "Universe Star" and Buzz's song "Coward". The song proved to be successful, topping the South Korean Gaon Digital Chart, an achievement known as "all-kill", making him the first Super Junior member to achieve an "all-kill" in 2016.[101] In 2017, "Sweet Dream" won the Best Rock Song award at the 9th Melon Music Awards.[102] He released a single entitled "Melody", a collaboration with the South Korean legendary rock band Eve as a pre-release single on December 23, a nod to the band's debut on Christmas Eve in 1997.[103][104]

His career as an MC made a breakthrough after appearing on Knowing Bros and Weekly Idol.[11][105] The success of Knowing Bros in Korea brought him a new range of fans and is a large part of why the show is so popular.[106] He was named as one of the Top 3 Idol MCs of 2016.[106] After appearing on the show, he earned more recognition and received MC roles from other shows, such as Phantom Singer, Singderella,[107] Secretly Greatly,[108] Game Show Yoo Hee Nak Rak[109] and Lipstick Prince,[110] earning him the title "Professional MC".[26] In 2017, he became the host of popular programs such as Life Bar[111] and My Daughter's Men,[112] and some less-popular programs such as Pot Stand,[113] Idol School[114] and Perfect on Paper.[115]

In January 2018, Label SJ announced that Super Junior members will launch their own variety show titled Super TV.[116][117] In the same year, he joined the cast of 1 Percent of Friendship[118] and TV Chosun's travel-reality show Where Are You Going, DdaengChul?.[119][120] This marked his first fixed travel show since MAPS in 2015.[119][120] He was also cast in his second game show Begin A Game in October 2018.[121]

Following the success of "Sweet Dream", Universe Cowards returned in February 2018 with "Falling Blossoms".[122] The song is part of the Knowing Bros music video competition.[123] Min Kyung-hoon wrote the lyrics to "Falling Blossoms" with his Buzz bandmates Yoo Woo-hyun and Shin Joon-ki.[124] The song peaked at number 15 on Gaon Digital Chart.[125] In November, Heechul & Min Kyung-hoon were again nominated for Best Rock Song at the 10th Melon Music Awards, which they later won on December 1, making them the only artist to win the award two years in a row.[126][127]

Heechul's debut solo digital single, called "Old Movie", was released on April 24, 2019.[128][129] It subsequently topped the charts in seven different countries.[130][131] On May 4 and 5, Heechul held his first talk show event, which sold-out in one minute from the start of the internet ticket booking.[132] Heechul appeared in more than ten programs over the course of 2019, and became a fixed cast member on the programs My Little Old Boy,[133][134] Why Did You Come To My House?,[135] A Man Who Feeds The Dog[136] and Delicious Rendezvous.[137] He was recognized at the 13th SBS Entertainment Awards for his role in the reality shows, and received the "Excellence Award", his first major award as an entertainer.[12] He also starred in the 2019 film Hello, My Cat.[138] On December 3, 2019, he was awarded the "Person of the Year" award at 2019 COSMO Glam Night, one of the most prestigious awards in China.[139] Heechul and Knowing Bros co-star Lee Soo-geun collaborated as the project group Woojoo Jjokkomi, and released a cover of Mr. 2's "White Winter" for SM Station X 4 LOVEs for Winter project.[140]

Heechul continued his TV personality career in 2020, appearing in Studio Music Hall,[141] Love of 7.7 Billion,[142] 20th Century Hit Song[143][144] and High School Style Icon.[145] On June 23, he became one of the investors of BRION E-Sports.[146][147][148]

Heechul's hosting has received positive reviews. Jung So-young of OSEN called him "The next generation of entertainment" and wrote: "Kim Hee-chul has been building his own character since his debut with a splendid visual and four-dimensional charm. He is making an artistic character that has not only been able to cope with the excellent buzzword copying ability as well as the irreverent speech."[153] Lee Bo-ram from KStar News said His charm is make space for guest to shine.[154] Kim Min-seo from Newsen wrote: "It is not an exaggeration to call it a character which is not in the history of idol history."[155] Even SM C&C revealed they praised him for his honesty.[156]

Heechul created a personal Facebook account on October 9, 2010, which received 5,000 friend requests within five minutes. He became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter for 65 hours after the account's creation.[169] Mashable's Associate Features Editor Matthew Silverman tweeted, “It's official: Kim Hee Chul is the Korean Justin Bieber.”[169] He also took the ninth place in the "2010 Twitter Trend Analysis" in People Category.[170] On March 28, 2011, at the 3rd Shorty Awards, it was announced that Heechul placed 3rd in the "Best Celebrity on Twitter" category.[171][172]

MTV K conducted a poll in 2011 in which Heechul emerged as the champion in a Top 10 Cross-Dressing Idols poll.[173] In July, Lady Gaga appeared on 9th's episode on KBS2’s Entertainment Weekly for an exclusive interview and mentioned that she was amazed by Heechul's imitation of her.[174] He made a few appearances as “Lady HeeHee” throughout Super Show 3, as well as SM Town in Paris.[175] Lady Gaga saw his imitation and praised him, saying: "He looks amazing!".[174]

Heechul topped an online poll, organized by a Chinese entertainment magazine People's Daily in 2016, as one of the top "10 Most Anticipated K-Stars of 2017". He appeared for the first time in the list after his activities in China.[176]

He was included in the "Forbes Korea Power Celebrity" list for the first time in 2020, placing tenth in the general rank.[177][178] He was also ranked the 4th most powerful person in the broadcasting sector and the 5th most powerful person on SNS for having 5.38 million followers.[179]

On April 5, 2019, Heechul donated ₩30,000,000 (about US$26,300) to help those who were affected by Goseong Fire of 2019, through the organization 'Fruits of Love'.[180][181] He joined the emergency disaster donation campaign to overcome Corona 19 in Hoengseong County on June 29, 2020.[182]

