Sungmin

Sungmin was born in the Annyang district of Hogae, Gyeonggi. He has a younger brother, Lee Sungjin.^[1] He entered the 2001 SM Youth Best Contest and jointly won first place for the Best Outward Appearance award with future band mate Donghae. Together, they signed a contract with SM Entertainment and began to receive training in singing, dancing, and acting.
In 2002, Sungmin was briefly placed in a project R&B group with Xiah and future band mate Eunhyuk. Along with Typhoon, Rose, and Attack, the six of them made their first television appearance in a show called Heejun vs. Kangta, Battle of the Century: Pop vs. Rock Moon Hee-jun taught Typhoon, Rose, and Attack on how to properly sing rock while Sungmin, Xiah, and Eunhyuk were taught other singing techniques by Kangta. The six trainees quickly separated a year later, however, when Typhoon, Rose, and Attack debuted as member of rock band TRAX and Xiah debuted as a member of TVXQ. Both Sungmin and Eunhyuk joined ten other trainees and formed the group Super Junior 05, being the first generation of the rotational boy band Super Junior. Right before Super Junior debuted, Sungmin made a brief appearance on the MBC drama Sisters of the Sea, playing young Kang Dong-shin.

Career

Super Junior

See also: Super Junior's musical career

Super Junior 05 officially debuted on November 6, 2005 on SBS's music program Popular Songs, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)". Their debut performance attracted over 500 fans and also garnered oversea viewers from both China and Japan. A full studio album was released a month later, which debuted at #3 on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.^[2]
In March 2006, SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation. However, plans changed when the company added in a thirteenth member, Kyuhyun, and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations. The group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior. The re-polished group hit big after they released their first CD single "U" the following summer, which became Super Junior's most successful single in the music charts until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.
During his career with Super Junior, Sungmin has been put into three subgroups, smaller groups that are branched off of the larger main group. In February 2007, Sungmin was placed in the trot-singing Super Junior-T. A year later, he became a member of Super Junior-Happy. In 2011, he was also placed as one of the two new members of Super Junior-M along with Eunhyuk.

Acting

Sungmin played young Kang Dong-shin in the MBC drama Sea of the Sisters in early 2005, right before the debut of Super Junior. A year later, Sungmin guest starred in SBS's Banjun Theatre drama Finding Lost Time and played as Micky's high school friend.
Sungmin's first big-scale film was the Super Junior film Attack on the Pin-Up Boys, an SM Pictures production that premiered for the first time in July 2007. He played the role of a pretty school boy who later gets attacked by an unknown criminal.
In early 2008, Sungmin participated in a short half-hour drama Super Junior Unbelievable Story with Leeteuk. Sungmin starred as himself, a member of the popular group Super Junior-T who is constantly overshadowed by his members.
In 2009, he was cast in the musical "Akilla" starring as the main lead, Ro.
In 2010, he was cast in the musical "Hongildong" starring as the main lead, Hongildong, with bandmate Yesung.
SM Entertainment recently announced that Sungmin was casted in the KBS drama "President" as Jang Sungmin, the ambitious son of Jang Il Joon the president. The drama will air on December 15, 2010 in KBS2-TV.

MC

Sungmin replaced band mate Kangin as one of the key DJs of Reckless Radio and was hosting it with Sooyoung of Girls' Generation in the later half of 2007. On February 3, 2008, Sooyoung's band mate Sunny replaced her position. The program ended in late July 2008.

Other activities

In October 2010, Sungmin was one of the twenty idols from different South Korean groups that recorded the song, "Let's Go", for the purpose of increase public participation in 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. He provided vocals along with label-mates Seohyun, Jonghyun and Luna.^[3]

Discography

Further information: Super Junior discography