Leeteuk
Park Jeong-su, known professionally as Leeteuk, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, presenter, radio personality, and actor. He debuted as the leader of the boy band Super Junior in November 2005 and since then has participated in its subgroups Super Junior-T, Super Junior-Happy, and Super Junior-L.S.S. He began his career as a television presenter on the music show M! Countdown. He is best known for his role in presenting Strong Heart, Star King, The Best Cooking Secrets, I Can See Your Voice, and Idol Star Athletics Championships.
He is also a regular figure in the South Korean year-end awards; he has presented Golden Disc Awards three times, Gaon Chart Music Awards six times, and Asia Artist Awards six times. He regularly hosts the Dream Concert and the Asia Song Festival annual concerts.
Early life
Leeteuk was born on July 1, 1983, as the second child of Park Yong-in and Yoo Suk-yeong. His elder sister, Park In-young, is a singer and an actress. His parents divorced in 1998. He has spoken about his parents' relationship publicly on several television shows. He attended Chungwoon University and graduated with a bachelor's degree. He is also an alumnus of Gachon University.Career
2000–2005: Pre-debut
When Leeteuk traveled to Apgujeong-dong to sightsee in early 2000, a talent scout approached him and recommended he audition for SM Entertainment's Starlight Casting System. After several test recordings and performances, he signed with SM Entertainment and became a trainee. In the same year, he appeared as an extra in the drama All About Eve which aired on MBC TV, and briefly modelled for Pepsi in 2002. In 2003, he was put into the five-member boyband Smile with future bandmate Donghae, which aimed to rival the group TVXQ. The project was dropped, and they were put into the rotational group Super Junior along with ten other boys. Being older than the other trainees, Leeteuk became the group's leader.Leeteuk has explained that he uses a stage name because of his desire to have a name with the same effects as Kangta, and to prevent confusion between veteran actress Park Jung-soo and himself. His stage name Leeteuk, means "special". He previously rejected two of the stage names designated for him by his agency. The agency's then-chairman, Lee Soo-man, called him "a special child" and said the name Leeteuk suited him better.
2005–2012: Debut with Super Junior and sub-groups, MC roles and variety shows
Leeteuk officially debuted as part of the 12-member project group, Super Junior 05 on November 6, 2005, on Seoul Broadcasting System's music program Popular Songs, performing their first single, "Twins ". Their debut album SuperJunior05 was released a month later on December 5, 2005, and debuted at number three on the monthly MIAK K-pop album charts.Originally, the band was meant to have rotational line-ups, much like the Japanese girl group Morning Musume, but the idea to form new generations of Super Junior was dropped after fans objected. Following the addition of a thirteenth member, Kyuhyun, the group dropped the suffix "05" and officially became 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. In February 2007, Leeteuk was placed in the trot-singing subunit, Super Junior-T. The subunit debuted with the single "Rokkugo", which quickly reached number one on the weekly music chart and held the spot for two consecutive weeks. A year later, Leeteuk became a member of Super Junior-H, a subunit focusing on bright and cheerful music, in contrast to the genre of the songs released by the core group. Besides music, he also participated in Super Junior-centric television shows like Mystery 6 and Full House. He made his first film appearance with Super Junior members in Attack on the Pin-Up Boys in 2007, playing the role of the school's panda mascot.
Apart from Super Junior activities, he has hosted several television shows. In 2005, he became the host of a weekly music show, M! Countdown, his first gig as a host, with bandmates Shindong and Kangin. This eventually landed him his first solo hosting act on the reality show Leeteuk's Love Fighter, which aired on the cable television channel Mnet in 2008. He received praise for his work as a newcomer and received a plaque of appreciation from the show's crew members on his last appearance on the show.
Leeteuk became a radio DJ for KBS Super Junior's Kiss The Radio with Eunhyuk in August 2006. From March to June 2011, bandmate Yesung temporarily replaced Eunhyuk while he was away doing promotional activities for Super Junior-M's third EP Perfection. Leeteuk left the program in November 2011 because of conflicting work schedules.
Between 2008 and 2009, he hosted several television programs including three variety shows which aired on KBS2; Road Show Quiz Expedition, Challenge! Good Song, and Challenge! Golden Ladder—co-hosting with several senior television presenters such as Jee Seok-jin, Lee Hyuk-jae, Boom, and Kim Shin-young. From 2009 onwards, Leeteuk, Eunhyuk, and Shindong were regular guests on SBS's Strong Heart, where they hosted a special segment, Boom Academy, headed by Boom. In October 2009, when Boom enlisted for mandatory military service, Leeteuk took over his role and the segment's name was changed temporarily to Teukigayo, or Teuk's Academy. As of the April 10, 2012, broadcast, following the change in MCs and the departure of Shindong from Strong Heart, the show was re-vamped with Leeteuk and Eunhyuk billed as two of the 'six-fixed guests'.