He recognize his perception of the corneal donation pledge and participated in the EYE PROMISE YOU, a campaign to improve organ donation awareness and activate corneal donation to improve.[183] The'CELEBe Video Donation Campaign' will be held in the form of a donation challenge with numerous celebrities and fans of Selby, including group Super Junior member Kim Hee-chul.[184][185]

Heechul is an endorser of a wide range of brands in and outside South Korea.[186][187] He got his first solo endorsement deal with Lotte's Pepero in 2005.[186][187][29][188] After his hit show Knowing Bros and his famous Picks Miwon CF,[189][190][191] his popularity grew, which led to him receiving more endorsement offers. In 2017, he was selected as a model for G-Market with AOA's Seolhyun.[192] In 2018, he was chosen to be the model for Mistral with Min Kyung-hoon.[193]

In 2015, Heechul was announced as the ambassador of Hoengseong County at the 20th Hoengseong County Ambassador appointment ceremony.[194] He was also the ambassador of 1st Seoul Comic-Con 2017 by the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC).[195] Later that year, he was chosen as the honorary tourism ambassador for Hoengseong beef in Hong Kong for Asia's Leading Food and Hospitality Tradeshow "HOFEX".[196] In 2019, Heechul joined National Health Insurance Service as the promotional ambassador for anti-smoking.[197][198]

Heechul is an avid fan of the video game League of Legends, one of the most popular video games in South Korea.[199] It was mentioned in his show Game Show Yoo Hee Nak Rak that he is a high-level player with diamond rankings.[199] On November 27, 2013, he appeared on OGN’s Pandora TV LoL Champions as a Special Commentator and Guest player.[200] In February 2015, the famous LoL team SK Telecom T1 sponsored a special match titled the Celebrity League of Legends Invitational Event Match. SKT T-LoL invited various celebrities to join in a match against professional LoL gamers. The celebrity team including Heechul ultimately lost.[201]

In August 2016, he attended the League of Legends Pro League 5th Anniversary in China, which included the Regional Final with four Chinese teams competing for a spot in the World Championship. He also competed in a Korea vs. China Celebrity Showmatch in commemoration.[202] On October 9, he appeared on OGN as a special commentator for the LoL World Championship.[203] In November, Heechul began participating in SM Entertainment's League of Legends tournament 2016 SM Super Idol League, where he and labelmate Baekhyun played the game with both professional players and fans from South Korea and China.[204]

Heechul started his YouTube channel called "HEEtube 김희철" on November 18, 2018.[205] He held his first live gaming stream on December 5, 2018.[206] During the February 12, 2019 episode of KBS2's talk variety Six-Party Talks, he revealed that he received ₩15,000 in the first month of the channel.[207] In April 2019, Heechul received his silver play button for having more than 100 thousand subscribers on his channel.[1] He took a short break from posting on his YouTube channel from January 2, 2020,[208] and returned on March 5, 2020.[209]

On August 10, 2006, Heechul was involved in a car accident while heading back to Seoul from Mokpo after attending the funeral of fellow Super Junior member Donghae’s father.[5] The tires malfunctioned while his car attempted to switch lanes.[210] Heechul fractured his left leg, requiring him to undergo surgery where seven iron rods were inserted.[211][212] He also sustained other injuries, including a tear in his tongue which required stitches.[213]

Heechul was advised to stop all activities for a period of twelve weeks.[214] He was released from the hospital on September 14, 2006 but continued to receive out-patient care.[215] He returned to the hospital to have a second surgery to remove some of the iron rods in his leg on October 10, and briefly returned to work in late October to film the final three episodes of MBC's Rainbow Romance while still in a cast and wheelchair.[216][217] He made his comeback on November 25 of the same year during the Mnet KM Music Festival.[218] Six months after the accident, Heechul officially returned to individual activities such as variety show and hosting appearances.[219] In 2007, Heechul started to perform regularly despite still having a few rods attached to his leg.[219][220] The remaining rods in his leg were removed in 2008.[220]

Heechul is still receiving treatment, and can no longer dance on live stages, often only making sporadic appearances for the latter half of the songs.[221][222] This also led him to become a sub-rapper and vocalist instead of the lead dancer of Super Junior.[223][224][225] In 2009, Heechul decided not to participate in Super Junior concerts after finishing Super Junior's third studio album Sorry, Sorry, but after being persuaded by other members, he made appearances for the latter half of the "Sorry, Sorry" and "It's You".[226][221][222][227] He still performed regularly until 2017, despite the condition of his legs.[228]

In March 2018, it was reported that Heechul would not be participating in music show performances of Super Junior's repackage album Replay due to health concerns, but would still participate in other promotions as normal.[6][229] On July 20, Heechul announced his decision not to participate at all on their first mini album One More Time to focus on recovering his health in a Weibo live video.[230][231] However, after the release of a teaser photo that featured Heechul, Label SJ announced that he had taken part in their comeback preparations after all but only participated minimally due to the ongoing health concerns.[232][233]

On August 30, 2019, Label SJ confirmed in a statement that Heechul decided to sit out of performances for their upcoming ninth album Time Slip and the Super Show 8 concert due to his leg injury, but he will be included in the group's album as well as Super Junior's variety appearances.[234]

Label SJ clarified on March 17, 2020 that although Heechul still may not be able to perform on stage due to his prior injuries, he is still participating in Super Junior albums and other content by recording, as well as taking part in activities such as jacket photoshoots and MV filming.[235]

On January 2, 2020, Label SJ and JYP Entertainment confirmed that Heechul is currently dating Momo Hirai frоm the group Twice.[236][237]