Lay Zhang

Zhang Yixing (born October 7, 1991), known professionally as Lay Zhang or simply Lay, is a Chinese rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, actor, producer and businessman.

Zhang Yixing was born Zhang Jiashuai in Changsha, Hunan, China on October 7, 1991.

His legal name was later changed to Zhang Yixing.

His first known acting role was at age six, starring as Huan Huan in the 1998 Chinese television drama We The People.

In 2000, at age nine, Zhang participated in a Chinese television show as a fan club member of the Taiwanese singer and actor Jimmy Lin, Zhang's first contact with the entertainment industry.

Zhang first gained recognition for participating in the Chinese television talent show Star Academy in 2005.

Zhang began became a local child star after winning third place in a competition organized by the Hunan-based television show Star Academy in 2005.

He also appeared in an episode of Yue Ce Yue Xin Kai and Liu Na's variety show Na Ke Bu Yi Yang between 2005 and 2006.

In April 2006, he auditioned for a leading part in Zhang Jizhong's The Duke of Mount Deer but did not win the role despite being a finalist.

In 2008, Zhang auditioned for SM Entertainment at the South Korean company's global casting audition in Wuhan.

At the time, he was 16 years old and studying at the High School Attached to Hunan Normal University.

After successfully passing the auditions, Zhang moved to South Korea to complete his idol training.

In 2011, prior to his debut with Exo, he briefly worked with Shinee on their Shinee World Tour as Jonghyun's dance replacement.

Zhang debuted as a K-pop idol under the stage name "Lay", which he stated SM Entertainment gave him because there is a character named Huaze Lei who "is talented and likes music quite a bit" in the Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden.

He later debuted as a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo and its Chinese sub-unit Exo-M under SM Entertainment in 2012.

He was first unveiled as one of the four Chinese members of Exo in a teaser video titled "Phoenix" in January 2012.

Following the release of the singles "What Is Love" and "History" in 2012, he and the other eleven members held their pre-debut showcase in Seoul Olympic Stadium on March 31, 2012, as well as a second showcase and press conference at the Great Hall of the Beijing University of International Business and Economics.

The group debuted on April 8, 2012, with the single "Mama", and Exo-M's first performance in China was publicly televised at the 12th Yinyue Fengyun Bang Awards.

In December 2012, Zhang was featured in SM Entertainment's project dance group SM the Performance alongside fellow Exo member Kai and labelmates Yunho, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Minho and Taemin.

On December 29, the group performed their single "Spectrum", which was released the following day, at the 2012 SBS Gayo Daejeon.

As Exo attained domestic stardom, their studio album XOXO became the first to sell more than one million copies in South Korea in 12 years.

Additionally, their 2014 EP Overdose entered US Billboard 200 chart.

Early in 2014, Zhang composed and performed the song "I'm Lay" for his solo performance during Exo's first headlining concert tour, The Lost Planet.

Later that year, he performed another self-composed song, "I'm Coming", on a special year-end television program on Hunan TV.

Zhang also composed the song "Promise" on the repackaged edition of Exo's second studio album, Love Me Right, and wrote the lyrics for the Chinese version of the song.

In August 2014, Zhang joined his first variety show, Star Chef, as a cast member.

In 2015, Zhang founded a personal agency with SM for managed his solo activities in China and released an autobiography titled Standing Firm at 24.

He has also ventured into acting and starred in films and television shows such as Ex-Files 2 (2015), The Mystic Nine (2016), Kung Fu Yoga (2017), The Island (2018), The Golden Eyes (2019), Empress of the Ming (2019), Crime Crackdown (2021), and No More Bets (2023).

In April 2015, SM Entertainment announced that a personal studio had been established for Zhang's activities in China.

In May 2015, he became a regular cast member of the Chinese reality television show Go Fighting!.

Zhang subsequently starred in the second, third, and fourth seasons of the show.

On September 18, the limited edition of Zhang's autobiography Standing Firm at 24 was published, while the standard edition became available on October 7.

The book documented important events throughout his life and broke several online sales records, selling 68,537 copies in the first 24 minutes of pre-sales.

In 2016, Zhang released his first extended play (EP), Lose Control.

The EP peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and number four on Billboard's US World Albums chart.

Zhang is the first Chinese solo artist to hit the Top 25 on the Billboard 200 and the first Chinese solo artist to hit Top 5 on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart.

Since his debut as a solo artist, Zhang has produced and released over 100 songs including 4 studio albums and 5 EPs, and has won numerous music awards.

Zhang has been included on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 (placing in the top 20 in multiple years) and on the CelebrityZ Top 100 Most Valuable Celebrities list (placing 23rd in 2016) published by market research company Kantar and Chinese business magazine CBN Weekly.

Outside of music, Zhang became the first celebrity to serve as publicity ambassador for the Communist Youth League of China of Changsha in 2016.

In 2020, Zhang founded the Chromosome Entertainment Group with serves as CEO and producer.