Jo Kwon


Jo Kwon is a South Korean singer, MC, actor, entertainer and the leader of South Korean boy band 2AM. They have starred in multiple musicals such as 'Jesus Christ Superstar' playing the role of King Herod and 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie' playing as Jamie New.

Predebut

Jo trained at JYP Entertainment for seven years after joining the company. They were chosen as the last member of Park Jin-young's "99% Challenge Project" along with Sunye of Wonder Girls.

2AM career

In 2008, they appeared on Mnet's Hot Blood. The program showed the intense physical training that thirteen male trainees go through to acquire the opportunity to debut in either a four-member ballad group or a seven-member dance group. After several elimination steps, Jo was chosen for a position in the four-member ballad group 2AM. They became the group's leader.
2AM's first single "This Song" was released on July 21, 2008. In March 2015, Jo renewed their contract with JYP Entertainment, while three other members of 2AM signed with other agencies. JYP Entertainment assured that the departures did not mean 2AM was disbanding, however 2AM is currently on temporarily break from any group activities.
They left JYP Entertainment on September 22, 2017. On November 3, 2017, they signed with Cube Entertainment.

Solo career

2008-2009: Variety entertainment and popularity as Adam Couple

Jo has appeared as a regular panel member on variety shows such as Star King. They were part of Dirty Eyed Girls in an episode of 2PM's variety show Wild Bunny, performing a parody of popular Brown Eyed Girls song Abracadabra. The music video became popular. In September, 2009, they were one of the main MCs for SBS' environmental variety show Find it! Green Gold with Super Junior member Shindong, SS501 member Kim Hyung-jun, and Fly To The Sky member Brian Joo. They also replaced Jay Park on historical culture variety show Nodaji.
They joined the cast of We Got Married on October 3, 2009, coupled with Brown Eyed Girls member Ga-In. Although they were initially only supposed to be featured in the Chuseok special, their appearance brought in the highest ratings yet for Season 2, so they were announced as a permanent couple. Jo was diagnosed with H1N1 on October 28, 2009, causing them to postpone filming We Got Married. They recovered quickly after treatment.
During their appearance in We Got Married, Jo and Ga-in were donned the nickname “Adam Couple” by fans. Together they released the digital single, "우리 사랑하게 됐어요," on December 16, 2009, which topped variety online music charts and won two awards on Music Bank's K-Charts and the "Most Popular Background Phone Music" on the Gaon Charts. 50 million won from the profits of the song were donated for rebuilding after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
In 2010, they became a permanent cast member of Family Outing 2. They made their fifth appearance on the TV show "Happy Together" in June 2012. They made several appearances on Star King, Invincible Youth S2, Come To Play, Radio Star, Star Dance Battle, and many other shows. They are known for their "kkab" dance and often danced on variety shows. "Kkab" can be translated as hyperactive.

2010–2012: Screen debut and first solo album

On June 30, 2010, Jo released their first solo digital single titled, 고백하던 날 , a song they partially composed during the We Got Married broadcast for Ga-in. The song came first on Cyworld real-time charts the day after release.
The same year, they were cast in the sitcom All My Love with co-stars Park Min-sun, Kim Gab-soo and fellow idol and former 'wife' Ga-in.
On June 25, 2012, they released their solo album, I'm Da One, along with a music video.

2013: Musical and drama debut

In 2013, Jo joined the cast of a Korean Jesus Christ Superstar musical production, where they played the role of King Herod.
In the same year, on February 27, 2013, they were confirmed as one of the cast for the KBS2 drama Queen of the Office. The drama is about a talented contract worker, and the work and relationships that surround her.

2016–2017: Second solo album, fourth musical Casting, golden tambourine, and departure from JYP Entertainment

Jo's new album Crosswalk included three tracks, two of which they wrote ― the lead single, “Crosswalk,” and the third track, “Flutter.” The second track, “It's Okay,” was written by Ryan S. Jhun and Denzil "DR" Remedios, the music producers of SM Entertainment's Shinee and f. Popular songwriters Esna and Aev produced the title song.
On March 17, 2016, it was announced by JYP Entertainment that Jo would be participating in the musical On The Starry Night as the role "Choi Sung-keun. The musical ran from May 7 to May 15, 2016.
On November 10, 2016, Mnet released some b-cut poster image on their upcoming karaoke program, Golden Tambourine which ran from December 15, 2016, until February 23, 2017.
On September 21, 2017, it was announced that Jo had officially left JYP Entertainment after 16 years. However, 2AM never did announce that they were disbanding and it is presumed that the group is on hiatus.

