Artist Highlight: Jinyoung
Park Jinyoung’s career from dancing to acting and GOT7 to solo.
Pre-Debut
Initially, Jinyoung’s family was opposed to him becoming an entertainer. Like many idols, his mom agreed to let him audition and would only let him pursue his dreams if he passed the audition. Upon auditioning for SM Entertainment, Jinyoung made it to the final preliminary round, and even won the popularity award. After this, his family became more open to the idea of him becoming an entertainer and he started taking dance classes in Busan. In 2009, he auditioned for JYP Entertainment and won first place among over 10,000 participants. He went on to debut in JJ Project in 2012 alongside JAY B prior to their GOT7 debut.
GOT7
On January 16, 2014 Jinyoung debuted as the sub-vocalist and visual of seven member JYP Entertainment boy group GOT7. He has written many songs for the group since their fourth EP, MAD, where he is credited as the sole writer on the track “To. Star (이.별)”. He has written a total of 19 GOT7 songs, six JJ Project songs, and six solo songs. Jinyoung is also credited as a composer on many of the songs that he has written.
Acting
Prior to his debut as an idol, Jinyoung started his acting career. He was casted in Dream High 2 in 2011 after six months of acting classes. Despite always having an interest in entertainment, he was not passionate about acting until his role in the drama This is My Love in 2015. In 2017, he starred as the male lead of the film A Stray Goat where he played a small-town high school student. He landed his first lead role in a K-Drama in 2019 with He Is Psychometric where he plays Lee Ahn, who has the power of reading a person's past through physical contact.
Solo
Jinyoung made his solo debut on January 18, 2023, nine years after GOT7’s debut. His debut EP, Chapter 0: WITH, consists of five tracks, all of which he took part in writing. The title track, “Cotton Candy” which has reached 3.5 million views on YouTube, shows off Jinyoung's sweet vocals on top of an uplifting pop track. Less than three months later, Jinyoung enlisted as an active duty soldier and is expected to be discharged on November 4, 2024.
Edited by Lacey Diluvio