Kim Hee-chul (Korean: 김희철; born July 10, 1983), better known mononymously as Heechul, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, presenter, and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Super Junior and has further participated in its subgroups Super Junior-T and Super Junior-83z, as well as project group Universe Cowards with Min Kyung-hoon and Woojoo jjokkomi with Lee Soo-geun. He was also a member of the disbanded pop rock duo Kim Heechul & Kim Jungmo.
Prior to his debut in Super Junior, Heechul began his acting career in 2005, starring in the second season of teen drama Sharp 2. This led him to host radio shows, his first music show Show! Music Tank and appear on advertisements. However, in 2006, just a year after his Super Junior debut, Heechul was involved in a car accident which fractured his left leg. The accident left him unable to perform Super Junior's strenuous dances and he has since contributed to the group mostly as a singer. Heechul ventured into the soundtrack singing career in 2009 by releasing his first single "First Star", as part of the soundtrack for the drama Loving You a Thousand Times. He has participated in writing lyrics for not only Super Junior but also for his project groups and other artists. Heechul debuted as a solo singer in 2019 with the digital single "Old Movie".
Heechul became a regular cast member on Radio Star in 2010, for which he won "Best Newcomer Award" at the 11th MBC Entertainment Awards. Following that, he made a breakthrough in his television host career after appearing on the variety shows Knowing Bros and Weekly Idol in 2015 and 2016. He has been a regular cast member on the reality shows My Little Old Boy and Delicious Rendezvous since 2019, for both of which he received the Excellence Award at the 13th SBS Entertainment Awards and Top Excellence Award at the 14th SBS Entertainment Awards.
1983–2005: Early life and career beginnings
Kim Hee-chul was born in Ucheon-myeon, Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province, on July 10, 1983. His family consists of his parents and older sister, Kim Hee-jin. He graduated from Sangji Youngsoe College in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in English tourism translation. In addition, he graduated from Sangji University in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in informatics through Bachelor's Degree Examination for Self-Education.
In 2002, after seeing Psy, who was singing "Champion" on a television program, he searched the internet for entertainment companies and found out that SM Entertainment was having open auditions. He moved to Seoul when he was nineteen years old in October 2002 with his friends in order to take part in the auditions. Being unfamiliar with the area, he got lost and missed the open Starlight Casting System audition. However, they still allowed him to perform because of his looks. He sang the Korean national anthem and passed. He was cast and signed a contract with SM Entertainment in November 2002, becoming an official trainee and being trained in singing, acting, dancing, and other performing talents such as hosting and modeling.
He was initially placed in a four-member group called Four Seasons along with Jaejoong, Yunho and Kangin. The project group was dropped when Yunho and Jaejoong joined TVXQ in early 2003. Heechul was later preparing to debut as the main vocalist of TraxX, but had frequent clashes and misunderstandings with the person in charge at SM at the time. Frustrated, he abandoned his debut and returned to his hometown in Gangwon Province. Later, with TraxX's Jungmo's, Jay's, Yunho's and Donghae's encouragement, he returned to SM. He joined other trainees under the company to form the group Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.
His first acting role was in the second season of teen drama Sharp in 2005, co-starring labelmates Go Ara and Kibum. His first variety appearance also came in 2005, in the show Heroine 6.
Later he acted as an extra in the KBS2 TV series Loveholic and was a regular MC for the cable music show Show! Music Tank. He also featured in his first advertisements for Lotte's Pepero.
2005–2010: Debut with Super Junior, Super Junior-T and solo activities
Heechul officially debuted as part of the 12-member project group, Super Junior 05 on November 6, 2005, on SBS' music program Popular Songs, performing their first single, "Twins (Knock Out)". Their debut album SuperJunior05 (Twins) was released a month later on December 5, 2005, and debuted at number three on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts. In March 2006, SM Entertainment began to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation. However, this was met with fans' objections and strong opposition to the rotational style (much like popular rotational groups in Japan's pop music industry) that the group intended to be. Thus, 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 officially named as Super Junior. The re-polished group's first CD single "U" was released on June 7, 2006, which was their most successful single until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009. Heechul faced criticism from Super Junior's fans when his voice cracked while performing "U", which negatively affected him and made him want to quit singing.
Apart from Super Junior's activities, Heechul has acted in several television series. In 2005, he landed his first leading role in the TV series Rainbow Romance, followed by a supporting role in the 2006 series Bad Family and Golden Bride at the end of 2007. Golden Bride achieved high ratings and Heechul received wider public recognition. He made his film debut in Attack on the Pin-Up Boys, which was released on July 26, 2007. The film failed to attract viewers and proved to be a big loss for SM Pictures. However, both versions of the film's DVD became best-sellers and were sold-out in both Korea and overseas markets. Stepping into the field of voice-over, he contributed his voice to the Korean-dubbed version of the American live action/animated film Alvin and the Chipmunks. Heechul was also a radio DJ on SBS Power FM's Young Street Radio with Park Hee-von from November 2005 until mid-2006. Moreover, he co-hosted SBS's weekly live music show Inkigayo as a substitute for Andy of Shinhwa, later going on to become a permanent host starting April 23, 2006. Heechul left his position on May 4, 2008, though in 2017, he retired from being a special MC on May 4, with his last day being April 30.
In February 2007, Heechul was placed in Super Junior's trot-singing subunit, Super Junior-T. The subunit debuted with the single "Rokuko", which quickly reached number one in weekly music chart and held the spot for two consecutive weeks. The debut also marked his comeback performance after recovering from an injury he had gotten in a car accident in August 2006. The subgroup returned in November 2008 with a debut in the Japanese music industry, releasing the Japanese version of "Rokuko", now titled "ROCK&GO". Heechul won the "Flower Boy" award at the first Mnet 20's Choice Awards held on August 29, 2007.
He played the role of Sonny in the musical Xanadu, the first production of SM Art Company, in rotation with his bandmate Kangin. Casting was carried out via a reality television program, and the musical ran from September 9 to December 28, 2008, at the Doosan Art Center, Goyang Oulim Nuri Arts Center and Busan Cultural Center in Seoul. In the same year, he co-hosted the program 8 vs 1 and later became a cast member on the shows Band of Brothers and Good Daddy. On March 19, 2008, he fallen down a flight of stairs and injured his nose. He subsequently took a break from all activities during recovery. Heechul starred in the surrogacy melodrama Loving You a Thousand Times, the first Korean drama to be exported to Bulgaria, in 2009. His first solo single, "First Star", was released on November 6, 2009, as part of the soundtrack for the drama. He hosted SBS Power FM's Kim Heechul's Youngstreet, from March 29, 2010, until mid-2011, returning to being a radio DJ after a four-year break. He was selected in December to be a host for Radio Star, the main segment in the talk show Golden Fishery. He was chosen to replace Shin Jung-hwan after he left the program following a gambling scandal. He won the "Best Newcomer Award" for his effort on the show at the 11th MBC Entertainment Awards.