Siwon was born and raised in a strict Protestant family in Seoul, South Korea. He has a younger sister, Choi Jiwon. His family owns one of Korea's largest supermarket chains in Seoul.
In 2003 when Siwon was 16, he was scouted by a talent agent and was recommended to audition for the Starlight Casting System to be an entertainer. Interested in an entertainment career, Siwon auditioned despite his parents' initial disapproval. After Siwon passed his
audition, his father allowed him to sign under the talent agency SM Entertainment under the agreement that Siwon would remain as a full-time student. He also told Siwon that he would not offer him any help, wanting Siwon to learn life lessons by working independently.[3]
Siwon began taking private singing, dancing, and acting lessons a few months after the SM audition. In late 2003, Siwon moved into dormitories with fellow trainees and began to attend training classes with them. That same year, he made his first media appearance in The Grace member, Dana's "What Is Love" music video. In 2005, Siwon made a brief appearance in the KBS drama Eighteen, Twenty-Nine as the young Kang Bong-man.
[edit] Music career
See also: Super Junior's musical career
Not long after Siwon's first television appearance, SM Entertainment released an announcement that he would officially debut as one of the twelve members in a boy band. This band later became officially known as Super Junior 05, the first generation of the rotational music group Super Junior. A few months before the debut of Super Junior 05, Siwon made his first official media appearance with band mate Han Geng as a runway model in a fashion show by Bum Suk.
Super Junior 05 offically 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.[4]
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.
In late 2007, Siwon was put into Super Junior-M, the Chinese subgroup version of Super Junior. Super Junior-M is the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both Chinese and Korean descent, and brought an influence in the mainland music industry to produce multi-national music groups.[5] Super Junior-M debuted in China on April 8, 2008 at the 8th Annual Music Chart Awards with the release of their first single music video, "U". The subgroup released their first Chinese-language studio album, Me on May 2, 2008 to critical success. The album debuted on Taiwan's G-music combo charts as #2 and #1 on many of China's and Thailand's music charts.[6]
[edit] Acting career
After Siwon's appearance in Eighteen, Twenty-Nine, he was casted in a larger role for the mini-series Spring Waltz, playing the supporting role Park Sang-woo, the teenage cousin of a diligent and working young woman. Not long after Siwon's musical debut, he was casted in a large supporting role in the Hong Kong epic film A Battle of Wits starring opposite Andy Lau. The cast promoted the movie throughout China with a short tour of four cities in November 2006.[7] While the film received mixed reviews, Siwon garnered positive notices for his performance. He also received praises from co-star Lau, stating that Siwon is a wonderful actor and that he sets a good example for young Hong Kong idols.[8]
Half a year after the release of A Battle of Wits, Siwon starred in the high school mystery/comedy film Attack on the Pin-Up Boys with other Super Junior members. He played the lead role as a controlling and severe class president who was one of the popular possible subjects of being attacked by mysterious forces. Despite positive critical ratings, that film did not do well in the box-office, but all four versions of the film's DVD were all sold out and broke chart records.[9] Few months later, Siwon was cast in mini-drama Legend of Hyang Dan as the lead role, Lee Mong-ryong.
[edit] Personal life
Siwon continued his education after his debut with Super Junior in 2005. He graduated from Hyun Dae High School in February 2006 and later went on to attend Inha University. For continuity of his role in A Battle of Wits, his company arranged him to travel to Beijing, China in 2004 to learn about the country's language and history and studied there for three months before his return to Korea to prepare for his debut in Super Junior a year later.
Siwon is also a drummer, having performed with his senior label mates TRAX in September 2006 on SBS's music show Popular Songs due to the fact that their drummer, Rose, had left the band. He is skilled in Taekwondo and became the youngest in Korea holding the fourth rank in the black belt.
[edit] Discography
Main article: Super Junior discography
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Film
Year Title Role Other notes
2006 A Battle of Wits
墨攻 Liang Shi
梁適
2007 Attack on the Pin-Up Boys
꽃미남 연쇄 테러 사건 himself limited release in South Korea
[edit] Television series
Year Title Role Network Other notes
2005 Eighteen, Twenty-Nine
열여덟 스물아홉 young Kang Bong-man KBS Cameo role
Precious Family
부모님 전상서 KBS
2006 Spring Waltz
봄의 왈츠 Park Sang-woo KBS
2007 Legend of Hyang Dan
봄의 왈츠 Lee Mong-ryong MBC
2009 Stage of Youth
青春舞台 himself CCTV2 Guest star (Ep. 12)
[edit] Music video appearances
2003: "What is Love" – DANA
2006: "Timeless" – Zhang Liyin (Feat. Xiah of TVXQ)
2008: "Star Wish (I WILL)" – Zhang Liyin
2008: "The Left Shore of Happiness" – Zhang Liyin
2009: "Fireflies" – Ariel Lin
[edit] References
^ link
^ "Super Junior-M to appear on postage stamps" (in Korean). Newsen: pp. 1. 2008-12-08. link. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
^ Episode from "Behind Story"
^ "Album Sales of December 2005" (in Korean). Recording Industry Association of Korea: pp. 1. link. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
^ (Chinese) Jinhua.cn. Super Junior debuts today, Han Geng as group leader April 8, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
^ (Chinese) Top in Music
^ "Actor Choi Si-won Set to Become Next-Generation Korean Star". KBS Global. 2006-11-23. link. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
^ (Chinese) "Choi Siwon A Battle of Wits receives attention, receives praise from Andy Lau". Sina.com. 2006-11-23. link. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
^ (Chinese) 釜山电影节10月4日开幕 将举办 "SM之夜" August 20, 2007. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
[edit] External links
SM Entertainment Official Site
Choi Siwon Official Site
Super Junior Official Site
Super Junior Official Avex Site (Chinese)
Super Junior Official Japanese Site (Japanese)
Super Junior-M Official Site
Super Junior-M Official Avex Site (Chinese)
Super Junior-M Official Blog (Chinese)
mps
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