Park Jung-min

Biography

Park Jung-Min (Korean: 박정민; Hanja: 朴政珉; born: April 3, 1987) is a South Korean singer, entertainer, actor, and a member of boyband SS501. In 2009, Park made his musical debut in Grease as Danny Park, where he received the Best New Musical Talent award by the Golden Ticket Awards. He also had his acting debut as a main lead in Human Theater 2010. In 2010, Park opened his own online shopping mall called Royal Avenue, with him as the CEO. ONstyle Magazine created a documentary about the shopping center named What Women Want. With the expiration of the contract, Park left DSP Media, who managed him as part of SS501 and joined CNr Media as a solo artist. He made his debut as a soloist in January 2011 with single Not Alone, and had his first Japanese drama entitled Love Song In August in 2011. However, Park joined Yamaha A&R's Victor Entertainment eventually after successfully terminating his contract with CNr Media in 2012. Park speaks Korean, Japanese, and Chinese fluently. On July 2, 2015, he started his two years of military duties as a public service worker and returned on July 1, 2017.

== Biography ==

=== Early life === Park Jung-min was born on April 3, 1987, in Seoul, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and two siblings: one brother and one sister, neither of whom work in the entertainment industry. He studied in the Department of multi-media images, Major in Acting at the Kyonggi University, where he was the student council president with fellow SS501 member Kim Hyung Jun. However, because of Kim Hyung Jun's constant absence from school due to his training with DSP Media, which later became their agency, Jung Min said that he had never met Kim before SS501 was formed.

=== Pre-debut === Before his debut, Park was once a commercial model for condoms. When he was 13 years old, he was scouted by an agency and was accepted by both DSP Media and S.M. Entertainment. At that time, S.M. Entertainment told him that they were preparing a new group, but that the group consisted of many members, which according to Park was probably Super Junior since he saw them rehearsing too. Park eventually chose DSP Media because he believed that he would debut faster through DSP.

=== 2005-2009: SS501 debut ===

Park Jung Min debuted as a member of SS501 on June 8, 2005, along with their debut album entitled Warning. Their second mini album, Snow Prince was released in late 2005, five months after their debut. During this time, they also established their official fan club name, "Triple S", and its fan club color, pearl green. The group earned popularity right away as they won many rookie awards after their debut. In 2006, Jung Min hosted radio program SS501's Youngstreet on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) with fellow SS501 member, Heo Young Saeng beginning on May 1, 2006. He, then, continued to host with Kim Kyu Jong, co-SS501 member, when Heo left the program on August 21 due to a throat condition requiring laryngeal surgery. The SS501 members, except for Heo Young Saeng who was recovering from surgery, also lent their voices to the Korean version of 2006 animated film Pi's Story. SS501 soon promoted their first studio album, which was released on November 10 entitled S.T 01 Now. In late 2007, they expanded their activities in the Japanese market to challenge themselves outside Korea with the release of their Japanese single Kokoro, along with the establishment of "Triple S Japan". After the single debuted at number five, they had two more successful releases in Japan entitled Distance and SS501. In around one year in Japan, they received the Newcomer Award by Japan Gold Disc Award in January 2008; this was the first time for Korean artists to receive this award. Having built their foundation as artists in both countries, they continually released singles and albums back-and-forth such as Deja Vu in Korea and Lucky Days in Japan, both released in 2008. In 2008, he made his musical debut in Grease, playing the lead role, 'Danny Park', that the group had to stop their group activities for a short period of time. In 2009-2010, SS501 released All My Love, Solo Collection, Rebirth, and Destination consecutively before their contracts ended. In the meantime, he starred in his first acting career as a main lead entitled Human Theater 2010, playing himself as the main character in 2010.

=== 2010-2011: leaving DSP Media and solo artist === In June 2010, upon the expiration of Park Jung Min's contract with DSP Media, he signed with CNr Media on August 10, 2010, a company jointly set up by Taiwanese producer Comic-Ritz and Korean Roy Media, to embark on his solo career. CNr Media stated that SS501's activities are top priority in his contract and that they have not disbanded. He also signed with Sony Music Asia for his Asia activities after finalizing his contract on September 30, and Yamaha Music Entertainment for his Japan activities which is revealed on September 17. During this time, Park Jung Min and Kim Hyung Jun also attended the 21st Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan to present an award together with Ken Chu. Park Jung Min was the first one to release a solo album, with his debut solo single, Not Alone, on January 20, 2011. His albums are distributed in Taiwan by Sony Music Taiwan. and he even visited Taiwan and Singapore to promote it. In July 2011, he has been cast as the lead in Japanese mobile drama LISMO August's Love Song. He also contributed to KBS2's The Princess' Man OST in August, where he sang "Missing You" composed by Park Jung Wook.

=== 2012: Fondant Garden, lawsuit against CNr Media and Beautiful album === In February 2012, Park starred alongside Jian Man Shu, Kingone Wang and Lia Lee, in a Taiwanese drama named Fondant Garden, playing the lead role of Park Hee Hwan.