T.O.P | |
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Born | Choi Seung-hyun November 4, 1987 Seoul, South Korea |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2006–present |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument | Vocals |
Labels | |
Formerly of | |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 최승현 |
Hanja | 崔勝鉉 |
Revised Romanization | Choe Seunghyeon |
McCune–Reischauer | Ch'oe Sŭnghyŏn |
Signature | |
Choi Seung-hyun (Korean: 최승현; born November 4, 1987), known professionally as T.O.P, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor.[1] He performed as an underground rapper before joining the record label YG Entertainment and debuted as the lead rapper of the boy band BigBang in 2006. The group became one of the best-selling groups of all time in Asia and one of the best-selling boy bands in the world.[2] In 2010, while the group was on hiatus, T.O.P and G-Dragon collaborated to release the album, GD & TOP. As a solo rapper, he has released two digital singles, "Turn It Up" (2010) and "Doom Dada" (2013), that have peaked at number two and four, respectively, on the Gaon Digital Chart. He was convicted of marijuana use in 2017, which led to a surge of anti-fans among South Koreans.
T.O.P made his acting debut in 2007 through the TV series I Am Sam (2007), followed by Iris (2009) and the TV movie Nineteen (2009). He made his film debut with 71: Into the Fire (2010), for which he received praise and won multiple accolades including Best New Actor at the 2010 Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 2011 Baeksang Arts Awards. Subsequently, he garnered lead roles in the films Commitment (2013), for which he was awarded New Asian Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival and Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014). In 2024, T.O.P portrayed Choi Su-bong, better known as "Thanos", in the second season of the Netflix dystopian survival thriller series Squid Game.