Nichkhun

Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul, known mononymously as Nichkhun, is a Thai and American entertainer who works as a rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and model. He established his public career in South Korea as a member of the boy band 2PM, becoming widely recognized as the first Southeast Asian individual to successfully debut in a K-pop idol group. Alongside his group endeavors and solo musical releases, he has built an extensive acting portfolio across Korean, Thai, and Chinese screen productions, while frequently appearing on variety and reality television broadcasts.

Nichkhun was born in Rancho Cucamonga, California, to a Thai father and a Thai Chinese-American mother, giving him dual nationality in Thailand and the United States. His maternal heritage traces to Hainan and Guangzhou, and his mother serves as the chief executive officer of a family pharmaceutical import business. Raised as the second of four children, he moved with his family to Thailand during childhood to learn the language and culture. He competed in badminton as a youth and attended schools in Thailand, New Zealand, and California. While attending high school in Los Angeles, he was scouted by JYP Entertainment in 2006, relocating to South Korea as the agency's first non-ethnic Korean trainee.

Before his formal musical debut, Nichkhun appeared on South Korean television and worked as a backup dancer in Thai commercial advertising. He was selected for the survival program Hot Blooded Men, which chronicled trainees competing for spots in the groups 2AM and 2PM. In 2008, 2PM debuted with the single "10 Out of 10" before reaching widespread mainstream success with their follow-up release, 2:00PM Time For Change. With 2PM, he contributed to multiple Korean and Japanese studio albums and participated in the group's sub-unit ENWJ.

As his solo career developed, Nichkhun gained significant television exposure, including a fifteen-month stint on the reality series We Got Married alongside Victoria of f(x), winning a Popularity Award at the 2010 MBC Entertainment Awards. He co-hosted multi-year music events and formed part of the project group Lucky Boys. In late 2018, he launched his solo music career by composing every track on his Japanese debut mini-album Me, followed by its release in South Korea and a multi-language tribute track for fans. He released his second mini-album, Story of..., in 2019, held solo concert tours across Asia, and served as a host or mentor on programs like We K-Pop, Idol on Quiz, and The Brothers' School of Gentlemen.

Nichkhun made his feature film debuts in 2012 with the Japanese live-action adaptation Ouran High School Host Club and the Thai anthology Seven Something. He went on to star in Chinese series such as One and a Half Summer and Looking for Aurora, as well as the high-grossing 2018 Thai feature Brother of the Year. His acting projects also encompass the Korean web series Magic School, a award-winning role in the Thai drama My Bubble Tea, the horror movie Cracked, the drama series Finding the Rainbow, and his Hollywood debut in the romantic comedy film The Modelizer.

In addition to his entertainment activities, Nichkhun was designated a Friend of UNICEF in 2013 for his charitable work in Thailand, receiving a plaque of recognition from the organization in 2015. Within the music industry, he is regarded as a pioneering figure whose successful debut broadened the reach of Korean pop music in Thailand.