GOT7; Profile Members

2009-2013: Formation and pre-debut

The members of Got7 were recruited as trainees of JYP Entertainment after going through various auditions. JB and Jr., both from South Korea, signed with JYP after they were tied for first place at the 5th JYP Trainee Open Recruitment in 2009. Mark, who is from Los Angeles, California, was scouted by an agent outside of his high school and was successfully recruited after passing a global audition in 2010. Jackson, a former member of the Hong Kong National Fencing Team, became a trainee after passing global auditions held in Hong Kong in 2011. Bambam from Thailand failed his JYP global audition in 2007, but was recruited after winning first runner-up at the 2010 LG Entertainer Contest. Yugyeom, who had competed in house dance competitions, was recruited in 2011.

In January 2012, JB and Jr. debuted their first television appearance through the South Korean idol drama series Dream High 2. In May 2012, they debuted as members of the duo JJ Project. They performed with other JYP artists in JYP Nation concerts held in South Korea and Japan throughout 2012, and was also the opening act for the Wonder Girls in their Wonder World Tour. Though the duo went on hiatus in 2013 to prepare for Got7's launch, they were featured in the television drama When a Man Falls in Love, starring as supporting characters. Seven months before the debut of Got7, Youngjae became a JYP trainee and was later added to the group. JB was selected as the group's leader.

Alongside their labelmate 5Live, Mark, Jackson, Bambam, and Yugyeom made their first pre-debut appearance on an episode of Mnet's reality-survival program Who is Next: WIN, which aired on September 6, 2013. On the episode, four members of Got7 competed against YG Entertainment trainees Team A (now known as Winner)[2] and Team B (now known as iKON).

On December 24, JYP announced that it would be debuting a new boy band in January 2014, coining the group as "the next 2PM." It was announced that the band would be a performance team specializing in "martial arts tricking, " which is a form of martial arts that fuses acrobatics and b-boying.[3] On January 1, 2014 JYP unveiled the group's name to be Got7.[4] After that, members Mark and JB's first image teasers were released on January 3 (KST).[5] Teasers for Jackson and Yugyeom were released on January 6 (KST) followed by Jr., Bambam, and Youngjae's teasers on January 8 (KST). JYP selected JB to be Got7's leader.