In 2010, he appeared as one of many hosts of, a special program to support the South Korea national football team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the same year, he became the new host for MBC's Enjoy Today, replacing Big Bang's Seungri who left the program to focus on his band's new album. He released the single "Grumbling", a duet with f's Krystal, through the show. Leeteuk was also the MC for MBC's Love Chaser and SBS's Oh! Brothers, further cementing his position as an emerging host for the country's terrestrial television channels.
Since 2009, he has been a frequent guest on Star King, with other Super Junior members. In 2011, following Kang Ho-dong's retirement from the entertainment industry, Leeteuk and Boom took over as co-hosts of Star King. From September to November, Leeteuk played the role of a father in Hello Baby season 4, a reality-variety show where the cast had to take care of a baby, with girl group Sistar becoming the baby's mothers. Leeteuk also became part of the MBC reality show We Got Married, half of a new on-screen couple, with actress Kang So-ra becoming his on-screen wife. In June 2012, he and Mir were cast as additional hosts to raise the ratings of Jewellery House but the show's rating continued to plummet, and it was cancelled after four episodes.
He appeared in four television dramas in between 2011 and 2012, making cameo appearances as a radio DJ in Dream High, a blind date partner in All My Love For You, a television host in Salamander Guru and The Shadows, and as an extra in My Bittersweet Life to support Kang So-ra, who acted in the leading role. He also became the host of the 2011 Melon Music Awards show, his first year-end awards hosting gig.
2012–2014: SM Town, military enlistment and returning to work
Leeteuk returned to the silver screen by taking part in the documentary film I Am. directed by Choi Jin-sung as a member of SM Town, the collective title for artists signed under SM Entertainment. The film, which documented the singers' journey and experience during the SM Town Live '10 World Tour concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, was theatrically released on June 21, 2012. In July, Leeteuk reunited with his Super Junior bandmates for their sixth studio album, Sexy, Free & Single which was released on July 4, 2012, just over a month after the band's first world tour Super Show 4 was concluded. In the repackaged edition of the album, re-titled Spy, Leeteuk composed "Only U" and co-wrote the lyrics with Donghae. He participated in the concert tour SM Town Live World Tour III which began in May 2012 but did not appear at his supposed last appearance on the tour during its Indonesia leg on September 22. He apologized on his Twitter account the following day, revealing he could not perform with his label mates because of exhaustion and enteritis.In September 2011, Leeteuk said he planned to enlist for his mandatory military service in 2012. He made his final appearance before enlistment at the Style Icon Awards on October 25, 2012. He took part in a photoshoot documenting the shaving of his hair for the male fashion magazine Geek before his enlistment, and was featured on the cover of its December 2012 issue. On October 30, 2012, he reported to the 306 Reserve Battalion training camp in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, to undergo five weeks of basic training, followed by active duty for 21 months. He was initially ineligible for active duty following a car crash in 2007 and an aggravated herniated disk, but after receiving treatment he was able to enlist for active duty. Strong Heart belatedly aired a special episode entitled "Goodbye Leeteuk" on November 13 for his departure from the series.
In January 2013, Leeteuk co-starred in the military musical The Promise. It was co-produced by the Republic of Korea's Ministry of National Defense and the Korea Musical Theatre Association to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice. It ran from January 9 to 20 at the National Theater of Korea, co-starring actors Ji Hyun-woo, Kim Mu-yeol, Jung Tae-woo, and singers Yoon Hak of Supernova, and Lee Hyun of 8Eight. The musical centers around a group of soldiers who keep a promise made to each other during the Korean War. He won the Newcomer Award at the 7th Daegu International Musical Festival for his role as Miss Kim in the musical. In June 2013, he was selected to be the MC for the 2013 Military Service Award Ceremony, an annual military event.
File:Leeteuk Park and Jonghyun Kim SMTown Live World Tour IV in Seoul.jpg|thumb|Leeteuk with Jonghyun at the South Korean leg of SM Town Live World Tour IV
Leeteuk completed his military service and was discharged as a sergeant on July 29, 2014. He made his first stage appearance after being discharged at the South Korean leg of SM Town Live World Tour IV concert tour on August 15, 2014, performing "Sorry, Sorry" and "Mr. Simple" with Super Junior. He also returned to the band's line-up for the August performance on Music Bank, marking the first time he, Heechul and Kangin had been together in the line-up since they each completed their military service. He returned as a television presenter becoming the special MC in episode 783 of Inkigayo with Heechul and Lee Yu-bi, standing in for Baekhyun, Suho and Kwanghee who had conflicting work schedules.