Jang Wooyoung

Born and raised in Busan, Wooyoung enjoyed dancing from a young age but was forced to hide his interest from his father, who had strongly disapproved of his ambitions to become a dancer due to the lack of job stability. In 2007, he secretly applied for JYP Entertainment's first open audition and uploaded clips himself dancing on the website mgoon, an early domestic predecessor of YouTube. He eventually beat thousands of applicants and placed first, with future Highlight member Yoon Doo-joon placing second.^[2][3] The final 2PM member to join JYP Entertainment as a trainee, he moved to Seoul to begin training and attended Seoul Arts College as a dance major.^[4] He was one of thirteen male trainees chosen to participate in Hot Blooded Men, a survival program that would eventually form the groups 2AM and 2PM.^[5]

On September 4, 2008, Wooyoung debuted as part of 2PM in their first single "10 Points out of 10 Points" ("10점 만점에 10점") from their single album Hottest Time of the Day. They have released six studio albums in Korea and four studio albums in Japan.

 

On May 24, 2012, it was revealed that Wooyoung would have released a solo album in early July.^{[6][unreliable source?]} On June 28, he performed the title track "Sexy Lady" at the Mnet 20's Choice awards.^{[7][unreliable source?]} His first solo mini-album 23, Male, Single was released on July 8^{[8][unreliable source?]} and included two self-composed songs by fellow 2PM members, Junho and Jun.K.^{[9][unreliable source?]} In September 2012, Wooyoung, along with JY Park, Taecyeon and miss A's Suzy, promoted the clothing line Reebok's Classic Campaign with a collaboration song named "Classic".^{[10][unreliable source?]} On June 9, 2014, Wooyoung released two duets: "Two Hands Clasped" with Park Se-young,^{[11][unreliable source?]} and "Fireflies' Glow" with lel.^{[12][unreliable source?]}

On March 4, 2015, he made his solo debut in Japan with the single R.O.S.E, preceded by a tour of concerts in Tokyo, Osaka, and Aichi in February.^{[13][unreliable source?][14][unreliable source?]} He released music videos for tracks "R.O.S.E" and "Happy Birthday", and, in April, the music video for the Korean version of "R.O.S.E". In 2017, he released two extended plays in Japan: Party Shots in April and Mada boku wa... in October.

Wooyoung, along with fellow 2PM member Taecyeon, hosted SBS's music show Inkigayo from July 2009^{[15][unreliable source?]} to July 2010. On February 2, 2010, he was named a sub-MC for Kim Seung-woo's KBS talk show Win Win alongside Girls' Generation's Taeyeon, Kim Shin-young, and Choi Hwa-jung. He received praise as a genius in the making for his natural MC style and quick wit.^[16] He left the show on August 3, along with Taeyeon, to focus on 2PM's first concert.^{[17][unreliable source?]}

In February, he was a mentor of the reality show Fantasy Boys which aired from March 30 to June 8.^[18]

Wooyoung debuted as an actor in the 2011 KBS drama series Dream High, in which he played the role of Jason, a Korean-American. His performance in the drama made him famous for the English line "Is it my turn already?"; he had help from fellow 2PM members Taecyeon and Nichkhun with his English due to their both being experienced in the language.^{[19][20][unreliable source?]} After his drama debut in Dream High, Wooyoung expressed a desire to continue acting while maintaining a musical career. A representative for JYP Entertainment noted the future opportunities, saying "We're planning to continue Wooyoung's acting career when he receives another great project. He was worried before Dream High began filming and often wondered whether he'd be able to act, but we believe that he's gained a lot of confidence since then. He's gotten very interested in the acting field, so we plan to continue his acting career, along with fellow member Taecyeon's."^{[21][unreliable source?]}

In September 2011, Wooyoung and Dream High co-star Suzy made a cameo appearance in the KBS Drama Special Human Casino.^{[22][unreliable source?]} The two idols played the role of a couple caught up in gambling scandals. Their scene wasn't a part of the actual drama but was rather featured towards the end with the rolling credits. The producer stated, "I told these two that I was starting a new project and they told me they wanted to visit, so I thought of giving them a small cameo role."^[23]

Wooyoung trained actress Kim Gyu-ri for her performance on MBC's Dancing With the Stars in July 2011. Netizens praised his talents as a dancer for having the chance to teach others about them.^[24]

For 2PM's tours in 2011 (Hands Up Asia Tour and Republic of 2PM), Junho and Wooyoung performed a duet that Junho wrote, while Wooyoung choreographed and designed their outfits.^[25]

In 2011, Taecyeon and Wooyoung modelled for the fall collection of the clothing brand Evisu,^[26] and in 2012 for the spring-summer collection.^{[27][unreliable source?]} In September he modeled for Reebok's Classic Campaign.^{[28][unreliable source?][29][unreliable source?]} In August 2014, Wooyoung was announced as new face of Recipe Cosmetics.^{[30][unreliable source?]}

In 2009, he began studying broadcasting at Howon University.^[31]

Wooyoung enlisted in the Army for his mandatory military service on July 9, 2018.^[32] He was supposed to be discharged on February 28, 2020.^[33] However, on February 25, a representative from JYP Entertainment confirmed that Wooyoung was already discharged, a few days earlier than his scheduled discharge date, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea.^[34]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jang Wooyoung.

• Official website (in Korean)