2018–present: ''Lonely''

On January 10, 2018, Jo released the digital single 새벽 , their first release after joining Cube Entertainment. They were set to enlist in the Korean Army in August 2018, for their mandatory military service. On July 24, 2019, it was confirmed that they would release a special single new theme song for the ROK Army with collaboration of Shinee's Onew and Key, Exo's Xiumin, Infinite's Kim Sung-kyu, BtoB's Lee Chang-sub, 2AM's Jinwoon, Yoon Ji-sung and actors Kim Minseok, and Lee Jae-kyoon in mid-August..
As part of South Korea's effort to combat COVID-19, Jo officially discharged from the military early on March 24, 2020. They also made their first variety show appearance after being discharged on JTBC's Knowing Bros alongside 2PM's Wooyoung, Block B's P.O & WINNER's Mino on April 4, 2020. In July 2020, Jo starred in the musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie, playing the role of Jamie New, a 16-year-old high school student who dreams to be a drag queen and deals with prejudice and bullies.

Personal life

As of 2013, Jo was attending Kyung Hee University. They entered Kyung Hee University without taking the entrance examination, with rumors alleging favouritism, because they were an entertainer. The rumors were refuted by their performance at the top of their class in their major.
In 2015, They enrolled in the Performing Arts Department of Kyunghee University's Graduate Program.
Jo is the president of the cereal cafe franchise 'Midnight in Seoul', which was founded and owned by actor-singer Yoon Kye-sang and three friends. The cafe-cereal-bar was the first of its kind in Seoul and gained popularity amongst K-pop idol singers through word-of-mouth. In May 2017, it was announced that the venture would become a franchise and that Jo would be named its president, while Yoon and others would remain official owners.
On July 29, 2020, Jo came out as Genderless in an interview with Newsis, explaining that their gender identity and their love for the Musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie. On the topic of gender, Jo said that "Genderless" has become their weapon: "In the past, I was afraid of a neutral-gender image. If people said I looked like a woman, I would deny it. Now I don't do that. If people say that I look like Choi Ji-woo or Girls' Generation’s Taeyeon, then that's fine. I'm able to accept myself as I am. This is my long-lasting weapon in the future genderless age."

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Soundtrack appearances

Filmography

Music videos

YearTitleStarring
2009"Dunk Shot"Whale
2010"On The Way To Break Up"Lim Jeong-hee
2012"I'm Da One"Themself
2013"Pitapat"BESTie
2016"Crosswalk"Suho

Film

YearTitleRole
2013PinocchioPinocchio

Television series

Variety shows

Hosting

Musicals

Ambassadorship

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
2009Cyworld Digital Music AwardsSong of the Month We Fell in Love
2010Cyworld Digital Music AwardsSong of the Month We Fell in Love
2010Gaon Chart Grand Opening AwardsJanuary Week 1 Digital Chart Overall #1We Fell in Love
2010Gaon Chart Grand Opening AwardsJanuary Week 2 Digital Chart Overall #1We Fell in Love
2010Gaon Chart Grand Opening AwardsJanuary Week 3 Digital Chart Overall #1We Fell in Love
2010Gaon Chart Grand Opening AwardsJanuary Week 4 Ringback tone #1We Fell in Love
20104th Mnet 20's Choice AwardsMost Influential Top 20 StarsJo Kwon
20103rd Korea Sharing AwardsThe National Assembly standing Committee's Chairman AwardJo Kwon
2010Melon Music AwardsSong of the YearWe Fell In Love
2010Melon Music AwardsNetizen Popularity SongWe Fell In Love
201012th Mnet Asian Music AwardsBest CollaborationWe Fell In Love
2010Bugs Music AwardsSong of the YearWe Fell In Love
2010Bugs Music AwardsBest Duet We Fell In Love
2010Bugs Music AwardsBest Variety Star We Got Married
2010MBC Entertainment AwardsShow, Variety Male Rookie AwardWe Got Married
2010MBC Entertainment AwardsBest Couple Award with Ga-inWe Got Married
2010SBS Entertainment AwardsVariety New Star AwardInkigayo
2011MBC Entertainment AwardsComedy / Sitcom Popularity AwardAll My Love