Yim Si-wan

Siwan
Siwan at Blue Dragon Film Awards, 17 December 2014
Native name	임웅재
Born	Yim Si-wan (1988-12-01) December 1, 1988 Busan, South Korea
Occupation	Singer Actor Presenter
Musical career
Genres	K-pop Dance
Instruments	Vocals violin guitar
Years active	2010 (2010)–present
Labels	Star Empire Entertainment
Associated acts	ZE:A
Website	ZE:A

Yim Si-wan^[2] (Hangul: 임시완; Hanja: 任時完;^[1] born on December 1, 1988), simply known by his stage name Siwan, is South Korean singer, actor and television host. He is a member of the South Korean boyband ZE:A and its sub-group ZE:A Five. As an actor, he is best known for starring in the film The Attorney (2013), and the cable series Misaeng (2014), which were both successful in the box office and ratings.

Biography

Siwan was born on December 1, 1988,^[3] in Busan, South Korea. He attended Busan Gudeok High School, Busan National University (dropout), University of East Broadcasting Arts (expulsion) and is currently studying at Woosong Information College.^[4][5] He legally changed his first name from Woong-jae to Si-wan before his debut.^[6] He plays the violin^[7] and guitar.^[8]

Career

ZE:A

While attending Chin Chin Song Festival in Busan, Star Empire recruited him as a trainee.^[9] He entered a nine-membered group called "Children of Empire", where he trained for three years. In 2009, they started in Mnet "Children of Empire" and "Children of Empire Returns", where they tour the country doing guerilla performances.^[10] Later the group faced controversy in December following the similarities of the group's name to Brown Eyed Girls' Jea. The group later changed the pronunciation of the name to avoid implications.^[11] On January 7, 2010, the group debuted with their EP, Nativity under the name ZE:A.^[12]

Solo activities

In January 2012, Siwan joined the cast of the period drama Moon Embracing the Sun, playing the young version of Heo Yeom, a high-ranking official scholar and the Crown Prince's tutor.^[13][14][15] Moon surpassed 40% ratings and gained "national drama" status. Later that year, Siwan was cast in the revenge drama Man from the Equator, playing a cold young man that has a sad story behind his negative outlook on life.^[16][17] This was followed by the sitcom Standby, in which he appeared from the 87th episode onwards as a high school student.^[18][19]

In 2013, he joined the cast of Waiting for Love alongside singer BoA; it aired as part of the anthology series Drama Special. He then appeared in the courtroom drama film The Attorney, playing a young student activist detained and tortured by the police on accusations of being a communist sympathizer.^[20] The film was a critical and commercial success, selling more than 11 million tickets to become the 8th best-selling Korean film of all time, and the second highest-grossing Korean film of 2013. Siwan won Best New Actor at the Max Movie Awards and the Marie Claire Film Festival, and received acting nominations from the Asian Film Awards, the Baeksang Arts Awards (where he also won the Fashionista Award), the Buil Film Awards, Grand Bell Awards and Blue Dragon Film Awards (where he won the Popularity Award).

Siwan returned to television in 2014 and starred in two drama series. In Triangle, he played the youngest of three brothers separated at childhood, who grew up in a cold chaebol household.^[21] While in the webtoon adaptation and cable hit drama Misaeng, he reprised his role in Incomplete Life: Prequel as a former baduk player who learns to adapt to Korean corporate culture.^[22] Misaeng was a commercial hit and recorded high viewership ratings, with a peak of 8.4%, the all-time second highest for a cable network program in Korea; and was dubbed as a "cultural phenomenon". Siwan won the Excellence Award in acting at the 4th APAN Star Awards for his performance, as well as Best New Actor awards at the 9th Cable TV Broadcasting Awards and 51st Baeksang Arts Awards.

In October 2015, Siwan was cast in the crime caper movie One Line.^[23] The movie, directed by Yang Kyung-mo, is about a group of con artists who run a large-scale insurance scam.

In January 2016, he starred alongside Go Ah-sung in the war drama film A Melody to Remember. In April, he is cast in the prison film Hooligan.^[24] In June, he is cast in the Chinese-South Korean web drama My Catman alongside Chae Soo-bin and L of Infinite. In December 2016, Siwan will be filming for an upcoming historical melodrama, The King Loves, which is planned for a 2017 broadcast.^[25]

Discography

Filmography

Films

Television dramas

Variety shows

as MC

Musical theatre

Music video appearances

Goodwill ambassador

• 2012 Honorary Ambassador of Korea Tourism Organization ^[32]
• 2012 TISSOT Official Ambassador ^[33]
• 2012 Brand Ambassador of Pret-a-Porter Busan [Busan Fashion Week] ^[34]
• 2012 Honorary Ambassador of Woosong Informatics University ^[35]
• 2013 Gyeonggi Province Brand Youth Ambassadors ^[36]
• 2014 High Ambassador of Korea International Trade Association ^[37]
• 2014 Brand Ambassador of FinTech Financial Technology Group Inc ^[38]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Siwan on Twitter
  
  (Korean)
• Siwan at HanCinema
  
• Yim Si-wan at the Internet Movie Database