Choi Si-won (born February 10, 1987, sometimes mononymously credited as Siwon, is a Korean pop singer and actor. He is a member of super boy band Super Junior and its subgroup, Super Junior-M. Siwon is best known for his role in the 2006 Hong Kong historical action film A Battle of Wits as young Prince Liang Shi, as well as the lead male in the Korean drama Oh My Lady! opposite actress Chae Rim. Siwon can speak Korean, basic Mandarin, and very little Cantonese (Shown in his Hong Kong interview), as well as a little Japanese. He is also one of the first four Korean artists to be on Chinese postage stamps.
Early life
Siwon was born and raised in an affluent, strict Protestant family in Seoul, South Korea. He was scouted by a talent agent when he was 16, who recommended him to audition for the Starlight Casting System to become an entertainer. Siwon's parents disapproved him pursuing in an entertainment career, so he had to secretly audition. He successfully passed auditions, and after consideration, his parents allowed him to sign under the talent agency SM Entertainment. Siwon said that although his father allowed him to sign the contract, he would not give any help to his son.[3] He later moved into dormitories with fellow trainees and he was trained in areas of singing, acting, and dancing. He made his first appearance in a music video of The Grace's Dana when he was still a solo singer in 2003. A year after, he made a brief appearance in the short drama, Precious Family. In 2005, Siwon made a brief appearance in the KBS drama Eighteen, Twenty-Nine as the young Kang Bong-man.
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 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.[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 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]
He also appeared in Girl's Generation music video "Hoot".
Acting career
After Siwon's appearances in Eighteen, Twenty-Nine and Precious Family, 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] A few months later, Siwon was cast in mini-drama Legend of Hyang Dan as the lead role, Lee Mong-ryong.
In January 2010, Siwon starred in the SBS drama Oh My Lady. It is a romantic comedy about a top star who finds himself living with his manager, a 35 year old woman who is trying to earn money to have custody of her child. This was Siwon's first lead role in two years. He also starred as Agent Kim Jun-Ho, a data analyst in the drama Athena, a spin-off of drama Iris.
Siwon is scheduled in April 2011 to film Taiwanese drama Extravagant Challenge (traditional Chinese: 華麗的挑戰) with Ivy Chen and fellow band member Donghae as the three main characters. It is a live-action adaptation of Japanese shōjo manga Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura to be shot in Taiwan.[10]
Modeling Career
Siwon is best known for his handsome appearance and muscular physique. Apart from acting and Super Junior, Siwon has also appeared in various catalogs and commercials. He modeled along of girl group F(x) (band) in the March 3rd 2010 André Kim fashion show. He has also been featured in notable magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Men's Health, as well as modeling for large brand names such as Armani, Lacoste, Gucci, Evisu, and several other brands. He also recently endorsed and modeled for the SK Telesys "Reaction" smart phone, also appearing in the phone's commercial.
Personal life
Siwon continued his education after his debut with Super Junior in 2005. He graduated from Gu Jeong 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 along with labelmate Hyoyeon of Girls' Generation in 2004 to learn about the country's language and history. He studied there for three months before his return to Korea to prepare for his debut in Super Junior a year later.
Siwon is a devout Christian, and he hails from a wealthy family. He is also a drummer, having performed with his senior label mates TRAX in September 2006 on SBS's music showPopular 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. He has a younger sister named Choi Jiwon.
On May 18, 2010, Siwon underwent surgery to remove his inflamed salivary gland. He had been taking anti-inflammatory medicine for the inflammation during filming for the SBS dramaOh My Lady. However, his condition worsened and he had to undergo an operation for it.
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