Kang Seung-yoon (Korean: 강승윤; born (1994-01-21)January 21, 1994), also known mononymously as Seungyoon or Yoon, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and leader of boy band Winner. His appearance on the reality television singing contest Superstar K2 (2010) rose him to prominence after finishing in fourth place. The digital single "Instinctively", became his first number-one single as a soloist and neared 2 million digital copies in sales. On January 12, 2011, he signed with South Korean label YG Entertainment and officially debuted as a solo artist on July 16, 2013, with the digital single "It Rains" (비가 온다) and as the leader of Winner on August 17, 2014.
Kang ventured into acting through the sitcom, High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged (2011). His first lead role with the web series, We Broke Up (2015) earned his first award in the field with "Best Male Actor" awarded by the K-web Fest Awards. His roles in Prison Playbook (2017) and Kairos (2020) further solidified his career as an actor. Kang also served as the "122nd Masked King" on MBC's King of Mask Singer under the alias "Chow Yun-fat". He achieved a record-breaking six consecutive wins, earning him the titles: "The First 6-Time Idol Champion" and "The Youngest Champion" at the time.
Life and career
1994–2009: Early life
Kang Seung-yoon was born in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, on January 21, 1994, as a Catholic with the baptismal name Don Bosco and as an only child. Raised by his single mother, his parents divorced within the early portion of his childhood and was no longer in contact with his father who chose to depart from their lives until news of his death was relayed long after his death. His mother owned a business but suffered financially from balancing out the accumulated debt. It resulted in her entire profits being allocated towards the debt and so, was in need to borrow more money for additional costs which in turn, resulted in both further liabilities and a bad credit rating and brought more hardship.
In school, he excelled in mathematics with an IQ of 141; however, in his second year of middle school, he became a victim of bullying by those he considered "friends" and dropped out of middle school after he developed social anxiety. In this period of time, he learned to play the classical guitar from an academy and briefly took classes for billiards where he encountered a man 5–6 years older than him who later helped with his anxiety. He then decided to pursue a career as a classical guitarist juxtaposed to his choices as a child which included to delve into politics, become a scientist, a comic book writer or a billiards player – which he became the eventual regional youth representative of and actively played until first year of high school. He took the GED examination for middle school and enrolled at Busan High School of Arts with a major in classic guitar but later considered to be a singer. Kang graduated in 2012.
2010–2013: Commercial success and solo debut
17-year-old Kang (Korean age) attended the regional preliminary audition for Superstar K2 (2010). Initially reluctant due to conflict in perception of using mass media to gain fame opposed to becoming successful without it, he yielded at his friend's request when asked to audition with him, and so, took guitar lessons to further hone his skills three months prior to it. Kang passed the preliminaries with "This Time" by Jonathan Rhys Meyers and overall placed fourth behind Huh Gak, John Park and Jang Jae-in amongst over 1,350,000 applicants. His rendition of "Instinctively" (본능적으로; bonneungjeog-eulo) by Yoon Jong-shin in his last stage received praise by both judges and audience alike. Its digital release led Kang to his first number-one single as a solo artist and neared 2 million digital copies in sales. Its success won him, "Rookie of the Year" at the Gaon Chart Awards and "Rookie of the Month (October)" at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards. CEO Yang Hyun-suk of YG Entertainment and Psy invited Kang to a meeting to propose an offer to join them under a trainee status. Kang signed with them on January 12, 2011, and began training on March 9. He explained: "Since Superstar K2 ended, there were a lot of offers. Some said they would make me a star of Asia, and some offered a great amount of money for a contract. I chose YG Entertainment because this agency evaluated me objectively, unlike others I was viewed as an actual trainee."
In the midst of his trainee period, Kang participated as the fourth artist to release the original soundtrack for Midas (2011). "You Are Heaven" (니가 천국이다; niga cheongug-ida) topped both real-time and daily South Korean music streaming platforms, which include Genie, and peaked at number 11 on the Gaon Digital Chart. That same year, he received an offer to audition for High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged (2011), which hundreds of individuals lined up for. With no prior experience in acting, Kang auditioned in his Busan dialect and later met with the writers. Although they did not have a place for him amongst the current roles, a new role was specifically curated for him in spurt of the moment. Kang starred alongside Lee Jong-suk and Krystal Jung. In correlation to its soundtrack he collaborated with Lee Juck on "Smile, My Love" (웃어라 그대; useola geudae) which entered the Gaon Digital Chart at number 79. The third installation of the "High Kick" series aired from September 19, 2011, to March 29, 2012.
On June 20, 2013, Yang Hyun-suk announced 19-year-old Kang would debut as a solo artist with the digital single, "Wild and Young", composed by Teddy Park. On July 15, it was revealed to be postponed and instead the next day another digital single in the format of a pre-release entitled "It Rains" (비가 온다; biga onda) was released. The single achieved an "all-kill" which placed number-one on all music streaming platforms in South Korea, including Melon and Mnet, and debuted at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. His second digital single, "Wild and Young" was released on July 31, with the accompaniment of a music video and appeared on the Gaon Digital Chart at number 18. Live promotions for the single commenced on August 4 from Inkigayo. Kang released his third digital single "Stealer" (맘도둑; mamdodug) ten days later with his second music video which starred rookie actress Yoon Jin-yi. Promotions were not carried out to prevent disruption in promotion of "Wild and Young". "Stealer" debuted at thirteenth on the Gaon Digital Chart.
2014–2019: Debut with Winner and acting projects
In the Mnet survival reality broadcast WIN: Who Is Next (2013) Kang participated as a contestant. The program involved two assembles consisting of male trainees under YG Entertainment (A and B) that would compete for the chance to debut by the end of the series after embarking on a 100 day journey. Kang was allocated in "Team A" with Kim Jin-woo, Lee Seung-hoon, Song Min-ho and Nam Tae-hyun in accordance to the label. In the seventh episode of the television broadcast, he temporarily replaced Song as its leader, after he sustained an ankle injury. He became its eventual permanent leader through the appointment of Yang Hyun-suk, ensuing he witnessed growth. On October 25, "Team A" were revealed as victors of the series and would subsequently begin preparations and debut as Winner. Kang made his official debut with the five-piece band, Winner, on August 17, 2014. The band's success upon debut was recorded as "unprecedented" by media outlets, having made their mark in the industry that early on in its career. Kang also participated in Superstar K2 judge panelist Yoon Jong-shin's Monthly project with Song for the digital single, "Wild Boy".
The singer-turned-thespian returned to acting since his last project High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged (2011), with the web drama We Broke Up (2015). He starred as its male lead with label-mate Sandara Park as his counterpart. The series was aired from June 29…