Hoya (singer)

Lee Ho-dong (Korean: 이호동; born March 28, 1991[2]), better known by his stage name Hoya or Lee Ho-won, is a South Korean rapper,singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He served as a rapper and vocalist in boy band Infinite from 2010 and its sub-group Infinite H from 2013 up until his departure from Woollim Entertainment in 2017.[3][4][5] In 2018, Hoya made his solo debut on March 28 with his first mini album "Shower".

Hoya
이호동
Hoya at the Infinite H showcase, 2015
Born	Lee Ho-dong[1] March 28, 1991 Busan, South Korea
Other names	Hoya Lee Ho-won
Alma mater	Daekyung University
Occupation	Rapper singer songwriter dancer actor
Musical career
Genres	K-pop dance-pop hip hop R&B
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Woollim Glorious
Associated acts	Infinite Infinite H Dynamic Black
Korean name
Hangul	호야
Revised Romanization	Hoya
McCune–Reischauer	Hoya
Birth name
Hangul	이호동
Hanja	李浩東
Revised Romanization	I Ho-dong
McCune–Reischauer	I Ho-tong
Autonym
Hangul	이호원
Hanja	李浩沅
Revised Romanization	I Ho-won
McCune–Reischauer	I Ho-wŏn

Hoya made his acting debut in the drama Reply 1997 (2012) and went on to star in the dramas My Lovely Girl (2014), Mask (2015), Radiant Office (2017), and Two Cops (2017), Devilish Charm (2018).

Biography

Hoya was born in Busan, South Korea. He dropped out of high school during his first year to pursue his dream as a singer. His father was against the decision thus Hoya had to leave home. He then took the high school qualification exam and passed. Later his father accepted him and now supports Infinite whole heartedly. Hoya auditioned after he dropped out and ended up in his current agency, Woollim Entertainment. He was a former JYP Entertainment trainee.[6]

On March 10, 2014, he announced that his real birth name is Lee Hodong, not Howon as he had previously told the public, and that he changed it in order not to share a name with comedian Kang Hodong.[7]

Hoya graduated from Daekyeung University, majoring in Applied Music.[8][9]

Hoya at K-Pop World Festival 2013.

Career

2010: Debut with Infinite

Hoya debuted as rapper, vocal and main dancer of South Korean boyband Infinite in 2010. The group officially debuted on June 9, 2010.

2012–2014: Infinite H's debut and acting roles

Hoya made his acting debut in the tvN drama Reply 1997. The drama was a major hit and raised his popularity.[10]

In September 2012, Hoya and fellow Infinite member Dongwoo formed a subgroup called Infinite H.[11][12] The subgroup released their first mini-album, titled Fly High, in January 2013.[13]

In 2014, Hoya starred in SBS' music romance drama, My Lovely Girl; which co-stars his fellow Infinite member Kim Myung-soo.[14]

On September 24, 2014, Hoya was cast as the lead role in the film Hiya. He played a high school student who only dreams of becoming a singer. The film premiered on March 10, 2015.[15][16]

2015–2017: Departure from Infinite, solo activities

In 2015, Hoya starred in SBS's melodrama Mask, acting as Soo Ae's brother.[17]

On June 2016, Hoya became a contestant in Mnet's dance survival show, Hit The Stage.[18] In December, it was announced that Hoya has been cast in the sitcom Strong Family 2017, which started airing in February 2017.[19]

Hoya was a supporting role in MBC's office drama, Radiant Office.[20] On August 30, it was confirmed that Hoya would not be renewing his contract (which expired June 9, 2017) and would be leaving Infinite as well as Woollim Entertainment.[21] In September, he made his musical debut in Hourglass, a play based on the mega hit Korean drama Sandglass.[22] He then starred in MBC's cop drama, Two Cops.[23]

2018–present: Solo debut

In 2018, Lee made his solo debut on March 28 with his first mini album Shower.[24] He was then cast in the romance comedy drama Devilish Charm.[25] In the midst of all, Lee also went to Immortal Song 2 that was broadcast on August 4 and eventually won the episode by getting the highest scores there. Lee also became a dance coach/mentor in KBS variety program, Dancing High that focuses on teaching and mentoring the teens in Korea about dance. On September 12, Lee also released a digital single titled, 'Baby U' featuring Kriesha Chu in the music video.

