EXO FACTS & PROFILE

Life and Career

1991–2014: Early life and career beginnings

Zhang Yixing was born in Changsha, Hunan, China on October 7, 1991.In 2000, at 9 years old, he participated in a Chinese TV show as the fan club member of the actor and singer Jimmy Lin, giving him his first contact with the entertainment industry. Lay began his career as a local child star in the province of Hunan, after winning third place in a competition organized by the popular TV show Star Academy in 2005. He also appeared in an episode of Ce Yue Yue Xin Kai and Liu Na's variety show, Na Ke Bu Yi Yang between 2005 and 2006. In April 2006, he participated in auditions to star in the series The Duke of Mount Deer directed by Zhang Jizhong, and despite being among the finalists did not win the role. In 2008 joined S.M. Entertainment after a successful audition with the company's global casting system in Changsha. At the time of the auditions, he was 16 years old and was studying for his college entrance exams. In 2011, prior to debuting with EXO, he briefly worked for SHINee on their concert tour as Jonghyun's dance replacement.

Lay was formally introduced as a member of EXO on January 17, 2012. The group's first single, "What Is Love" was released on January 30. The release of the second single, titled "History", took place on March 9 of that year.The group held a premiere showcase the Seoul Olympic Stadium, March 31, one hundred days after the release of the first trailer for his debut on December 21, 2011. The group held a press conference and showed their performances in the Great Hall of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing,China on April 1, 2012. In December 2012, along with Kai,Yunho, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Minho and Taemin, formed the dance group, SM The Performance.The first group was the first appearance at the event SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 29, with the release of the single "Spectrum" the next day.In September 2013, he participated in a dance performance for the "Dancing 9" of Mnet, along with Hyoyeon and Kai performing the songs "Centipede" of Knife Party and "Coco" of Gent & Jawns.In December of the same year, S.M. Entertainment released a dance video SMRookies project with Lay as a composer of background music.He composed the song "I'm Lay" for his solo performance during EXO's first solo concert tour,The Lost Planet Tour, which began in May 2014.On June 19, 2014, the Chinese program "Music Billboard Charts" published photos of Lay as a special temporary MC through your Weibo, and described it as a great success.
On December 31, 2014, Lay performed it self-composed song "I'm Coming" in the special year-end Hunan TV.

2015–present: Film & television roles and endorsements

On March 18, 2015, Lay announced his participation in the film "Oh My God", produced by Zhang Ziyi, released on December 4 of that year. In April 2015, a press release made by SM Entertainment announced that the agency talent had created a studio for Lay. The studio was established and registered under the name of "Zhang Yixing Studio" on March 31, 2015, to assist the artist in its Chinese activities. Also in April, he starred alongside the other EXO's members the web-series EXO Next Door, also starring actress Moon Ga-young.On May 13 of that year, Lay was presented as a regular member of the variety show "Go Fighting!".Composed the "Promise" song, along with Chen and Chanyeol for the repackaged version of the EXO’s second studio album, entitled Love Me Right, released on June 3, 2015.On August 18, it was confirmed that would make participation in the television series To Be A Better Man.

 On 17 September, he released the limited edition of his autobiography, titled Standing Firm At 24 , for pre-order, containing 24 important moments in his life. The standard edition of the book was launched on October 7, 2015. The book broke records by selling 68,537 copies in the first 24 minutes of pre-sales. On average, there were 50 copies sold per second, breaking requests for records of books online. In September, it was also confirmed that part of the film Kung Fu Yoga, starring Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong.In October 2015, he was chosen to star in the movie Unexpected Love, along with Krystal Jung. Yixing played the role of Lee Xiang He in the film Ex Files 2: The Backup Strikes Back. released on November 6, 2015,He also wrote and performed the song "Alone (One Person)", which reached #1 on the Baidu Music Chart.Yixing also released the song "Happy Youth" in November for the soundtrack of Oh My God,which debuted at #8 in the Billboard Chart V.Lay currently endorses several brands including Korean clothing brand Pancoat (for which he became the first spokesperson in Asia), Lay's, Olay, and Clarisonic.