Kim Hee-chul (Hangul: 김희철, Hanja: 金希澈) was born on 10 July 1983, mononymouly credited as Heechul. He is a South Korean singer, actor, and presenter. He is a member of South Korean boy band Super Junior and its subgroup, Super Junior-T.
Pre-debut
Kim was discovered at Starlight Casting System October 2002 where he auditioned with his friends. Initially, he was placed in a four-member project group called, "Four Seasons". This group included members Jaejoong, Yunho, and Kangin. They never debuted as Jaejoong and Yunho joined boy band TVXQ, who debuted in December 2003. Kim and Kangin joined ten other trainees and formed the group Super Junior 05, being the first generation of the rotational boy band Super Junior.
Other activities before his debut include modeling, acting, and VJing. He made his first appearance on TV starring in the teen drama Banolim 2. Like bandmate Kibum, Kim made his first television appearance as an actor before the debut of Super Junior. He starred in the 2005 teen drama, Sharp 2, in which he acted alongside Kibum. Not long afterwards, Kim appeared in an episode of Loveholic as a chef trainee. He was a regular MC for the cable music show Show! Music Tank.
2005-2006: Debut with Super Junior
See also: Super Junior
Kim Heechul officially debut as part of 12-member project group Super Junior 05 on 6 November 2005 on SBS's music programme Popular Songs, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)".[1][2] Their debut album SuperJunior05 (Twins) was released a month later on 5 December 2005 and debuted at #3 on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.[3]
In March 2006, SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation. However, plans changed and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations. Following the addition of thirteenth member Kyuhyun, the group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior.[4] The re-polished group's first CD single "U" was released on 7 June 2006, which was their most successful single until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.[5]
After the debut of Super Junior, he teamed with Kibum again to star in the sixth season of Nonstop, alternatively known as Rainbow Romance. In 2006, he starred as supporting character Gong Min in Bad Family. In 2007, he starred in family drama Golden Bride as Kim Young-soo. Kim also appeared on variety shows such as Vitamin, Sponge, Xman and Love Letter, as well as radio DJ on SBS Power FM Youngstreet with Park Heebon, till mid-2006.
2007-2008: Sub-group and MC
In 2007, Kim became part of a Super Junior sub-group, Super Junior-T, which debuted on 23 February with the Trot single "Rokuko!!!".[6] Kim participated in Super Junior's second album Don't Don, the band's Super Show tour, and filmed Super Junior's first movie Attack on the Pin-Up Boys.[7]
He substituted for Andy of Shinhwa on SBS muisc programme Inkigayo on numerous occasions and became permanent host. He hosted the programme with Ku Hye Sun from 23 April 2006 to 18 February 2007, and with Jang Keun-suk from 25 February to 7 October 2007, then with Song Ji-hyo between 11 November 2007 and 4 May 2008.
In 2008, Kim debut as musical actor starring as Sonny, rotating with Kangin in Xanadu. It played from 9 September to 23 November 2008 at Doosan Art Center, Yeonji-dong in Seoul.[8] Auditions and casting were done via a reality television programme, To Be Kangin and Heechul, which also served to promote the musical.[9]
Kim was on a TV show called Joahseo or Good Daddy, where he and three other celebrities, including Lee HongKi from FT Island, learned to be good fathers by caring for a "daughter". He was also in Band of Brothers with benad mate Kangin, and label mates Jungmo and Jay of TRAX. Where the band paid tribute to different groups during their showcase at the end of the program.
