Jaehyun (singer)
Jeong Yun-o (; born Jeong Jae-hyun (); February 14, 1997), better known by his stage name Jaehyun, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the South Korean boy group NCT and its sub-units NCT U and NCT 127. Jaehyun made his debut in April 2016 as a member of rotational unit NCT U and became a member of Seoul-based fixed unit NCT 127 in July 2016. He also was a former host of "Inkigayo" in between October 2019 and February 2021. Early life and education. Jaehyun was  born on February 14, 1997, in Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea. Although he was born as Jeong Jae-hyun (), he later legally changed his name to Jeong Yun-o (). From 5 to 10 years old, Jaehyun lived and studied in Connecticut, USA and went by the English name Jay Jeong. As a result, he is fluent in both English and Korean. Aside from vocals, he also learned how to play the guitar and the piano after taking lessons as a teenager. Jaehyun attended Shindong Middle School and graduated from the School of Performing Arts Seoul in 2016, majoring in Broadcasting  Arts. Career. 2012–2016: Pre-debut. Jaehyun was cast into SM Entertainment in 2012, discovered by street scouts in front of his school. He auditioned with a performance of "Mama" by Exo. On December 9, 2013, he was introduced as a member of the pre-debut trainee team SMROOKIES. In 2014, he participated with other fellow NCT members on the show "", where they performed songs from the 90s. From January 21 to July 1, 2015, he and groupmate Doyoung were MCs on "Show Champion". In July 2015, he and groupmate Ten both competed in "Hope Basketball All-Star". In December 2015 , Jaehyun performed "A Whole New World" in Disney Channel Korea's "The Mickey Mouse Club". 2016-2018: Debut with NCT. In April 2016, Jaehyun officially debuted as a member of the first NCT's sub-unit, NCT U, with the singles "The 7th Sense" and "Without You". On July 10, he made his second debut as a member of NCT 127 with their first EP, "NCT#127". In March 2017, Jaehyun joined the radio show NCT Night Night as a DJ along with member Johnny. In November 2017, he & d.ear released the song "Try Again" for the project SM Station. The  song became a sleeper hit after going viral on the social media application TikTok in 2021, and again in 2022. In December, he was featured in the music video for Wendy and Baek A-yeon's "The Little Match Girl". In January 2018, Jaehyun released the single "Timeless" alongside a new NCT U lineup as part of the SM Station project. 2019-present: Solo activities. In October 2019, Jaehyun became one of three MC's for SBS' "Inkigayo", alongside Minhyuk of Monsta X and Naeun of April, hosting the show weekly every Sunday. On September 4, 2020, it was confirmed  that Jaehyun would make his acting debut in the upcoming KBS2 drama "Dear. M", which is to be released in 2021, with the role of Cha Min-ho, a second year student in the Computer Science Department at Seoyeon University. The drama was then postponed indefinitely for airing due to the lead actress, Park Hye-su, being accused of school bullying. On November 2, 2021, Jaehyun was confirmed to star in the KakaoTV web-series remake of the 2001 South Korean film "Bungee Jumping of Their Own", playing the leading role of Im Hyun-bin. On December 9 of  the same year, while in the middle of pre-production, KakaoTV announced the cancellation of the project due to concerns with the LGBT plot from the original film's screenwriter. On March 24, 2022, KBS confirmed that "Dear. M" is set to be pre-released in Japan on the second half of 2022. It is also currently being negotiated for airing in countries outside of South Korea. Songwriting. All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database, unless otherwise cited.