Who is Choi Jong Hoon?
Choi Jong Hoon is a retired South Korean musician and actor as well, who is perhaps best known to the world as the guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band F.T. Island. He was the frontman of the band from its inception until his retirement in 2019. As an actor, he starred in the TV series “Heroes” (2015), among other accomplishments.
Choi Jong Hoon Bio- Age, Childhood, and Education
Choi Jong-hoon was born on the 7th March 1990, in Seoul, South Korea; he went to Shindongshin Middle Information Industry High School, where he started expressing his musical aspirations, and joined the FNC Music talent agency – F.T. Island was formed with members from this talent agency.
Following his high school matriculation, Choi enrolled at the University of Suwon, where he majored in digital music.
Career Beginnings
F.T. Island was formed in 2007, with Oh Won-bin, Choi Jong-hoon, Lee Hong-gi, and Lee Jae-jin as the main members. Two years later Oh Won-bin left the group and was replaced by Song Seung-hyun, who would also leave the band later. The group’s debut release was the South Korean album “Cheerful Sensibility” in 2007, which spawned such hits as “Lovesick” and “Thunder”, both of which topped the Korean charts.
The band continued to gain popularity in South Korea with the album “Colorful Sensibility”, before they made their Japanese debut with “So Long, Au Revoir”.
Peak of Popularity
From 2009 until his retirement, Choi and all the band members enjoyed star status, becoming one of the most popular bands in South Korea and Japan as well. They stormed the music scene of Japan with the hit albums “Five Treasure Island” (2011), which was their first Japanese album to top the chart, and continued with such releases as “Rated-FT” (2013), “5…..Go” (2015), then “N.W.U” (2016), and “Everlasting” (2019).
They also were at the top in South Korea, with albums “Five Treasure Box” (2012), “I Will” (2015), and “Where’s the Truth” (2016), which made Choi a star. The entire discography of the band includes 18 studio albums, eight EPs, and 17 soundtrack albums.
Acting Career
In addition to music, Choi Jong-hoon is also known as a television personality and actor. His first on-screen appearance was in the show “On Air” in 2008, then made a few appearances in reality shows, including in “Cheongdam-dong 111”, while his first role was in 2015 as Park Shi-hyun in the drama series “Prince’s Prince”.
Later that year he portrayed Choi Hee-yeol in the TV series “Heroes”, while in 2017 he was Min Su-ho in the drama series “Unexpected Heroes”.
Choi Jong-hoo The Untold Truth
Choi Jong-hoo is currently in prison, serving a five-year sentence; in March 2019, he was a part of the sex scandal known as Burning Sun Scandal. It was revealed that Choi was a part of the Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms, with the group of people involved in the whole scandal sharing sexually explicit videos of women who were filmed without their knowledge. Other celebrity members were Lee Jong Hyuun and Jung Joon-young.
He continued with illegal actions, filming other women without their consent, and spreading that material. Furthermore, a woman came forward to TV station SBS funE with a statement that she was raped by Choi and four other men in March 2016 while she was intoxicated, and also that the video of the incident was also shared in a group chat. Of course, Choi denied all the accusations, however, he said that he and the particular women were together on that very day. All of this resulted in a trial, and on the 29th November 2019 Choi was sentenced to five years in prison. Once the whole scandal broke out, Choi’s agent announced that he would be leaving F.T. Island, and retiring completely from the entertainment world.
Choi Jong-hoon Net Worth, Height, Weight, and Appearance
Choi had become a star thanks to the successful musical career, but his illegal actions have cost him his popularity and career on the whole. As a result, his wealth has declined since his imprisonment, and according to sources, it is estimated at around $1 million, as of mid-2020.
Choi Jong-hoon stands at 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall, while he weighs approximately 134lbs (61kgs). His vital statistics are unknown, but he has a slim figure. He has brown hair and brown eyes.
Choi Jong-hoon Personal Life, Dating, Girlfriend, Single?
Unfortunately, other than Choi’s controversies, there aren’t more details about his personal life.
For the better part of his life he has been focused on his career, and according to reports, at the time he was arrested Choi was a single man, focused on his career rather than dating, but only he knows the truth as he has rarely spoken about his personal aspirations. However, according to some sources, back in 2017 he was in a relationship with the rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon Jae, but the romance lasted only for a couple of months.
Choi Jong-hoon News, Facts, Influence
Choi and his lawyer appealed against the sentence, and it has been reduced to two and a half years.
In addition to his original fine of five years, he is also ordered to participate for 80 hours in a program for the treatment of sexual violence, and is also barred for three years from being employed in institutions that deal with children and youth, and also welfare facilities for the disabled.
Before taking a guitar in his hands, Choi had been taking piano lessons since he was in the 6th grade. His musical idols are Eric Clapton, then the band Muse, among others, while he mostly enjoys acid jazz music. In addition to F.T. Island, he was a member of the spin-off group F.T. Triple, formed in 2009.
Choi Jong-hoon is a social media star and has around 600,000 followers on his official Instagram page.