Choi Min-ho

Choi was discovered at the SM Casting System in 2006[3] and modeled for Ha Sang-beg's Seoul Collection F/W 08–09 in March 2008.[4] One month later, Choi was chosen as a member of the group Shinee. The five-member boy group debuted on May 25, 2008, on SBS' Inkigayo.[5] The group's first mini-album, Replay, was released on May 22 [6] and debuted on the Korean music charts MIAK at #10[7] and peaked at #8.[8]

In 2009 and 2010, Choi appeared in both the Korean and Japanese versions of Girls' Generation's music video "Gee".[9] He was also featured in the music video of VNT's debut song "Sound" in 2010.[10] In 2009, Choi joined the popular show Let's Go! Dream Team as a regular cast member.[11]

In 2010, Choi made his acting debut in KBS2's drama special, entitled Pianist, with actress Han Ji-hye.[2]

In 2011, Choi was cast in SBS' sitcom, Salamander Guru and The Shadows. He played the role of a genius hacker.[12]

In 2012, Choi was confirmed to take on the lead role, alongside f(x)'s Sulli and Lee Hyun-woo, in To the Beautiful You, a Korean adaptation of the manga Hana-Kimi.[13][14] The drama started broadcasting on August 15, 2012, on SBS.[15] In preparation for his role as a high jump gold medalist, Choi received personal training from coach Kim Tae-young, former national high jump athlete and a member of the Korea Association of Athletics Federations, for a month and a half.[16] His personal record at the moment is 175 cm.[17]

In September 2012, Shinee's former rap instructor JQ praised Choi's writing ability and pointed out that he has many good ideas and "a few genius moments here and there". He was especially pleased with Choi's rap lyrics for Shinee's lead single "Juliette" in 2009.[18] Choi has been participating in the rap making of Shinee's songs since debut and has written and co-written several of the rap lyrics for Shinee's earlier songs like "Love's Way", "Love Like Oxygen", "Graze", and "Best Place" in Shinee's debut album The Shinee World. In addition to Shinee's second extended play Romeo, he assisted JQ with "Talk to You" and "Juliette" in the rap making.[18]

In December 2012, Choi became part of dance project group SM The Performance alongside labelmates from TVXQ, Super Junior, Shinee, and Exo.[19]

In July 2013, Choi returned to the small screen with MBC's Medical Top Team.[20] The drama received low ratings and was criticized for trying to tell too many stories at once and losing the main focal point of the story.[21] However, Choi's acting performance received a positive response and was praised for his growth as an actor.[22]

In 2015, Choi was cast as the lead in OnStyle's drama My First Time together with actress Park So-dam, which was broadcast in September. It was the first drama premiered by OnStyle, with a total of eight episodes.[23][24]

Choi at the press conference for the movie Derailed in November, 2016.

In early 2016, Choi extended his popularity as an actor. He was cast in several projects, including a historical Korean drama entitled Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth, which began airing on December 19, 2016, on KBS2.[25] His debut movie project titled Canola, alongside Youn Yuh-jung and Kim Go-eun and directed by Yoon Hong-seung (pseudonym Chang), was filmed in 2015 and released on the big screen in May 2016.[26][27][28] He was cast in a supporting role in a film entitled The Princess and the Matchmaker, led by Lee Seung-gi and Shim Eun-kyung. The movie is the second installment in a planned trilogy by Jupiter Films after the 2013 box-office hit The Face Reader.[29][30] Choi was then cast in the movie Derailed alongside veteran actor Ma Dong-seok, which was directed by Lee Seong-tae and premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[31][32] The movie had its world premiere screening at the 21st Busan International Film Festival in October 2016.[33]

In 2017, Choi took part in the JTBC web drama entitled Somehow 18 alongside Lee Yu-bi.[34][35] As a result of high online viewer ratings of more than 870,000 views, the web drama was announced to be broadcast on television through JTBC on 8 October.[36] After receiving a positive response for his acting performance in Derailed,[37] Choi was cast in science fiction action thriller Illang: The Wolf Brigade, the Korean adaptation of the Japanese anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade.[38] The film released on July 25, 2018.[39][37] In September 2017, Choi received the Special Award at the Indonesian Television Awards 2017 due to his widespread popularity in the country as well as for his performances in various dramas. Choi was the first Korean artist to be presented an award at the show.[40][41] On 15 November, Choi was included in Vogue's list of the "Sexiest Men Alive".[42] Later that year, Choi was cast in a four episode mini drama The Most Beautiful Goodbye, which is a remake of the 1996 drama of the same name.[43]

In 2019, Choi held a fan meeting tour, Best Choi's Minho, covering four cities: Seoul on February 16, Tokyo on February 23–24, Bangkok on March 2 and Taipei on March 3, 2019.[44] He concluded his tour with an additional fan meeting in Seoul on March 30.[45] Choi released his debut solo single, "I'm Home", as part of SM Station on March 28.[46] He joined the Marine Corps on April 15 for his mandatory military enlistment.[46][47] The Republic of Korea Marine Corps recognized Choi as an "exemplary marine soldier" for forgoing early discharge to participate in defense drills.[48] Choi completed his military service on November 15, 2020.[49]

In January 2021, Choi resumed activities as part of Shinee.[50] He also ramped up participation in various shows including a special appearance in web series Lovestruck in the City[51] and main role in reality show Law of the Jungle – Pioneers.[52] In September 2021, Choi debuted as a radio host on Naver Now's broadcast of Best Choice, a sports talk-variety where Minho, well known as an "athletic idol," delivers various sports news and talks with fans and various guests about "his favorite things."[53]

On December 21, 2021, Choi held the fan meeting Best Choi's Minho 2021 offline in Seoul and online through Beyond Live.[54] Choi released his first solo single, "Heartbreak", on the same day.[55]

In 2011, he was named an Honorary Ambassador for Youth 2011.[60] In 2014, Choi and Yoona were appointed as UNICEF Unihero Campaign Ambassadors "Giving Hope to the Children".[61] In the same year, he was listed among the Top Korean Stars, receiving 300 million won as his annual advertising rate.[62] In 2016, Choi was part of UNICEF's "#Imagine" campaign, which was first introduced in November 2014 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child.[63]

In 2015, Choi was selected as a model for NY luxury fashion brand Coach alongside Choi Soo-young and Victoria Song.[64] He attended the Coach 2016 S/S fashion show in New York.[65] Furthermore, he attended Gucci's 2017 F/W fashion show in Milan and Givenchy's 2018 fashion show in Paris,[66] where he was listed among the best dressed celebrities.[67]

In November 2017, Choi together with the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump attended the "Girls Play 2" campaign at the US embassy in Korea, an event organised to promote the 2018 Winter Olympics.[68][69]

In 2018, Choi was chosen as the official face of the Korea Sale Festa, the largest shopping event in Korea, becoming the first-ever Korean idol to promote it.[70]

In July 2021, the Korean Professional Football Federation appointed Choi as one of five K-League Ambassadors to help promote the league to the public.[71]

In 2022, the Korea Creative Content Agency together with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism unveiled the second part of their immersive cultural project "Age of Light" in which Choi is appeared as a virtual figure in the artificial intelligence experience booth, "Gwanghwa In".[72] Pernod Ricard Korea announced in January of the same year that they selected Ju Ji-hoon and Choi as the new brand ambassadors of the modern classic scotch whisky brand Ballantine's and launched the new global campaign "Time Well Spent".[73]

All songwriting credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database[79] and liner notes unless otherwise noted.