Hoya enlisted for military service on February 7, 2019 by announcing it through a post two days before the date; he was discharged on December 6, 2020.[26]

Discography

Extended plays

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions	Sales
		KOR [27]
Shower	Released: March 28, 2018 Label: Glorious Entertainment, Genie Music Formats: CD, digital download Track listing Shower (Intro) Angel All Eyes On Me Reply (점) Sigh (한숨) Dance (춤) (Outro)	9	KOR: 10,818[28]

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Sales (DL)	Album
		KOR [29]	KOR Hot [30]
As lead artist
"Pretending I'm Okay"	2014	—	—	N/A	Non album-singles
"Angel"	2018	—	—		Shower
"All Eyes On Me"		—	—
"Baby U"		—	—		Non-album singles
As featured artist
"Ooh Ooh" (Eric Nam ft. Hoya)	2014	48	—	KOR: 34,194[31]	Non-album singles
"Need You Now" (Henry ft. Hoya)[32]		—	—	KOR: 13,756	Fantastic
Soundtrack appearances
"About To Explode" (as Road King)	2016	—	—	N/A	Hiya OST
"May I Love You"	2017	—	—		Hourglass OST
Collaboration
"Yesterday" (as Dynamic Black)	2012	9	—	KOR: 269,507[33]	2012 SBS Gayo Daejun The Colors Of K-Pop
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Songwriting credits

Year	Album	Artist	Song	Lyrics		Music		Notes
				Credited	With	Credited	With
2014	Season 2	Infinite	"Last Romeo"	Yes	Song Sooyoon, Dongwoo	No	—
		Infinite H	"Alone"	Yes	Rphabet, Dongwoo	No	—
	Non album-single	Hoya	"Pretending I'm Okay"	Yes	—	Yes	—
2015	Fly Again	Infinite H	"Pretty"	Yes	9999, Dongwoo	Yes	9999	[34]
2016	Infinite Only	Infinite	"One Day"	Yes	Rphabet's Razer & Dongwoo	Yes	Rphabet's Razer
			"True Love"	Rap	Dongwoo	No	—
2018	Shower	Hoya	"Angel"	Yes	NiiHWA	No	—
			"All Eyes On Me"	Yes	NiiHWA	No	—
			"Reply"	Yes	NiiHWA	No	—
			"Sigh"	Yes	NiiHWA	No	—

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	INFINITE Concert Second Invasion Evolution The Movie 3D	Himself	Documentary film of Infinite encore concert
2014	Grow: Infinite's Real Youth Life	Himself	Documentary film of Infinite
2016	Hiya	Lee Jin-ho

Television series

Year	Network	Title	Role	Notes
2012	tvN	Reply 1997	Kang Joon-hee
2013	tvN	Reply 1994	Kang Joon-hee	Cameo[35]
2014	SBS	My Lovely Girl	Kang Rae-hoon
2015	SBS	Mask	Byun Ji-hyuk
2017	SBS	Strong Family 2017	Lee Gwi-nam
	MBC	Radiant Office	Jang Kang-ho
		Two Cops	Dok Go Sun-hyeok
2018	MBN, Dramax	Devilish Charm	Sung Ki-joon
2019	SBS	Hip Hop King – Nassna Street

Web series

Year	Title	Network	Role
2011	Wara Store	Tooniverse	Himself[36]

Television shows

Year	Title	Network	Role	Ref.
2016	Hit the Stage	Mnet	Contestant
2018	Dancing High	KBS2	Dance Coach	[37]

Musical theatre

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Hourglass	2017–2018	Baek Jae-hee

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2016	36th Golden Cinema Festival	Best New Actor	Hiya	Won	[38]
2017	MBC Drama Awards	Best New Actor	Radiant Office	Nominated

