All about Park Wonbin
PRE-DEBUT
Park Wonbin was born in the Seongbuk-gu district of Seoul, but he spent the majority of his childhood and formative years in Ulsan Metropolitan City after his family moved there at a young age. Due to the relatively short time he lived in the capital, Wonbin claims he has no real memories of his birthplace. From a very young age, Wonbin showed immense promise as an athlete, excelling in both short-distance and mid-distance track and field events. Records under his name can be found by searching the Korea Association of Athletics Federations. His athletic talents extended beyond just running, as he also had experience as a taekwondo poomsae (forms) competitor. In fact, during his elementary school years, he learned various sports such as swimming, track and field, and fencing. From an early age, his dream was to become an artist. However, he thought the possibility was too low, so he considered other career paths such as being an athlete or a guitarist. After his track and field career ended, he had no clear dream, and he even planned to study sushi-making in Japan. But then one day, while lying in bed and not wanting to go to school, he received a casting offer from SM Entertainment through an Instagram direct message (DM). After panicking a little, he was seen desperately asking in his Instagram account about good dancers in Ulsan to prepare for his audition. In the audition, he sang 12 songs, one of which was 'Green Light' by Paul Kim, he also performed the choreography for EXO's "MAMA." At one point, he was asked to do some freestyle dancing, and since he had never taken dance lessons, he was embarrassed but decided to just go for it, performing the "hammer dance" for about a minute. He was accepted in 2019 and trained as a trainee at SM Entertainment for approximately 4 years and 6 months, starting from February 2019, ultimately debuting with RIIZE on September 4th of 2023 and fulfilling his long-held dream.
Wonbin's casting story
The SM Entertainment rookie casting director knew they had found a true gem when they first saw a video of Wonbin. Learning that he lived in Ulsan, the director told their team, "Go wait for him at Seoul Station. You must pick him up and bring him here."
This was an unusual move, as new talent is typically expected to find their own way to the headquarters. However, the director had a hunch that anyone could try to poach him the moment he arrived in Seoul. To prevent this, they specifically ordered that he be picked up.
The whole situation gets even wilder when you consider what happened next. The staff not only met him at the station but also instructed him to wear a mask and cover his name tag, since he was still in his school uniform. They knew they had found a star .
Anecdotes
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Sungchan said that Wonbin's first impression was "special" as he was personally presented by a staff member while still wearing his school uniform. This was in contrast to the usual practice of new trainees entering together or gradually adjusting to the environment. Eunseok, on the other hand, initially mistook Wonbin's tired expression from his long bus journey from Ulsan to Seoul for annoyance and assumed he was forced to attend.
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Upon Anton's arrival, Wonbin was the first trainee he met. Having previously seen a variety show clip featuring Anton and his family on YouTube, Wonbin was able to recognize him immediately.​
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Sohee remembered thinking Wonbin looked like a rapper during the trainee days because of his hip fashion sense. When she saw him come in for a profile photo shoot without his usual cap, he thought he was a new person joining and thought "Wow, he looks like a prince."
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According to EVNNE's Yoo Seungeon, who used to be a trainee with Wonbin at SM, Wonbin was unaware that he used a dialect even during his trainee days, thinking he didn't use it much.
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SM matched wonbin with shotaro as a dance pair in 2020.
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Wonbin was shotaro's first friend in Korea.
Early performances and collaborations
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Just two weeks after joining SM, Wonbin shared the stage with Sungchan and Eunseok for a showcase. He performed Lee Hi's "Breathe" as his solo song.
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One of his earliest dance collaborations was with Shotaro for the choreography of "100."
Notable achievements and moments
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In 2021, Wonbin won first place in the final showcase. He performed Jason Mraz's "Geek in the Pink" while playing the guitar.
