Actor

1987-04-03 · Chungju-si, South Korea · Male

10 series in the catalog

Park Jung-Min (Korean: 박정민; Hanja: 朴政珉; born: April 3, 1987) is a South Korean singer, entertainer, actor, and a member of boyband SS501. In 2009, Park made his musical debut in Grease as Danny Park, where he received the Best New Musical Talent award by the Golden Ticket Awards. He also had his acting debut as a main lead in Human Theater 2010. In 2010, Park opened his own online shopping mall called Royal Avenue, with him as the CEO. ONstyle Magazine created a documentary about the shopping center named What Women Want. With the expiration of the contract, Park left DSP Media, who managed him as part of SS501 and joined CNr Media as a solo artist. He made his debut as a soloist in January 2011 with single Not Alone, and had his first Japanese drama entitled Love Song In August in 2011. However, Park joined Yamaha A&R's Victor Entertainment eventually after successfully terminating his contract with CNr Media in 2012. Park speaks Korean, Japanese, and Chinese fluently. On July 2, 2015, he started his two years of military duties as a public service worker and returned on July 1, 2017.

Early life

Park Jung-min was born on April 3, 1987, in Seoul, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and two siblings: one brother and one sister, neither of whom work in the entertainment industry.

He studied in the Department of multi-media images, Major in Acting at the Kyonggi University, where he was the student council president with fellow SS501 member Kim Hyung Jun. However, because of Kim Hyung Jun's constant absence from school due to his training with DSP Media, which later became their agency, Jung Min said that he had never met Kim before SS501 was formed.

Pre-debut

Before his debut, Park was once a commercial model for condoms. When he was 13 years old, he was scouted by an agency and was accepted by both DSP Media and S.M. Entertainment. At that time, S.M. Entertainment told him that they were preparing a new group, but that the group consisted of many members, which according to Park was probably Super Junior since he saw them rehearsing too. Park eventually chose DSP Media because he believed that he would debut faster through DSP.

2005-2009: SS501 debut

Park Jung Min debuted as a member of SS501 on June 8, 2005, along with their debut album entitled Warning. Their second mini album, Snow Prince was released in late 2005, five months after their debut. During this time, they also established their official fan club name, "Triple S", and its fan club color, pearl green. The group earned popularity right away as they won many rookie awards after their debut.

In 2006, Jung Min hosted radio program SS501's Youngstreet on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) with fellow SS501 member, Heo Young Saeng beginning on May 1, 2006. He, then, continued to host with Kim Kyu Jong, co-SS501 member, when Heo left the program on August 21 due to a throat condition requiring laryngeal surgery. The SS501 members, except for Heo Young Saeng who was recovering from surgery, also lent their voices to the Korean version of 2006 animated film Pi's Story.

SS501 soon promoted their first studio album, which was released on November 10 entitled S.T 01 Now. In late 2007, they expanded their activities in the Japanese market to challenge themselves outside Korea with the release of their Japanese single Kokoro, along with the establishment of "Triple S Japan". After the single debuted at number five, they had two more successful releases in Japan entitled Distance and SS501. In around one year in Japan, they received the Newcomer Award by Japan Gold Disc Award in January 2008; this was the first time for Korean artists to receive this award.

Having built their foundation as artists in both countries, they continually released singles and albums back-and-forth such as Deja Vu in Korea and Lucky Days in Japan, both released in 2008.

In 2008, he made his musical debut in Grease, playing the lead role, 'Danny Park', that the group had to stop their group activities for a short period of time. In 2009-2010, SS501 released All My Love, Solo Collection, Rebirth, and Destination consecutively before their contracts ended. In the meantime, he starred in his first acting career as a main lead entitled Human Theater 2010, playing himself as the main character in 2010.

2010-2011: leaving DSP Media and solo artist

In June 2010, upon the expiration of Park Jung Min's contract with DSP Media, he signed with CNr Media on August 10, 2010, a company jointly set up by Taiwanese producer Comic-Ritz and Korean Roy Media, to embark on his solo career. CNr Media stated that SS501's activities are top priority in his contract and that they have not disbanded. He also signed with Sony Music Asia for his Asia activities after finalizing his contract on September 30, and Yamaha Music Entertainment for his Japan activities which is revealed on September 17. During this time, Park Jung Min and Kim Hyung Jun also attended the 21st Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan to present an award together with Ken Chu.

Park Jung Min was the first one to release a solo album, with his debut solo single, Not Alone, on January 20, 2011. His albums are distributed in Taiwan by Sony Music Taiwan. and he even visited Taiwan and Singapore to promote it.

In July 2011, he has been cast as the lead in Japanese mobile drama LISMO August's Love Song. He also contributed to KBS2's The Princess' Man OST in August, where he sang "Missing You" composed by Park Jung Wook.

2012: Fondant Garden, lawsuit against CNr Media and Beautiful album

In February 2012, Park starred alongside Jian Man Shu, Kingone Wang and Lia Lee, in a Taiwanese drama named Fondant Garden, playing the lead role of Park Hee Hwan.

Between April 2 and 7, Park participated in Dominic's Way fashion show during the 2012 Seoul Fashion Week, for designer Song Hye-myung, who designed SS501's clothes for their Destination mini album jacket. He was dressed as vdette in a dark angel attire with spreading wings. Four days later, on April 12, Park filed an injunction at Seoul Central District Court against his agency CNr Media to cancel his exclusive representation contract, citing improper distribution of profits. A source close to Park said: The exclusive contract with CNr Media stated that the profits would be divided 8-to-2 for those coming from Korea and 5-to-5 for those coming from overseas, but the profits were never distributed except for the ₩150 million given since last year.

According to another media source, Park departed from CNr Media in March 2012 but continued with his schedule in Japan on April 14 despite the injunction.

The decision of the court came on July 30, favoring Park Jung Min's case against CNR Media. With this decision, he is now free to promote in Korea and overseas regardless of his contract with CNR Media until the judgment on merits is issued, especially that if the contract was continued, Park Jung Min's career might be in danger. However, despite the lawsuit, he still continued to uphold his promise with his fans, attending all schedules set by CNR Media including promotions for the Taiwanese drama Fondant Garden. On October 10, his new agency, Yamaha A&R, announced that Park filled a two hundred million won lawsuit against his former agency, seeking compensation. Finally on May 22, the legal battle between Park and his former agency, CNr Media, has finally come to an end. It was said through a press release on May 28 that Park agreed to receive an amount that could be paid by his former agency since CNr Media is in poor financial status recently.

Park Jung Min's attorney said: We weren't aiming for the money in the compensation case. We just wanted to clear up all ties with the former agency. We reached an agreement so that all legal ties would be cleared, letting Park Jung Min concentrate on his current activities.

After the lawsuit, Park Jung Min debuted in Japan using the name 'Romeo' under Victor Music. He released two…