Chanyeol

Park Chan-yeol (Korean: 박찬열; born November 27, 1992), better known mononymously as Chanyeol, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor. He is a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy group Exo, its sub-group Exo-K and sub-unit Exo-SC, and debuted as soloist on August 28, 2024, with his first extended play (EP) Black Out. Apart from his group's activities, Chanyeol has also starred in various television dramas and movies such as So I Married an Anti-fan (2016), and Secret Queen Makers (2018).

Early life

Park Chan-yeol was born on November 27, 1992, in Yeokchon-dong, Eunpyeong District, Seoul, South Korea. He attended Hyundai High School in Apgujeong-dong, Seoul. He has an elder sister named Park Yoo-ra, who is a former announcer at South Korean broadcasting station YTN, and MBC. Chanyeol was admitted to a private acting institution when he was sixteen years old, where he became good friends with Block B's P.O.

After watching School of Rock in elementary school, Chanyeol became interested in music and soon began playing the drums. Chanyeol wanted to be a singer after listening to Unconditional Kismet by Yoo Young-jin.

Chanyeol has cited Jason Mraz and Eminem as his biggest influences, though he was a fan of rock bands like Muse, Green Day, Nirvana, and X Japan in middle school.

Chanyeol became a trainee under SM Entertainment after winning second place in the 2008 Smart Model Contest. While training under S.M., he began to turn his focus towards rapping. Prior to his debut, Chanyeol made cameo appearances in TVXQ's "HaHaHa Song" music video and Girls' Generation's "Genie" music video in 2008 and 2010 respectively.