Jay Park (Korean name: Park Jaebeom; Hangul: 박재범; Hanja: 朴載範, born April 25, 1987) is an American singer, dancer, rapper, music producer, songwriter, model, choreographer, entrepreneur, and actor. He is a member of the Seattle-based b-boy crew, Art of Movement (AOM). As Park grew up as a b-boy and dancer, he has become well known for these skills, as well as his charismatic performances and great stage presence. Park was described as a "born entertainer" by legendary Korean pop singer Patti Kim, and The New York Times quoted the president of digital music distributor DFSB Kollective describing Park as "not just an artist, but also his own PR agent, fan club president, and TV network." Park also branched out into entrepreneurship, where he became the founder and co-CEO of AOMG, a Korean independent record label specializing in hip hop.
Park initially rose to fame as the leader of South Korean boy band 2PM, formed by record label JYP Entertainment in 2008, after having previously been a trainee for four years. In September 2009, Park returned home to Seattle after comments he wrote about Korea in 2005 as a teenager were leaked by a netizen who hacked his Myspace account, and were taken out of context and misinterpreted by the Korean media; Park officially left the group in early 2010. In March 2010, Park uploaded a cover video of B.o.B's hit "Nothin' on You", with his own rap and lyrics, to YouTube, which went viral and reached over 2,000,000 views in less than 24 hours, leading to the release of Park's first EP, Count on Me (Korean: 믿어줄래; Revised Romanization: Mideojullae) in July 2010, which debuted at number one on the Gaon chart. Park returned to South Korea in June 2010 for the filming of Hype Nation, while being represented by Digital Media Wire's CEO and entertainment attorney Ned Sherman, and in July 2010, Park signed a contract with SidusHQ, one of the largest agencies in South Korea, re-debuting as a solo singer and an actor.
Park's first mini album, Take a Deeper Look, released in 2011, went multi-platinum in South Korea. Park became the first ever artist crowned winner on a debut stage by winning on KBS' Music Bank with "Abandoned", and was the only solo artist to win "Record of the Year" at the 2011 Golden Disk Awards, dubbed the Korean Grammys. Later in 2011, Park released singles "Demon", "Girlfriend", and "Star", co-starred in the Korean movie, Mr. Idol, and joined the cast of KBS' Immortal Songs 2. At the end of 2011, Park released an EP, New Breed Part 1; the precursor to Park's first full-length album.
In February 2012, Park released his first full-length album, New Breed, quickly topping charts in South Korea and internationally, and went multi-platinum in less than a week. Park also released an English mixtape, Fresh Air: Breathe It, which became the first mixtape by an Asian artist to have gold status by surpassing 100,000 downloads on DatPiff. Following the release of New Breed in 2012, Park successfully held his first solo concert in Seoul, as well as embarking on tours around Asia and Australia. Park headlined the Verizon APAHM Tour in the USA, and was the closing act at MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2012. Also in 2012, Park returned to KBS' Immortal Songs 2, became a fixed panel member on MBC's Come to Play, and hosted tvN's Saturday Night Live Korea. Park became a permanent cast member of Saturday Night Live Korea in early 2013. In 2014, Jay Park performed 2014 South by Southwest (SXSW) as a Korean representative pop singer.