1992–2010: Early life Lee Seung-hoon was born on January 11, 1992, in
Dongnae District,
Busan, South Korea, as the youngest succeeding two daughters. His father's absence in Lee's childhood was prominent due to his occupation as a businessman based in Vietnam. His eldest sister had also moved to
Seoul when he was a child. Lee pursued dance at a young age and became adamant to join
YG Entertainment since his enrollment in high school; however, his interest in dance resulted in severe back pains and restricted Lee to choreograph when it occurred. Lee relied on
acupuncture as treatment for his nerves along his spine that suffered from irritation.
2011–2015: Career beginnings and debut with Winner 20-year-old Lee (
Korean age) moved to Seoul after he completed his secondary education as an attempt to enter the music industry. His motivation heightened after he witnessed
Hoya of
Infinite, a fellow peer in dance from his hometown, accomplish his dreams. He further auditioned for entertainment companies but did not succeed. In his final attempt at pursuing his goal, Lee successfully auditioned for the
inaugural season of
K-pop Star (2011–2012), a music audition program. His creativity and wittiness also stood out to many – displayed in the cover performance of
Dynamic Duo's "Father" (). The hip-hop duo credited Lee for his contribution in ushering more attention to their songs than its initial success bringing in more profit. Namely,
G-Dragon and
Psy expressed their interest and added they were watching him and his stage.
BoA voiced her desire to work with him while
JYP Entertainment CEO
Park Jin-young stated Lee was the only contestant he viewed as a "true artist". Moreover,
K.Will noted his stages were the most inspirational apropos of it. He overall placed fourth behind
Park Jimin,
Lee Hi and
Baek A-yeon. His newfound rise followed an appearance on
Strong Heart, performance at Youth Festival in
Seoul and photographed for a spread entitled "Boys Like Girls" in
Vogue Girl Korea for the month of June with K-pop Star contestant
Jae Park. He and Lee Hi signed an exclusive contract with YG Entertainment and was situated into its
trainee system in May. Festival On February 25, 2013, YG Entertainment CEO
Yang Hyun-suk stated Lee would shine best in a
boy band contrary to as a soloist thus his preparation for debut in their upcoming team; however, he participated as a contestant for
WIN: Who is Next? (2013) which involved two assembles consisting of male trainees under the label (A and B) who would battle for the chance to debut by series end after embarking on a one-hundred day journey. Lee was placed in "Team A" with
Kim Jin-woo,
Song Min-ho,
Kang Seung-yoon and
Nam Tae-hyun. In the series finale, Team A had won the show and would debut under the name "Winner". Lee made his official debut with the five-piece band on August 17, 2014, with the studio album entitled
2014 S/S. The band's success upon debut was recorded as "unprecedented" by Korean media outlets and were dubbed as "monster rookies".
2016–present: Solo endeavors Amidst his activities with the band, Lee ventured into entertainment in which his credits include
Eat, Sleep, Eat: Krabi (2016) with
Baek Jong-won and
Gong Seung-yeon,
Mimi Shop (2018) with the inclusion of labelmate
Sandara Park, He also served as the youngest dance mentor in
Dancing High (2018) and enriched the knowledge of teens in South Korea by assisting them to thrive as dancers as they competed in teams in prospect of winning dance lessons in the
United States. His credits further extends to
Awesome Feed (2018), On February 28, 2023, it was announced that Lee was confirmed to be cast in the stage musical
Dream High as one of the lead character roles, Song Sam-Dong, along with actor
Eum Moon-suk and
SF9 member Yoo Taeyang. This musical is based on a 2011 KBS2 drama of the same name. == Personal life ==