1987–2006: Career beginnings and debut with BigBang at MTV Fast Forward, Thailand, December 2007 Choi Seung-hyun was born in the
Songpa District of
Seoul, South Korea. He is the great nephew of Korea's pioneering
abstract art artist
Kim Whanki and grew up in contact with art due to his family. Choi became interested in
hip hop at a young age. Although Kwon later moved away and the two "became distant", Choi was contacted by Kwon when YG Entertainment, Kwon's record label, was scouting for possible candidates to create a boy group. and established a reputation as an underground rapper with the stage name Tempo. In 2003 under the name of Tempo, he was the winner of KBS Radio's
Rap Battle. After contact, Choi subsequently recorded several demos with Kwon and sent them to
Yang Hyun-suk,
CEO of YG Entertainment, who later asked him to audition. he became one of two rappers alongside G-Dragon (Kwon's stage name) in
BigBang. The two were paired with four others:
Taeyang,
Daesung,
Seungri and
Hyunseung and a documentary leading up to their debut was aired to promote them. Hyunseung was later dropped by Yang, and BigBang made its official debut with five members. Their first studio album,
Big Bang Vol. 1 - Since 2007, received lukewarm receptions, and included T.O.P.'s first solo song "Big Boy". The group achieved mainstream success with the release of the song "
Lies" () from the
extended play Always (2007), which topped several charts upon its release. The singles, "
Last Farewell" () from
Hot Issue (2008) and "
Day by Day" () from
Stand Up (2008), became chart-toppers as well.
2007–2010: Solo career development, move into acting, and GD & TOP After releasing the band's albums and singles, T.O.P. began working on his solo career. In April 2007, he was featured with fellow BigBang members Taeyang and G-Dragon on singer
Lexy's single "Super Fly" for her album
Rush. Later that summer, he appeared as an actor in Red Roc's "Hello" music video. He became the first member of BigBang to venture into acting, starring in the
KBS2 drama
I Am Sam, portraying the school's top fighter, Chae Musin. Despite wanting to use his stage name when acting, believing it reflects his professional side more, he is often billed with his real name, with his stage name included in parentheses. He also became a host of
MBC's music program
Music Core. While promoting his group's materials in 2008, T.O.P appeared on other artists' records, including
Gummy for the song "I'm Sorry" for her album
Comfort, veteran singer
Uhm Jung-hwa for her single "D.I.S.C.O." and ZiA for her single "I Only See You". The same year, he was admitted to
Dankook University in the theatre department. The following year, T.O.P. portrayed the assassin Vick in the critically acclaimed Korean television drama
Iris (2009)
. He also recorded the song "Hallelujah" for the drama's soundtrack with Taeyang and G-Dragon. Following
Iris, T.O.P. starred in the suspense film
19-Nineteen along with fellow member
Seungri. The duo released the single "Because" for the movie's soundtrack. in 2011 T.O.P's performance in the 2010 war drama
71: Into the Fire was well-received, earning him several Best New Actor awards at local award-giving bodies. The movie also gained one million admissions in a week. Simultaneously, T.O.P began to prepare for his solo musical debut. During BigBang's Big Show Concert in January 2010, T.O.P. performed his new single "
Turn It Up". Released as a digital single, it peaked at number two, and sold over 1.3 million downloads by the end of 2010. Later that year, T.O.P and bandmate
G-Dragon formed a
subunit to release the album
GD & TOP (2010). Prior to the release of the album, the duo held a worldwide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo of
Seoul, South Korea, which was also broadcast live on YouTube. Three singles were released in support of the album: "
High High", "
Oh Yeah", and "
Knock Out". All three singles preceded the release of the album and attained commercial successes: "Knock Out" was a chart topper while "Oh Yeah" and "High High" both peaked at number two and number three respectively. The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one with 200,000 pre-ordered copies.
