Eric Mun

Eric Mun (born Mun Jung-hyuk on February 16, 1979) is a South Korean rapper, songwriter and actor.

He is a member and leader of the South Korean boy band Shinhwa.

In 1996 he returned to Korea and joined SM Entertainment as a trainee and was featured as a rapper on label mate girl group S.E.S.' single "I'm Your Girl" along with Andy.

On March 24, 1998, with the stage name Eric, he debuted as leader and main rapper of group Shinhwa with their single "해결사" (The Solver) on KM Music Tank.

He stated that their debut album, Resolver, did not perform well and the band almost disbanded.

At the time, he thought seriously about giving up and returning to the U.S.

In 2002, Mun and his Shinhwa bandmates had cameo appearance in the movie Emergency 19 Act.

In 2003 director Park Sung-soo cast him in a supporting role for MBC’s series Breathless (I Run).

Mun gave up his U.S. citizenship in 2003, to be able to serve his military service.

He is also well known for several dramas such as Phoenix (2004), Super Rookie (2005), and Another Oh Hae-young (2016).

In early 2004, he appeared in the drama Phoenix (Bulsae).

In 2005, Mun graduated from Dongguk University with a major in Theater and Film.

In 2005, Mun starred in lead role in MBC's Super Rookie with actress Han Ga-in.

It was also broadcast on Fuji Television.

It got solid rating in Korea during the broadcast.

Super Rookie was also a big hit in Japan after Fuji TV paid ₩2 billion for the broadcast rights in Japan.

It was commercially successful in Japan when it was broadcast there.

In December 2005, Mun went to promote Super Rookie in Japan, where he was greeted at the airport by a large crowd.

In early 2006, Mun was injured on the set of MBC drama Wolf, resulting in it being pulled off air after four episodes.

Mun was injured whilst shooting a scene, near Namdaemun in Seoul, where he was to save co-star Han Ji-min from being run over by a car.

The stunt car driver, misunderstanding the instructions given to him, drove at them at 40 km/h and did not stop in front of them as planned.

In August, after the successful run of Super Rookie, especially in Japan, Mun collaborated again with its writers in Invincible Parachute Agent (also known as Korea Secret Agency).

He was with Top Class Entertainment from 2007 to December 2013.

Shinhwa's 10th Anniversary concert in March 2008 marked the start of Shinhwa's hiatus as a group to fulfill mandatory military service.

Before his army enlistment, Mun appeared in a period drama for the first time in his acting career with Strongest Chil Woo.

With 30 million wons per episode for Strongest Chil Woo, Mun was the highest paid singer-turned-actor in the industry at the time.

He was the first Shinhwa member to enlist for mandatory military service in October 2008.

Because of his back injury from the filming of Wolf, Mun served non-active duty after undergoing four weeks of basic training.

He was discharged on October 30, 2010.

However they dropped out when production was halted after the Bombardment of Yeonpyeong incident in November 2010.

Instead, he appeared in another KBS drama, Spy Myung-wol with Han Ye-seul in July, playing a Korean wave star who is at the center of a kidnap plot by North Korean agents.

Mun is also the CEO of Shinhwa Company, the home agency of his group, with Lee Min-woo as co-CEO since 2011, and with the remaining members—Kim Dong-wan, Shin Hye-sung, Jun Jin and Andy Lee—as shareholders.

Mun was born in Seoul.

He is the youngest of the three siblings with two older sisters.

He attended Daechi Elementary School located in Seoul.

When his family moved to the U.S, he went to John Burroughs Middle School located in Los Angeles.

Mun spent his years at Parks Junior High School and Sunny Hills High School, both of which are located in Fullerton, California.

After being discharged, Mun's first project was supposed to be KBS' action drama Poseidon opposite Kim Ok-bin, set for broadcast in July 2011.

On July 1, 2011, Mun became CEO (with Lee Min-woo as co-CEO) of Shinhwa Company, a joint venture agency for members Shinhwa to perform as a group.

In 2014, Mun and his manager of 10 years, Lee Jong-hyun, set up a new management agency, E&J Entertainment, for his individual activities.