Childhood & Early Life
Kim Joon was born in Gyeonggi, South Korea on February 3, 1984. Though he was a shy and silent kid, he always had artistic instincts within him, since his early days. He recalls his childhood as being very lonely and thatthe only companionship he got was from his books and novels. As a result, sensibility crept into him very early in his life. Since he was good in academics, he was always his teachers’ favorite.
During his growing up days, he wished to be a writer more than anything else. However, when he was introduced to the American rap music, he developed an interest towards it, and started writing the lyrics for his own rap. He also began to write poetry, which made him famous during the last phase of his schooling. He has always been an over-thinker and that he says, is one of the main reasons for his nihilistic approach towards life and his very low self-confidence. He says that he has always been low on self-confidence.
A pessimist by nature, Kim never thought that he could be a musician. The transition happened only after he started meeting industry professionals who encouraged him to try out music. Somehow, it all turned out good and he quickly joined the band T-Max and they started performing on stage, and just like that, his music career kicked off.
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Career
Kim Joon joined the boy band T-Max in 2007, which was signed under the label, 2Step Entertainment. In July 2007, the band released their first single titled ‘Blooming’ and the group went on to perform the single on different TV music shows. The single achieved a moderate success, but the boys became very popular among the youth. After waiting for the right time, the band came up with their second single titled ‘LionHeart’ in the month of November.
Usually, South Korea’s music bands don’t last very long, as the band members habitually start with their acting careers, once they become famous. The same happened with T-Max, and Kim got an offer to star in the drama ‘Boys Over Flowers’. The series was a mega success, especially among the teenagers and young adults, and Kim featured in the series as a flirtatious boy named Song Woo-bin.
Kim summoned his band members and they all came together to create a single for the OST of the series ‘Paradise’. The song was successful, so was the entire soundtrack of the series and Kim looked forward towards super stardom in the early phase of his professional career. T-Max also went ahead with the recording of a few other songs such as ‘Say Yes’ and ‘Fight the Bad Feeling’.
On huge public demand, Kim also indulged in the recording of a solo for the soundtrack titled ‘To Empty Out’. Excited with the appreciation he got for his single, he quickly wrote and released another song for the series titled ‘Jun Be OK’. Stars of the show also appeared in the music videos of the singles. And after this success, along with keeping himself busy with his music commitments, he started considering working in more TV series and variety shows.
He then chose to star in ‘Invincible Baseball’ in 2010, which happened to be a reality/variety show based on the sport of baseball. The extensive experience Kim had with the sport came in handy while shooting for the show. For several weeks, Kim remained the MVP of the show, which sadly couldn’t become popular enough to get its runtime extended.
His popularity further rose with his appearance in another variety show titled ‘Mnet Scandal’, and according to the concept of the show, it revolves around a celebrity dating a non-celebrity. Kim’s appearance on the show was termed adorable, and he saw a further increase in his fan base.
In March 2010, Kim was seen in ‘Pygmalion’s Love’, a low budget mobile drama series, which happened to be a Japanese-Korean co-production. Owing to his popularity in Japan, the series became fairly successful there, and despite some average reviews, the series managed to get in decent viewership ratings.
T-Max returned in 2010 with its first studio album titled ‘Born to the Max’ and the group released two singles from the album in order to create hype among the audience. The singles titled ‘Don’t be Rude’ and ‘Words that I can Say’ got some decent response from the listeners.
‘Detectives in Trouble’ was the next fiction series that starred Kim. The police procedural crime thriller was hugely anticipated and Kim played the role of a computer savvy cop in the series. His character faces trouble with investigating his cases properly, due to his fear of corpses. The series garnered average reviews from the critics and ran for 16 episodes before it was taken off-air.
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In 2011, Kim enlisted for his mandatory military service and made a comeback in the year 2013.
His rising popularity in Japan helped him to bag a role in the Japanese heist film ‘Lup in the 3rd’ in 2014. It was his official big screen debut and the film was simultaneously released in Korea as well. But the film wasn’t received well at the box office. In the same year, he starred in another TV series, this time a period drama titled ‘Endless Love’, which became a success, both locally and internationally.
In his last TV role till date, Kim starred in ‘City of the Sun’, a series which was based on a Japanese novel. Kim played the role of an honest worker in a construction company, where he finds everyone to be corrupt, right from the upper level to the lowest.
Facts About Kim Joon
Kim Joon is known for his love of collecting unique sunglasses and has an impressive collection from all around the world.
In addition to his acting career, Kim Joon is also a talented painter and often shares his artwork on social media.
Despite his tough-guy image on screen, Kim Joon is actually a big softie when it comes to animals and is a passionate advocate for animal rights.
Kim Joon is a self-professed foodie and enjoys experimenting with different cuisines in his free time.
In interviews, Kim Joon has mentioned his interest in learning new languages and is currently studying Spanish in his spare time.
