Joon Park
 |
Joon Park | |
|---|---|
 On the cover of KoreAm, April 2009, with Jamie Chung | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Park Joon-Hyung |
| Born | July 20, 1969 |
| Origin | South Korea |
| Genres | Pop, K-pop |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | JYP Entertainment (1999-2002) |
| Joon Park | |
| Hangul | 박준형 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 朴俊炯 |
| Revised Romanization | Bak Jun-hyeong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pak Joon-hyŏng |
Joon Hyung Park (also known as Joon Park, Korean: 박준형, Hanja: 朴俊炯) is a Korean-American singer, actor and leader of the Korean pop group g.o.d.. He was born on July 20 and graduated from La Quinta High School in Westminster, California and attended California State University, Long Beach. During his days with g.o.d., he served as the group's leader-rapper.
Early life
He was raised in Southern California. He had a lot of hobbies which consisted of surfing, skateboarding, water polo, drawing, martial arts, body building, dancing, rapping-singing, etc.
During and after his college years he was a graphic designer with his talented drawing background. In his college days he did some modeling but never really thought of himself as a model and one day was discovered in Hollywood by a casting agent for a Janet Jackson video in which he had his first 15 seconds of fame on TV.
Move to Seoul
In 1997 through his sister's contacts in Korea, He packed up and moved to Seoul, South Korea to pursue his goal in the K-pop industry. He wanted to mix Korean Music with a twist of western culture so in 1998 he gathered the members of his group g.o.d. (Groove Over Dose) through numerous auditions. The first member he recruited was his cousin Danny Ahn, and then Danny's friend Son Ho Young, and then Yoon Kye Sang.
Joon was cast for a Beer commercial "OB Lager" which was a complete success in which he held the title of "Lagerman". He landed his first role as himself on a SBS sitcom called "Soon Poon San Boo In Kua" as Song Hye Gyo's Boyfriend. With his quarky humor and imperfect child-like Korean language, in contrast to his Eurasian masculine looks and tanned chiseled physique, he won the hearts of all the viewers And through this show he gained mass appeal/recognition and was wanted on numerous magazines to show off his physique with his platinum blonde hair which was unheard of at the time for an Asian. Joon then teamed up with Korean Pop Star/Producer Park Jin Young (JYP) and then shortly thereafter the last member Kim Tae Woo joined the group through auditions.
First album
Their first album g.o.d. 1st Chapter in 1998 was made and the title song "Uh Muh Ni Kae (To Mother) with lyrics based from partial true life incidents of Joon's childhood growing up with his widowed mother and also with other members childhood incidents all included, was an instant hit. And then the second song released was a dance song titled "Kwan Chal (Observation)" which also was a hit.
Second album
The second album was released shortly thereafter and was a instant hit selling more than 1.8 million copies and during the second Album g.o.d. had their own TV show that held the highest Korean record TV ratings for its whole 2-3 year duration on MBC called "Yoo Gwa Il Ki (An Infants Diary)" which was a reality show with the five g.o.d. members and a one year old baby. Sort of like 3 men and a baby, but reality based, it won the hearts of Korean households as it was a non-scripted show showing the funny stories of how five clueless young men would deal with a one-year-old baby.
On break
In 2006 the group decided to take a break as the lead vocalist of the group Kim Tae-woo was required to perform his compulsory military duty. Joon has since moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, having a cameo on Speed Racer as the Platinum blond-haired Yakuza Driver and the role of Yamcha in the live-action film version of Dragonball Evolution in which he starred with Chou Yun Fat, Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum and Jamie Chung .[1]
He is also set[when?] to star in the Friday Night Lights spin-off film, S.M.A.S.H., as Lee Cho.
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Speed Racer | Yakuza Driver |
| 2009 | Dragonball Evolution | Yamcha |
| 2011 | Hero: 108 (film) | Mr. No Hands |
| Year | Television | Role |
| 2009 | Dark Blue | Shin (uncredited) |