References

1. "'예체능' 호야 개명 "본명 이호동, 강호동 때문에 놀림 받아 개명"". Chosun News. March 12, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
2. Mark Russell (April 29, 2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1.
3. "Infinite biography". Woollim Entertainment. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
4. "Infinite H biography". Woollim Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
5. Ha, Na-yeong (August 30, 2017). "Archived copy" 인피니트 호야, 전속계약 종료…"6인 체제로 그룹 재정비"(공식). The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Chosun Ilbo Company. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. "호야 자퇴 심경고백, "교복 못 입은 아쉬움...'응답'으로 보상받아"". Naver News. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
7. "Infinite's Hoya Changed His Name Because of Kang Ho Dong". Mnet. March 10, 2014.
8. "인피니트 5명, 오늘 같은 대학 동시 졸업..수상도".
9. "5 Infinite Members to Graduate from University Together". enewsWorld. February 15, 2013.
10. "[Interview] Hoya is More Popular Because of ′Reply 1997′ Than Infinite". enewsWorld. January 27, 2013. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
11. "[INTERVIEW] INFINITE H – Part 1". 10Asia. June 3, 2013.
12. "[INTERVIEW] INFINITE H – Part 2". 10Asia. June 3, 2013.
13. "INFINITE H new album coming soon". Kpop Herald. January 20, 2015.
14. "Infinite's L and Hoya Confirmed for Drama 'My Lovely Girl'". enewsWorld. August 5, 2014.
15. "Singer Hoya is getting serious about acting". Korea JoongAng Daily. January 29, 2016.
16. "Hoya touched by Infinite members' response to 'Hiya'". Kpop Herald. March 16, 2016.
17. "'Mask' reveals Hoya transformed into an armed bank robber". Hancinema. SBS Fune. May 25, 2015.
18. "Infinite's Hoya wins 'Hit the Stage' (video)". Kpop Herald. August 18, 2016.
19. "INFINITE's Hoya To Star in New SBS Sitcom 'Super Family'". Koogle. January 4, 2017.
20. "Lee Dong-hwi, Kim Dong-wook, Hoya to star in new MBC drama "Radiant Office"". Hancinema. Asiae. January 30, 2017.
21. "Hoya exits Infinite, does not renew contract". Korea JoongAng Daily. August 31, 2017.
22. "Former Infinite Hoya to star in musical "Hourglass"". Hancinema. September 25, 2017.
23. "Hoya to star in 'Two Cops'". Hancinema. Star Money. September 27, 2017.
24. "[공식입장] 인피니트 출신 호야, 28일 첫 솔로앨범 'Shower' 발표..정식 데뷔". OSEN (in Korean). March 15, 2018.
25. "호야 측 "'마성의 기쁨' 출연 확정…5월 중 첫 촬영"(공식)". Herald Corporation (in Korean). May 7, 2018.
26. Hwang, Hyejin (December 6, 2020). "엑소 시우민·인피니트 출신 이호원, 오늘(6일) 전역 '군필돌 컴백'". Newsen (in Korean). Daum. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
27. "Gaon Album Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Retrieved April 5, 2018.
    • "Shower". November 12–18, 2017.
28. Culmulative sales for Shower:
    • "2018년 03월 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon.
    • "2018년 04월 Album Chart (See #50)". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association.
29. Peak Gaon Chart Digital Chart Ranking
30. Billboard Korea K-pop 100 Chart
31. Cumulative weekly sales of "Ooh Ooh":
    • "Gaon Download Chart – Week 16, 2014 (see #48)". Gaon Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
32. "SUJU-M Henry's New Album 'Fantastic' to Feature EXO's Chan Yeol, Infinite's Hoya and More". Yahoo. enewsWorld. July 9, 2014.
33. Cumulative sales for "Yesterday:
    • "2013 Gaon Download Chart – Week 1". Retrieved August 16, 2017.
    • "2013 Gaon Download Chart – Week 2". Retrieved August 16, 2017.
    • "2013 Gaon Download Chart – Week 3". Retrieved August 16, 2017.
    • "2013 Gaon Download Chart – Week 4". Retrieved August 16, 2017.
34. "Infinite's Hoya Wrote ′Pretty′ with His Mom in Mind". Mnet. January 26, 2015.
35. "Cast members reunite for 'Respond'". Korea JoongAng Daily. December 11, 2013.
36. Lee, Nancy (n.d.). "Infinite Members Become Voice Actors for 'Wara! Store' Cartoon". enewsWorld. Archived from the original on December 15, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
37. "'Dancing High' ready to welcome dancers". Kpop Herald. July 16, 2018.
38. "Yoo Ah-in, Hoya win at 36th Golden Cinema Film Festival". Manila Bulletin. May 30, 2016.

External links

• Hoya on Twitter
• Hoya on Instagram
• Hoya at HanCinema