Lee Dong Hae, better known as Donghae (lit. East Sea), is a Korean singer and occasional actor. He is a part of the thirteen-member South Korean boyband Super Junior. He is one of the four lead dancers alongside fellow band members Eunhyuk, Shindong and Leeteuk, and is part of its subgroup, Super Junior-M. Donghae is also one of the first four Korean artists to appear on Chinese postage stamps.
Donghae was born in Mokpo, Jeollanam. Donghae initially wanted to become an athlete, but under the influence of his father, who had a wish to become a singer, Donghae decided to train himself to become a singer.
In 2001, Donghae successfully signed a contract with SM Entertainment soon after he jointly won the Best Outward Appearance award with future band mate Sungmin on the company’s third annual SM Youth Best Contest. Under SM Entertainment, Donghae was put in singing, dancing, and acting lessons that same year. He was then recruited into a five-member boy band Smile, with future band mate Leeteuk, but the idea was soon dropped.
In 2004, Donghae – along with Leeteuk – was put into another boy band and formed Super Junior with eleven other trainees. The group later became known as Super Junior 05, the presumed first generation of the rotational music group, Super Junior. Several days before the group debuted, Donghae made a brief appearance in November 2005 at SBS’s Shin Dong-yup’s There Is There Isn’t panel.
On the 8th of August 2006, Donghae’s father died due to cancer. The event still proves to be a difficult memory for him due to the close relationship they shared. In Super Junior’s 4th Album (2010), Donghae’s thank you is dedicated almost entirely to his father.
His best friend is fellow bandmate Eunhyuk, whom he has known for more than 10 years.
Donghae made his acting debut in Super Junior’s horror documentary Mystery 6, broadcasted in early 2006. The documentary surrounds Donghae and his peculiar ability to see and feel ghosts.
In August 2006, Donghae played the role of a human turned cyborg in the Korean version of BoA’s music video drama, “Key of Heart”, his first lead appearance in a music video.
Donghae’s official debut as an actor was in July 2007, with the release of Super Junior’s debut film, Attack on the Pin-Up Boys. Donghae stars as a classmate and close friend of Kim Kibum, a high school student who investigates on a mysterious attack on pretty boys in various high schools in town.
In late 2007, Donghae was featured in Girls’ Generation’s “Kissing You” music video. Also, he and Kyuhyun appeared and sang for facial wash product commercial “Happy Bubble” with actress Han Ji Min. A full music video was released on August 19, 2009. He appeared in Ariel Lin’s music video for “Firefly”, with fellow groupmate, Siwon as his best friend who is dating Ariel’s character who happens to be Siwon’s ex-girlfriend. He played Zhang Li Yin’s love interest on her music video, “Moving On”, released on October 19, 2009.
Donghae starred in SBS drama, It’s Okay, Daddy’s Daughter as Wook Gi, one of three brothers in the drama, which was aired in mid-November 2010. He was scheduled in April 2011 to film Taiwanese drama Extravagant Challenge with Ivy Chen and fellow band member Siwon as the three main characters. It is a live-action adaptation of Japanese shoujo manga Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura shot in Taiwan.
