Career
Sung-min was born in the Hogae district of Anyang, Gyeonggi. He has a younger brother, Lee Sung-jin. In 2001, he entered the SM Youth Best Contest and won first place for the Outward Best Appearance award along with Dong-hae, one of Super Junior’s members. Together, they signed a contract with SM Entertainment and received training in singing, dancing, and acting. In 2002, Sung-min was placed in the RnB project group with Jun-su and Eun-hyuk. The six of them made their first television appearance on an event called Heejun vs Kangta, the Battle of the Century: Pop vs. Rock. The six trainees were released as members of the rock band TRAX, and Jun-su debuted as a member of TVXQ. Both Sung-min and Eun-hyuk joined Super Junior 05’s ten other trainees and formed the first generation of Super Junior’s rotation boy band. In 2005, before the debut of Super Junior, he played on the MBC drama Sisters of the Sea. Sung-min officially debuted as a part of the 12 members of Super Junior 05 on November 6, 2005, on the Inkigayo SBS music program. There, Super Junior delivered their first single “TWINS (Knock Out)”. Their debut album SuperJunior05 (TWINS) was released a month later on December 5, 2005, and was third on the monthly chart of the MIAK for K-pop albums. In March 2006, SM Entertainment began recruiting new members for the next generation of Super Junior. However, plans changed and the company declared a halt in forming the future generation of Super Junior. After the addition of the thirteenth member Kyu-hyun, the group dropped the suffix “05” and became officially Super Junior. The first CD single “U” was released on June 7, 2006, and after that, the third album Sorry-Sorry released in March 2009. With these, Super Junior managed to gain tremendous success. Sung-min was a guest star on the SBS drama Banjun Theater: Finding Lost Time and collided with his management partner Yoo-chun. In February 2007, Sung-min was placed in the trot-singing subgroup Super Junior-T. In July, Sung-min took part with fellow Super Junior members in Attack on the Pin-Up Boys, a production of SM Picture. He played the role of a flower boy who will be attacked by unknown criminals. He replaced Kang-in as a DJ on Reckless Radio with members of Girls’ Generation from June 2007 to July 2008. In 2008, he became a member of the Super Junior-Happy sub-group and participated in half of the Super Junior Unbelievable short drama stories with Leeteuk. In 2009, he starred as the male lead Ro at Akilla music at the Hanjeon Art Center in Seoul from 9 October to 8 November. Sung-min was also placed in the Super Junior M sub-unit, and Sung-min played a role in one of the Korean dramas entitled President. In 2010, Sung-min starred in the musical Hong Gil Dong along with Yesung, also a member of Super Junior, who played the historical figure of Hong Gildong. This was played at the Woori Financial Arts Center in Olympic Park starting on February 18, 2010, and going for two months. In October, Sung-min was one of 20 South Korean singers who recorded the theme song “Let’s Go” for the 2010-20G Seoul summit together with Seo-hyun, Jong-hyun, and Luna. In December, he starred in the KBS drama The President as Jang Sung-min , the ambitious son of President Jang Il-joon. In January 2011, he was placed in the Mandopop Super Junior-M sub-group as one of two new members along with Eun-hyuk. Then, he spent the next few months promoting in Taiwan and China. For July and August, Sung-min played Daniel alongside Ahn Jae-wook, Um Ki-joon, and Lee Ji-hoon in the Jack the Ripper musical at the Chungmu Art Hall. In 2012, Sung-min took part in the We Got Married spin-off program with Sistar’s Hyorin called Pit-a-Pat Shake. Additionally, Sung-min along with Ryeo-wook took over as radio DJ’s for Super Junior’s Kiss when former DJ Leeteuk and Eunhyuk left because of their busy schedules. On March 29, 2012, Sung-min released his first digital solo single “Oh Wa”, which was the ending song for the KBS sitcom We Need a Fairy.
