Eunhyuk

Lee Hyuk-jae (born April 4, 1986), better known by his stage name Eunhyuk, is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer and television host.

He is a member of the South Korean boy group Super Junior and its subgroups Super Junior-T and Super Junior-H.

In 1999, together with Junsu he auditioned for SM Entertainment through the company's Starlight Casting System at age 13.

However he failed the audition in 1999 and entered again the following year and got in as a trainee.

He began training in singing, dancing, acting, and had brief Mandarin Chinese language courses.

He was also scouted with an interview offer from a top modelling agency in Seoul, yet declined due to contract issues.

In the midst of trainee life in 2000, he reached SM's master dance class and won the Goyang citywide dance competition in 2000.

In 2002, Eunhyuk, Kim Junsu, and another trainee Sungmin were placed in a project R&B group.

A year later, the group along with three future members from TRAX (Jay Kim, No Minwoo, Kang Jungwoo) made a brief appearance in a show called Heejun vs. Kangta, Battle of the Century: Pop vs. Rock, in which Moon Hee-joon and Kangta taught them techniques on different types of singing.

In 2003 the trio disbanded when Junsu went on to debut as a member of TVXQ.

Eunhyuk and Sungmin were then placed in another project group with ten other male trainees, Super Junior 05, the first generation of rotational boy band Super Junior.

Eunhyuk officially debuted as part of 12-member project group Super Junior 05 on 6 November 2005 on SBS's music programme Popular Songs, where the group performed their first single, "Twins (Knock Out)".

Their debut album SuperJunior05 (Twins) was released a month later on 5 December 2005 and debuted at #3 on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.

Gaining attention as the main dancer of Super Junior, he branched out with solo activities beginning as radio host through Super Junior's Kiss the Radio (2006–2011).

In March 2006, SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation.

However, plans changed and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations.

Following the addition of thirteenth member Kyuhyun, the group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior.

The re-polished group's first CD single "U" was released on 7 June 2006, which was their most successful single until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.

Through their first official album, Eunhyuk helped produce as a lyricist and wrote the rap lyrics for a majority of Super Junior's songs.

The rap lyrics to "Show Me Your Love" from the winter single with TVXQ was written by him, along with Heechul and Shindong, and "One Love", which became his solo performance in Super Junior's first concert, Super Show.

Eunhyuk was partnered with bandmate Leeteuk as radio DJs for KBS Super Junior's Kiss The Radio (aka SUKIRA) starting on 21 August 2006.

Eunhyuk replaced Kangin as MC on Mnet's music programme M! Countdown in late 2006.

He hosted with bandmates Leeteuk and Shindong for two years and four months.

In February 2007, Eunhyuk was placed in the trot-singing sub group Super Junior-T and released the single Rokkugo.

A year later, he became a member of Super Junior-H.

Through television, Eunhyuk has also been a cast member in popular variety shows such as Star King (2009–11), Let's Go Dream Team 2 (2009–2011) and Strong Heart (2009–2013).

From 2009, along with Leeteuk and Shindong, Eunhyuk was cast as a panel for Star King.

In the midst of Super Junior's growing popularity through their 3rd studio album Sorry, Sorry, Eunhyuk became a variety member of Strong Heart, where they hosted special segment, Boom Academy with comedian Boom.

He became a member on KBS' Dream Team, an athletic competition show and guested on Intimate Note, Fantasy Couple, Miracle and Introduce The Star's Friend.

In 2011, he joined Super Junior's Mandopop subgroup Super Junior-M and the duo Super Junior-D&E, active in China and Japan respectively.

With the exception of four months from March to June 2011, where bandmate Yesung temporarily replaced Eunhyuk, while he was away on promotional activities for Super Junior-M's third EP Perfection.

After Super Junior's Devil promotions, he enlisted for military service between 2015 and 2017.

Returning to work with a focus on more prominent roles, he was sanctioned as a concert director for various artists, transitioning to be a performance director and dance mentor in Under Nineteen (2018–2019) as well as become the main host of long-running idol program Weekly Idol (2020–2023).

Eunhyuk was born in Neunggok, Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea.

He has an older sister called Lee So-ra.

Raised in a family that struggled financially, he was interested in street performing as a child.

Inspired by the likes of H.O.T's Jang Woo-Hyuk, Michael Jackson and singer-dancer Yoo Seung-jun, Eunhyuk trained himself at a young age.

In elementary school he started a dance crew, 'SRD', which stood for Song Rap and Dance.

The group consisted of him and his childhood friends Kim Junsu, Hwang Tae Jun, and Choi Min Seok.

The crew's popularity prospered in their hometown; and when SRD appeared in a local newspaper, it was then that Eunhyuk cemented his dream to become a singer/performer.