Choi Seung-Hyun (T.O.P)

Choi Seung-Hyun

T.O.P

Novement 4, 1987 37 years old

5'11ft

"tall" + "pale" + "sharp features" + "skinny physic" + "short platinum hair" + "occasionally wears classes, primarily wears contacts (for his nearsight)" + "high cheekbones" + "big hands" + "deep voice" + "dresses in business casual clothes/luxury" + "black eyes"

"sweet" + "kind" + "warm hearted" + "playful" + "charming" + "very stubborn" + "cheeky" + "gentlemanly" + "creative" + "eccentric" + "loyal" + "fashionable" + "funny" + "mature"

"the colors yellow and pink" + "being goofy" + "Smoking cigarettes" + "fine liquor (especially wine)" + "fashion" + "sweets" + "sushi (especially tuna sushi)" + "collecting figures" + "taking photos (serious and funny)" + "reading" + "spending time alone" + "dying his hair" + "collecting painting" + "the finer things" + "doing charity work"

"showing a lot of skin/wearing revealing clothes" + "being woken up" + "being touched (unless by someone he's close with)" + "feeling like he disappointed people"

– He listens to classical music. – He enjoys music from the English rock group Pink Floyd. – He enjoys collecting figurines because he likes talking to them. – T.O.P enlisted in the military on February 9, 2017, and served as a conscripted policeman. – He was discharged from military on July 6th, 2019. – He wears a lot of clothes when he sleeps. -He has said that he would never date a fan. – He used to sleepwalk when he was younger. – He had his first kiss in the 7th grade by the Han River. – He was not a very good student and got poor marks. – His hobbies include: reading books, swimming, and do silly things. – When he first auditioned for YG he was rejected because they said he was too overweight to be an idol. He was later accepted after loosing 20kg in 40 days. – His hometown is Songpa-gu, which is a district of Seoul, South Korea. – He has one sibling, an older sister named Choi Hye-Yoon. – He has know fellow member G-Dragon since childhood. -Keeps a relative low profile after his scandal in 2017 due to the hate and disappointment he got from it.

T.O.P made his acting debut in 2007 through the TV series I Am Sam (2007), followed by Iris (2009) and the TV movie Nineteen (2009). He made his film debut with 71: Into the Fire (2010), for which he received praise and won multiple accolades including Best New Actor at the 2010 Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 2011 Baeksang Arts Awards. Subsequently, he garnered lead roles in the films Commitment (2013), for which he was awarded New Asian Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival and Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014). In 2024, T.O.P portrayed Choi Su-bong, better known as "Thanos", in the second season of the Netflix dystopian survival thriller series, Squid Game.

Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Choi Seung-hyun is the great nephew of Korea's pioneering abstract art artist Kim Whanki and grew up in contact with art due to his family. Choi became interested in hip hop at a young age. He and fellow future BigBang member Kwon Ji-yong (G-Dragon) were "neighborhood friends from middle school" and often danced and rapped together. Although Kwon later moved away and the two "became distant", Choi was contacted by Kwon when YG Entertainment, Kwon's record label, was scouting for possible candidates to create a boy group. By then, Choi had already performed on many underground stages at hip hop clubs and established a reputation as an underground rapper with the stage name Tempo. In 2003 under the name of Tempo, he was the winner of KBS Radio's Rap Battle. After contact, Choi subsequently recorded several demos with Kwon and sent them to Yang Hyun-suk, CEO of YG Entertainment, who later asked him to audition. Choi was initially rejected by the record label, which deemed him too "chubby" to fit the "idealistic version" of an idol.[8] He later "went home and exercised hard because he wanted to join YG Entertainment,"losing 20 kg in 40 days. Six months later, Choi returned for another audition and was signed. Given the stage name of T.O.P. (탑) by senior YG artist Seven,[10] he became one of two rappers alongside G-Dragon (Kwon's stage name) in BigBang. The two were paired with four others: Taeyang, Daesung, Seungri and Hyunseung and a documentary leading up to their debut was aired to promote them. Hyunseung was later dropped by Yang, and BigBang made its official debut with five members. Their first studio album, Big Bang Vol. 1 - Since 2007, received lukewarm receptions, and included T.O.P.'s first solo song "Big Boy".

T.O.P began his two-year mandatory military service on February 9, 2017, as a conscripted police officer, where he was set to be discharged on November 8, 2018, after completing the requirements. After news broke in June that he would be prosecuted without detention for use of marijuana, T.O.P was subsequently transferred to a different police division to await notice of prosecution, and was suspended from police duty pending verdict on his case.A few days after the announcement, T.O.P was found unconscious in police barracks due to a suspected anti-anxiety medicine overdose of prescribed benzodiazepine, and was hospitalized. On June 8, T.O.P's mother confirmed that he regained consciousness and was recovering. On June 29, at his first trial for the marijuana usage charges at the Seoul Central District Court, T.O.P pleaded guilty, admitting that he did smoke marijuana in four instances in early October 2016 and received two years of probation. After undergoing a disciplinary review by the police to decide if T.O.P should return as a conscripted policeman or complete his service as a public service officer, T.O.P was eventually assigned reservist status by the Ministry of National Defense and transferred from the police department to complete his mandatory service as a public service worker. T.O.P. holds several records in the art world, becoming the first K-pop singer to be named to a list of 200 artists in the art world at Growse Magazine.[64][unreliable source?]

On February 7, 2022, YG Entertainment announced that BigBang would make their comeback with a new song on April 5. They also announced that T.O.P ended his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment. YG announced at the time that he would continue with group activities. However, T.O.P confirmed on May 31, 2023, that he had withdrawn from the group.