Kim Jong-in (Korean: 김종인; born January 14, 1994), known professionally as Kai (카이), is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Exo and South Korean supergroup SuperM. He debuted as a soloist on November 30, 2020, with his first extended play (EP) Kai and has since released three more EPs, Peaches, Rover and Wait On Me. He is recognized for his dancing in South Korea and K-pop.
Apart from his musical career, Kai has also starred in various television dramas such as Andante (2017), Spring Has Come (2018) and The Miracle We Met (2018). He has also been a host and cast member for various television and web variety shows such as Changing Majors.
Kai is regarded by various publications as a fashion icon and has been a brand ambassador, muse and model for several brands, such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty, Lacoste, and others.
Early life
Kai was born on January 14, 1994, in Suncheon, South Korea, as the youngest member of his family, with two older sisters. Despite his parents initially wanting him to learn Taekwondo and the piano, Kai began to train in ballet while in third grade after watching The Nutcracker, and started jazz dancing when he was eight years old in the fourth grade of elementary school. His father, now deceased, was the most important benefactor of his encounter with dance, which was of great significance to his life, according to a film about his growth story featured in Gucci's 2019 film series "The Performers". Kai attended high school at School of Performing Arts Seoul, from which he graduated in 2012.
Career
2011–15: Debut and career beginnings
In 2007, encouraged by his father, Kai participated in and won SM Entertainment's Youth Best Contest and signed with the company at the age of thirteen years old. He then began training in hip-hop dance. On December 23, 2011, SM announced Kai as the first member of the company's upcoming boy group, Exo. He made his first televised performance alongside fellow Exo members Luhan, Chen and Tao as well as other SM artists at the year-end music program SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 29, 2011. The group officially debuted in April 2012 and has since gained significant popularity and commercial success.
In October 2012, Kai participated in the promotional group Younique Unit alongside labelmates Eunhyuk, Henry, Hyoyeon, Taemin and Luhan. The group released a single titled "Maxstep" as part of the collaboration between SM Entertainment and Hyundai. Later in December 2012, he joined the dance group SM The Performance, along with fellow member Lay, TVXQ's Yunho, Super Junior's Eunhyuk and Donghae, Shinee's Minho and Taemin. The group first made its appearance at the event SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 29, and performed their single "Spectrum". The single was officially released the next day. In August 2014, Kai was featured in the song "Pretty Boy" from Shinee member Taemin's debut album.
2016–2019: Acting career and SuperM
In January 2016, Kai made his acting debut as the male lead in the web drama Choco Bank, which achieved record-breaking viewership. In December 2016, he starred in two episodes of the special web drama 7 First Kisses which was produced by Lotte Duty Free. In January 2017, Kai was announced to be starring as the male lead in the KBS teen drama Andante, playing a high school student. In February 2017, he was cast in the Japanese drama Spring Has Come, based on the Japanese novel of the same name. The drama marks the first time a non-Japanese actor taking a lead role on a drama produced by the broadcasting station Wowow.
On February 25, 2018, Kai performed a solo dance at the ending ceremonies of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics before joining the Exo members for a performance of "Growl" and "Power".
In February 2018, it was announced Kai was cast as Ato in the KBS melodrama The Miracle We Met. When asked why Kai was cast, the show's writer stated, "Since Ato himself is from the divine realm, we cast an actor with the image of a male god." For his performance, Kai was nominated for Best New Actor at the 32nd KBS Drama Awards.
On August 7, 2019, Kai was confirmed to be a member of SuperM, a "K-pop supergroup" created by SM Entertainment in collaboration with Capitol Records. The group's promotions are scheduled to begin in October and are aimed at the American market. SuperM debuted with the group's self-titled debut EP on October 4, 2019.
2020–2022: Solo debut and variety activities
On July 3, 2020, SM Entertainment announced that Kai's first solo album was currently under production with the goal of being released in the second half of 2020. On November 30, 2020, Kai released his debut extended play Kai and its lead single "Mmmh". The album peaked at number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart and has been certified Platinum by the KMCA. On November 30, 2021, Kai released his second extended play Peaches and its lead single of the same name. The album peaked at number 3 on the Gaon Album Chart and has also been certified Platinum.
In 2021, Kai became an active entertainer in Korean variety shows, joining the cast of shows such as New World, Honeymoon Tavern, Idol Dictation Contest and The Devil Wears Jungnam. One of the producers of New World praised Kai's participation on the show, saying "[Kai] is really good at entertainment." At the 2022 Blue Dragon Series Awards, Kai won Best New Male Entertainer for New World.
On November 19, 2021, Kai opened his own personal YouTube channel to share vlogs and other video content.
2022–2024: Solo activities and military enlistment
Throughout 2022, Kai performed at several K-pop festivals as a soloist, starting with Kpop Flex in Frankfurt on May 14 and 15. On June 24th, Kai performed at the Waterbomb Festival in Seoul. He headlined HallyuPopFest London on July 10 and HallyuPopFest Australia on August 14. He joined other SM Entertainment artists for the SMTOWN LIVE 2022: SMCU EXPRESS @TOKYO shows on August 27–29th.
In February 2022, a new original variety show Kai's Bucket List was announced with five episodes being released. In the show, Kai goes on a trip to Gangwon-do with friends and enjoys various extreme sports, camping, water activities, and spending time healing. In December 2022, Kai participated in the release of the song "Hot & Cold" alongside other SM Entertainment artists Red Velvet's Seulgi, Aespa's Karina and NCT Jeno for the 2022 Winter SMTOWN: SMCU PALACE album.
In January 2023, Kai conducted the solo concert tour KAI Japan Special Live 2023 in three cities in Japan. In February 2023, SM Entertainment confirmed that Kai plans to release a new solo album Rover on March 13. On March 13, Kai released his third extended play Rover and its lead single of the same name. For Rover, Kai won his first music show award as a solo artist on Music Bank, followed by a second award on Show! Music Core.
On May 4, 2023, SM Entertainment announced that Kai would have a fan meeting titled, "Kai's aKAIve", at YES24 Live Hall on May 9 at 19:00 (KST) and also broadcast live on Exo's official YouTube channel, two days before he enlisted to the military.
On February 14, 2024, SM Entertainment subsidiary Studio Realive and AmazeVR released "LYNK-POP The VR Concert – Kai", a virtual reality concert filmed before Kai started his military enlistment. The VR concert was released exclusively in theaters at Megabox COEX in Seoul and ran for three weeks. On the opening day, the film boasted a high seating rate of 74.62%, and even recorded a repeat viewing rate of nearly 15% from the first day of release. It garnered a positive response online, recording over 300 blog reviews and near-perfect scores, including a 10-point rating from Megabox audiences, a 98% re-watch rate in an internal survey, and a 99.9% recommendation rate. The Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri watched the film while visiting Seoul.
2025–present: Solo and group activities
On February 11, 2025, a day after Kai's discharged from the military, he…