Choi Min-ho / Minho (최민호)

As an extremely athletic son of a famous former football coach, Choi Min-ho originally wanted to become a professional football player. The sports world’s loss is the entertainment industry's gain as SHINee’s Minho couldn't get any hotter: In 2022, he topped digital charts for his first solo album, released a movie and a Japanese variety show, and starred in a Netflix k-drama.

Photo from HanCinema

Birthday: December 9, 1991 Instagram: choiminho_1209

Recruited “from the streets” in 2006, Choi started his showbiz career as a model. Chosen with four other members, he later joined the k-pop boy band SHINee, becoming a singer, rapper, and songwriter. SHINee debuted in 2008, winning Melon Music and Seoul Music Best Newcomer Awards, MAMA (formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) Best New Male Group, and Golden Disk Album Rookie of the Year for The SHINee World. The group went on to win multi-year Disk Bonsang Awards at the Golden Disk Awards, become fashion icons, and get recognized globally.

But his talents were never limited to music. He dabbled in acting as early as 2008, making a cameo as himself in the weekend drama My Precious You starring Song Joong-ki. In 2010, Minho majored in film at Konkuk University Department of Arts and Culture, eventually graduating in 2015. During that same period (2010-2015), he co-hosted the MBC music program Show! Music Core. To promote the 2018 Winter Olympics, he attended the "Girls Play 2" campaign at the US embassy in Korea.

2016 was a critical year for him: He debuted on the big screen in Kim Go-eun and Youn Yuh-jung's melodramatic film Canola, receiving a Golden Bell Best New Actor nomination. Minho was the narrator in My Annoying Brother, a heartwarming movie starring Jo Jung-suk and Do Kyung-soo. He also appeared in Ma Dong-seok’s Derailed, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the Busan International Film Festival. At the end of the year, he was cast as a hwarang (young knight) in the popular sageuk (historical show) Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth. Out of Park Seo-joon, Park Hyung-sik, and four other actors cast as hwarang, it was with Do Ji-han (The Beauty Inside, 2015) where he had an unforgettable bickering bromance.

In 2017, he starred in the hit JTBC romance series Somehow 18 opposite Lee Yoo-bi (Yumi's Cells 1 and 2). He then joined the sci-fi thriller anime adaptation Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018), under the direction of Kim Jee-woon (The Age of Shadows, 2016).

At the end of his mandatory military service in November 2020, he resumed activities with fellow SHINee members. He made a cameo as a police officer in Ji Chang-wook's rom-com Lovestruck in the City. Reuniting with Kim Go-eun, he made a memorable appearance as the female lead’s crush in Yumi’s Cells. He joined Law of the Jungle — Pioneers as a regular member. Capitalizing on his athleticism and sports knowledge, he hosted a radio show for the first time, Naver Now’s sports talk show Best Choice.

Last year, he couldn't be any busier. Alongside Choi Ji-woo (Winter Sonata, 2002) and other stars, he joined Director Jung Bum-shik's omnibus horror movie New Normal, selected as the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival closing film (screened on July 17). With 28 other athletes, singers, and influencers, he competed in the four-episode Netflix Japanese survival show Run for the Money (aired on November 15). After its release on December 6, his first solo album Chase topped iTunes charts in 39 territories. Opposite Chae Soo-bin, he starred in the Netflix fashion k-drama The Fabulous as a freelance photo retoucher (released on December 23).

Earlier In 2023, he joined Ju Ji-hoon, Ha Jung-woo, and Yeo Jin-goo in the web series Bros on Foot.