Jaehyun (singer)

Jaehyun was cast by SM Entertainment in 2012, discovered by street scouts in front of his school. He auditioned with a performance of "Mama" by Exo.[5] On December 9, 2013, he was introduced as a member of the pre-debut trainee team SM Rookies.[10] In 2014, he participated with fellow NCT members on the show Exo 90:2014, where they performed songs from the 1990s.[11] From January 21 to July 1, 2015, he and groupmate Doyoung were hosts of the program Show Champion.[12] In July 2015, he and groupmate Ten both competed in Hope Basketball All-Star.[13] In December 2015, Jaehyun performed "A Whole New World" on Disney Channel Korea's The Mickey Mouse Club.[5]

In April 2016, Jaehyun officially debuted as a member of the first NCT's sub-unit, NCT U, with the singles "The 7th Sense" and "Without You".[14] On July 10, he made his debut as a member of NCT 127 with their first EP, NCT#127.[15] In March 2017, Jaehyun joined the radio show NCT Night Night as a DJ alongside fellow member Johnny.[16] In November 2017, Jaehyun and Dear released the song "Try Again" for the project SM Station.[17] In December, he featured in the music video for Wendy and Baek A-yeon's "The Little Match Girl".[18] In January 2018, Jaehyun released the single "Timeless" alongside a new NCT U lineup as part of the SM Station project.[19]

In October 2019, Jaehyun became one of three hosts for the South Korean music program Inkigayo alongside Minhyuk and Naeun, hosting the show every Sunday.[20] On September 4, 2020, it was confirmed that Jaehyun would make his acting debut as Cha Min-ho, a second year computer science student at Seoyeon University, in the KBS2 drama Dear. M, which was to be released in 2021.[21] The airing of the drama was postponed indefinitely after lead actress Park Hye-su was accused of school bullying.[22] After a nearly two-year delay, the first six episodes of Dear. M were released globally on June 29, 2022 through the streaming service Viki.[23] Its following episodes were released on July 6, 2022.

On November 2, 2021, Jaehyun was confirmed to star in a KakaoTV web series, a remake of the 2001 South Korean film Bungee Jumping of Their Own, playing the leading role of Im Hyun-bin.[24] On December 9 of the same year, during pre-production, KakaoTV announced the cancellation of the project due to concerns regarding the LGBT plot from the original film's screenwriter.[25]

On August 18, 2022, Jaehyun released his first single "Forever Only" as part of NCT Lab. "Forever Only" was described as an R&B song and featured lyrics written by Jaehyun.[26] It received positive reviews from critics and debuted at number 14 on the United States' Billboard World Digital Songs and at 120 on South Korea's Circle Digital Chart.[27][28]

On March 9, 2023, Jaehyun was confirmed to debut alongside fellow NCT members Doyoung and Jungwoo in the new fixed sub-unit NCT DoJaeJung.[29] They released their first extended play (EP) Perfume on April 17, 2023.[30]

Following various successful collaborations with Prada, the brand selected Jaehyun as an ambassador in 2022, citing his influence and unique fashion style as a reason.[31] In 2023, he modeled for Prada's SS23 campaign, making him the first Korean celebrity to be chosen as a model for the brand's main global campaign.[32] Photographed by David Sims, the campaign draws "upon the characteristics of classic Hollywood and European movies - their images are frames within divergent stories, glimpses of an unseen narrative and an unknown script, a tension again between different views, of different lives" and features Jaehyun alongside actors Vincent Cassel, Louis Partridge, Hunter Schafer, and Letitia Wright and models Guinevere van Seenus and Rachel Williams.[33]