Kang Daniel

To further pursue this Passion, he attended Peniel Arts High School where he studied modern dance for a year with a focus on ballet and won a gold medal in the dance category at the 49th High School Performing Arts Contest.

Having been raised in a single parent household, Kang revealed that the "tuition [at his arts high school] was really expensive" for his mother who, at the time, was not feeling healthy.

This led to him dropping out of high school shortly after enrolling and later receiving the Korean equivalent of a General Educational Development (GED) credential.

Prior to appearing on Produce 101 Season 2, Kang had trained for two years and one month.

He initially started as a trainee under B2M Entertainment until the company's acquisition and then became a trainee under MMO Entertainment.

Throughout this training period, Kang did not receive dance or singing lessons due to both company's financial instability.

One of the most notable moments during his time as a trainee was his appearance on Her Secret Weapon, performing "Invitation" by Uhm Jung-hwa, where he served as a backup dancer to Fiestar's Cao Lu and Spica's Sihyun.

Kang Daniel (commonly stylized as KANGDANIEL; born Kang Eui-geon []; December 10, 1996) is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, television host, and businessman who rose to fame in early 2017 as the first-place winner of the second season of reality competition series Produce 101.

He is a former member of the show's resulting boy group Wanna One that, at the time, was a major power player in the K-pop industry.

Following the end of Wanna One's activities as a group, Kang took a six-month hiatus from the entertainment industry and took over management of his career.

He has made the Gallup Korea list of Most Preferred Idols in 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list in 2019 and 2022, and appeared on People's list of talented emerging artists making their mark in 2022.

In the same year, Kang was the recipient of the Seoul Mayor's Award for Culture due to his great contribution to the rise of Seoul's awareness by promoting the Korean Wave in various fields.

Kang Daniel was born as Kang Eui-geon (강의건) in Busan, South Korea as the only child of his family.

After spending his childhood and most of his teen years with his birth name, he decided to legally change it to Daniel due to family and friends having difficulty pronouncing Eui-geon.

On an episode of MBC's Radio Star, Kang cited a biblical figure as his source of inspiration for the name Daniel.

He began dancing in eighth grade through a b-boy club he joined following a teacher's suggestion and later attended a dance academy in Busan called Nataraja Academy.

Following this, Kang participated in a youth dance competition titled "Busan City Kids" where he and his teammate won against competitors such as Jimin (who would later become a member of BTS) and Park Woo-jin (who would later become a fellow member of Wanna One).

During a guest appearance at variety show Hello Counselor, Kang revealed that he was ostracized in elementary school because of his appearance and developed Passion and built self-esteem through dancing.

In 2017, Kang was one of the five contestants who represented MMO Entertainment on the second season of Mnet's Produce series.

He is known for finishing first in the final episode of the survival show and becoming the center of the temporary boy group Wanna One that was initially managed by YMC Entertainment and later managed by Swing Entertainment.

Kang's most notable moment on the show was his signature dance move that was re-enacted by many such as the cast of Running Man, the cast of Saturday Night Live Korea (SNL Korea), and other celebrities such as Rain.

He officially debuted with Wanna One during Wanna One Premier Show-Con on August 7, at the Gocheok Sky Dome, with the debut extended play (EP) 1×1=1 (To Be One).

During the preparation for this debut, Kang was confirmed to join the pilot season of MBC's It's Dangerous Beyond The Blankets which premiered on August 27.

In the same month, he was featured on the cover of Weekly Chosun magazine, one of the major news and current events publications in South Korea, with an article focusing on his popularity among the general public.

Following the conclusion of promotions for the EP, Kang was chosen as the first male celebrity to appear on the cover of InStyle Korea fashion magazine in its 14-year history for its October 2017 issue.

He was also signed as a cast member for SBS's newly launched variety show Master Key, for which he was awarded the variety rookie award at the 2017 SBS Entertainment Awards.

Kang was involved in several prominent solo activities the following year, most notably as the main model for Davichi's "Days Without You" (너 없는 시간들) music video and as a continuing cast member on the second season of MBC's It's Dangerous Beyond the Blankets.

He was later awarded the variety rookie award at the 2018 MBC Entertainment Awards for his work at the respective show.

He also continued to promote with Wanna One, including as a part of Wanna One's unit "Triple Position" which won the Best Unit Award at the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards for the single "Kangaroo".

Although he concluded his contract with Wanna One on December 31, he still appeared with the group until its official farewell concerts that were held at the Gocheok Sky Dome between January 24 to 27 of the following year.

In mid-2019, he released his solo debut extended play (EP), Color on Me, which was a commercial success that topped South Korea's Gaon Album Chart.

On January 31, 2019, it was reported that Kang would move to LM Entertainment after the end of his activities with Wanna One.

His subsequent works from his color series titled Cyan (2020) and Magenta (2020) also topped the Gaon Album Chart with the former's title track earning Kang his first domestic top ten single.

Further solidifying his career as a solo artist, Kang earned his first top five single in Korea as well as his first solo appearance on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart through the single "Paranoia".

He then released the third and final chapter of his "color trilogy", Yellow (2021), which topped the Gaon Album Chart and contained his first domestic number one single titled "Antidote".

Alongside his music career, Kang appeared as the host of Mnet's Street Woman Fighter (2021), the spin-off show Street Dance Girls Fighter (2021–2022), the one-episode television special titled Be the SMF (2022) in addition to Street Man Fighter (2022) as well as Street Woman Fighter 2 (2023).

He also made his acting debut through the first-ever Korean Disney+ Star original series, Rookie Cops (2022).

His other ventures include establishing an independent entertainment company named Konnect Entertainment to manage his own career that has since expanded to manage other artists in addition to himself.

Kang is the recipient of numerous accolades including four Seoul Music Awards, one Melon Music Award, one Circle Chart Music Award, and a Guinness World Record.

His acting debut also earned him various accolades including two Asia Artist Awards, one Blue Dragon Series Award, and a Seoul International Drama Award.