2011–2016: Focus on acting and other ventures From 2011 to 2012, T.O.P was extensively involved with BigBang's promotional activities for their EPs
Tonight (2011) and
Alive (2012) which included a ten-month
world tour that travelled to four continents. After group activities wrapped up, he focused his attention back to acting, starring in the film
Commitment (2013), playing the son of a North Korean spy who is falsely accused. T.O.P first became attached to the role because he "felt sympathy for the main character, Lee Myung Hoon." While filming a combat scene for the movie, he injured the back of his hand on a glass fragment and was later admitted to the hospital for surgery. For his role, he won the Rookie Award at the Asia Star Awards, held during the
Busan International Film Festival. T.O.P was named one of the hottest sex symbols of 2013 by
Rolling Stone. That November, he released his second digital single, "
Doom Dada". The song was performed for the first time at the
2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards in
Hong Kong. "Doom Dada" earned the #1 position on
Dazed magazine's Top 10 K-Pop tracks of 2013, where it was called "inviting and alienating... it's K-Pop but sly, frenetic and slippery." He later featured on English artist
Pixie Lott's Japanese album alongside G-Dragon for the song "
Dancing on My Own". In 2014, T.O.P starred in the gambling film
Tazza: The Hidden Card, based on the
manhwa of the same name. After debuting as a furniture designer in 2015 in collaboration with
Vitra, he was awarded the Visual Culture Award at the Prudential Eye Awards. Later that year, he starred in CJ E&M's web drama
The Secret Message alongside Japanese actress
Juri Ueno. Despite being a rapper, he sang on the single "Hi Haruka" as part of the drama's soundtrack. After spending the majority of 2015
touring and promoting BigBang's materials for their album
Made (2016), T.O.P was cast in the German-Chinese film
Out of Control alongside Hong Kong actress
Cecilia Cheung. The movie is scheduled for release in China.
2017–2019: Military service, personal and legal issues with marijuana usage T.O.P began his two-year
mandatory military service on February 9, 2017, as a conscripted police officer, where he was set to be discharged on November 8, 2018, after completing the requirements. After news broke in June that he would be prosecuted without detention for use of marijuana, T.O.P was subsequently transferred to a different police division to await notice of prosecution, and was suspended from police duty pending verdict on his case. A few days after the announcement, T.O.P was found unconscious in police barracks due to a suspected anti-anxiety medicine overdose of prescribed
benzodiazepine, and was hospitalized. On June 8, T.O.P's mother confirmed that he regained consciousness and was recovering. On June 29, at his first trial for the marijuana usage charges at the Seoul Central District Court, T.O.P pleaded guilty, admitting that he did smoke marijuana in four instances in early October 2016 and received two years of probation. After undergoing a disciplinary review by the police to decide if T.O.P should return as a conscripted policeman or complete his service as a public service officer, T.O.P was eventually assigned reservist status by the
Ministry of National Defense and transferred from the police department to complete his
mandatory service as a
public service worker. He resumed his mandatory service as public service officer at the Yongsan Arts and Crafts Center in central Seoul on January 26, 2018. Afterwards T.O.P was discharged on July 6, 2019. His dispensation took place officially two days later.
2019–present: Focus on art, departure from BigBang, and Squid Game role '' in 2016 T.O.P holds several records in the art world, becoming the first K-pop singer to be named to a list of 200 artists in the art world at Growse Magazine. On February 7, 2022, YG Entertainment announced that
BigBang would make their comeback with a new song on April 5. They also announced that T.O.P ended his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment. YG announced at the time that he would continue with group activities. However, T.O.P confirmed on May 31, 2023, that he had withdrawn from the group. On December 4, 2024, T.O.P was revealed as a cast member for the
second season of the
Netflix series
Squid Game. He played
Thanos, a former rapper who had fallen from grace due to a
crypto scam. After auditioning, he won the role because series creator
Hwang Dong-hyuk liked his "serious" approach. Hwang explained that he wanted to cast someone who had stopped working due to drug-related issues, and T.O.P had retired from K-pop and left BigBang over a
marijuana conviction. To get ready for a fight scene with
Yim Si-wan, both attended training to improve their chemistry together. During training, T.O.P broke some ribs. Yim later said that they stopped filming but T.O.P wanted to continue, so they resumed. When asked about Thanos' death, Hwang identified him as one of his favorite characters, believing that an "intense" death at the end of the second season was the perfect time to kill him, and that the manner in which the plot progresses in
season 3 would make it feel like he is still there. T.O.P appeared one last time in the final episode, which sees a character briefly hallucinating Thanos. The casting of T.O.P received controversy in South Korea, and his face was blurred on the Korean morning show
Live This Morning when airing a segment about the series. The casting led to some viewers to believe that
Lee Jung-jae, who portrayed
Seong Gi-hun and was close to T.O.P, had gotten him the role, a claim that Lee denied.
Netflix and Hwang received criticism for this casting for possibly setting a bad precedent. T.O.P was absent for a time from promotional events with the cast. Responding to speculation that he was removed from promotional events over the controversy, Hwang said that they planned to not have him featured from the beginning, wanting T.O.P to be able to talk about his involvement at his own pace. He felt that he had "a lot of guts" for agreeing to do the performance considering his history with drugs, and was surprised that he had still not been forgiven. and was praised heavily by those outside of South Korea. T.O.P. continued promoting
Squid Game in 2025 during
FYC events for
Primetime Emmy Award consideration, as he was submitted under the
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category. On January 1, 2026, T.O.P announced that he will release his first solo album
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