Birth name Kim Young-woon
Also known as Kang-in
Birth name Kim Young-woon
Also known as Kang-in
Born January 17, 1985 (1985-01-17) (age 25)
Seoul, South Korea
Genres Pop, dance, R&B, trot
Occupations Singer, dancer, actor, television host, MC, radio host
Instruments Piano, guitar, bass guitar
Years active 2005–present
Labels SM Entertainment
Associated acts SM Town, Super Junior, Super Junior-T, Super Junior-Happy
Kang-in was scouted by a talent agent and was recommended to sign up for SM Entertainment's talent competitions. In 2002, Kang-in won first place on the fourth annual SM Youth Best Contest and won the best outward appearance award and signed a contract with SM Entertainment.
Along with Hero, U-Know and future band mate Heechul, SM Entertainment placed them in a small project music group called Four Seasons, with each of the four members representing the four seasons of the year. The prospective group never came through; both Hero and U-Know were chosen to join another all-male singing group TVXQ, which debuted in December 2003. With two members gone, the idea of Four Seasons dropped. Kang-in and Heechul were then placed in Super Junior along with ten other trainees under the same company. This project group managed through well, and they debuted two years later in November 6, 2005 under the name Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.
In early 2006, SM Entertainment was beginning to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation, Super Junior 06, with Kang-in still as an undergraduate member of Super Junior. However, plans changed when the company added in a thirteenth member Kyuhyun, and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations. The group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior. The re-polished group hit it big after they released their first CD single "U" the following summer in 2006, which became Super Junior's most successful single in the music charts until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.
During his career with Super Junior, Kang-in was put into two subgroups, smaller groups that is branched off of the larger Super Junior group. In February 2007, he was placed in the trot-singing Super Junior-T. A year later, he became a member of Super Junior-Happy.