Lee Ho-won (; born Lee Ho-dong () on ), known professionally as Hoya, is a South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, actor, and dancer, currently a member of the dance crew Mbitious. He is known to have been a rapper and vocalist in boy band Infinite (and later its sub-group Infinite H) from 2010 until his departure from Woollim Entertainment in 2017. In 2018, Hoya made his solo debut on March 28 with his first EP Shower.
Hoya made his acting debut in the drama Reply 1997 (2012) and went on to star in the dramas My Lovely Girl (2014), Mask (2015), Radiant Office (2017), and Two Cops (2017), Devilish Charm (2018).
Biography Hoya was born in Busan, South Korea. He dropped out of high school during his first year to pursue his dream as a singer. His father was against the decision thus Hoya had to leave home. He then took the high school qualification exam and passed. Later his father accepted him and now supports Infinite whole heartedly. Hoya auditioned after he dropped out and ended up in his current agency, Woollim Entertainment. He was a former JYP Entertainment trainee.
On March 10, 2014, he announced that his real birth name is Lee Hodong, not Howon as he had previously told the public, and that he changed it in order not to share a name with comedian Kang Hodong.
Hoya graduated from Daekyeung University, majoring in Applied Music.
Career 2010: Debut with Infinite
Hoya debuted as rapper, vocal and main dancer of South Korean boyband Infinite in 2010. The group officially debuted on June 9, 2010.
2012–2014: Infinite H's debut and acting roles
Hoya made his acting debut in the tvN drama Reply 1997. The drama was a major hit and raised his popularity.
In September 2012, Hoya and fellow Infinite member Dongwoo formed a subgroup called Infinite H. The subgroup released their first mini-album, titled Fly High, in January 2013.
In 2014, Hoya starred in SBS' music romance drama, My Lovely Girl; which co-stars his fellow Infinite member Kim Myung-soo.
On September 24, 2014, Hoya was cast as the lead role in the film Hiya. He played a high school student who only dreams of becoming a singer. The film premiered on March 10, 2015.
2015–2017: Departure from Infinite, solo activities In 2015, Hoya starred in SBS's melodrama Mask, acting as Soo Ae's brother.
In June 2016, Hoya became a contestant in Mnet's dance survival show, Hit The Stage. In December, it was announced that Hoya has been cast in the sitcom Strong Family 2017, which started airing in February 2017.
Hoya was a supporting role in MBC's office drama, Radiant Office. On August 30, it was confirmed that Hoya would not be renewing his contract (which expired June 9, 2017) and would be leaving Infinite as well as Woollim Entertainment. In September, he made his musical debut in Hourglass, a play based on the mega hit Korean drama Sandglass. He then starred in MBC's cop drama, Two Cops.
2018–present: Solo debut In 2018, Lee made his solo debut on March 28 with his first mini album Shower. He was then cast in the romance comedy drama Devilish Charm. In the midst of all, Lee also went to Immortal Song 2 that was broadcast on August 4 and eventually won the episode by getting the highest scores there. Lee also became a dance coach/mentor in KBS variety program, Dancing High that focuses on teaching and mentoring the teens in Korea about dance. On September 12, Lee also released a digital single titled, 'Baby U' featuring Kriesha Chu in the music video.
Hoya enlisted for military service on February 7, 2019, by announcing it through a post two days before the date; he was discharged on December 6, 2020.
On June 9, 2021, Hoya made his comeback with the new digital single album 1AM.
On April 1, 2022, Hoya signed an exclusive contract with Initial Entertainment.
Discography
Extended plays Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR Shower Released: March 28, 2018 Label: Glorious Entertainment, Genie Music Formats: CD, digital download 9 KOR: 10,818Culmulative sales for Shower:
Single albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales KOR 1AM Released: June 9, 2021 Label: Glorious Entertainment, Genie Music Formats: Digital download —
Singles Title Year Peak chart positions Sales Album KORPeak Gaon Chart Digital Chart Ranking KOR HotBillboard Korea K-pop 100 Chart As lead artist "Pretending I'm Okay" 2014 — — rowspan="5" "Angel" 2018 — — Shower "All Eyes On Me" — — "Baby U" — — "Stay With Me" 2021 — — 1AM As featured artist "Ooh Ooh" 2014 48 — KOR: 34,194Cumulative weekly sales of "Ooh Ooh": "Need You Now" — — KOR: 13,756 Fantastic Soundtrack appearances "About To Explode" 2016 — — rowspan="2" Hiya OST "May I Love You" 2017 — — Hourglass OST Collaboration "Yesterday" 2012 9 — KOR: 269,507Cumulative sales for "Yesterday:
2012 SBS Gayo Daejun The Colors Of K-Pop "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.
Songwriting credits Year Album Artist Song Lyrics Music Notes Credited With Credited With 2014 Season 2 Infinite "Last Romeo" Song Sooyoon, Dongwoo Infinite H "Alone" Rphabet, Dongwoo Hoya "Pretending I'm Okay" 2015 Fly Again Infinite H "Pretty" 9999, Dongwoo 9999 2016 Infinite Only Infinite "One Day" Rphabet's Razer & Dongwoo Rphabet's Razer "True Love" Dongwoo 2018 Shower Hoya "Angel" NiiHWA "All Eyes On Me" NiiHWA "Reply" NiiHWA "Sigh" NiiHWA
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 2016 Hiya Lee Jin-ho 2022 Urban Myths Choong-jae Segment: "Tooth Worms" Birth Choi Yang-eop
Television series Year Title Role Notes 2012 Reply 1997 Kang Joon-hee 2013 Reply 1994 Cameo 2014 My Lovely Girl Kang Rae-hoon 2015 Mask Byun Ji-hyuk 2017 Strong Family 2017 Lee Gwi-nam Radiant Office Jang Kang-ho Two Cops Dok Go Sun-hyeok 2018 Devilish Charm Sung Ki-joon 2019 Hip Hop King – Nassna Street 2024–2025 Check-in Hanyang
Television shows Year Title Role Notes 2016 Hit the Stage Contestant 2018 Dancing High Dance coach 2022 Be Mbitious Contestant Final member of Mbitious Street Man Fighter As a member of Mbitious
Musical theatre Title Year Role 2017–2018 Hourglass Baek Jae-hee 2022 Secretly, Greatly: THE LAST Won Ryu-hwan
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2016 36th Golden Cinema Festival Best New Actor Hiya 2017 MBC Drama Awards Best New Actor Radiant Office
Notes
References
External links