Who is Doyoung?
Doyoung is a member of NCT 127, the seven-member group under SM Entertainment. ORICON NEWS gives his birthday as 1 February 1996. On 27 December 2016 SM announced that he and Johnny would join the team from its second mini album, NCT #127 LIMITLESS, introducing him as a member “recognised for his wit and his skill as a host”.
A microphone before a debut
That skill was known before his debut. According to YTN Star, when he was first introduced as an SM Rookie in January 2015 he was paired with Jaehyun to host MBC MUSIC’s Show Champion. From 5 February 2017 he presented SBS’s Inkigayo for a year with GOT7’s Jinyoung and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo; the farewell Etoday reported from the last broadcast, on 4 February 2018, was “I was happy to meet you every week through Inkigayo.” In 2022 he hosted the 28th Dream Concert at Jamsil Olympic Stadium on 18 June, and from July that year he was a regular cast member of the SBS variety show Master in the House.
Songs for dramas, a lead on stage
He began acting in 2020 as Son Ji-woo, the lead of season three of the web drama Midnight Cafe. ‘밤공기’ (Bamgonggi), the soundtrack song he sang for it, won the best music award at Marseille Web Fest in France in 2021, MK Sports reported. Drama songs kept coming: ‘Cry’ for TV Asahi’s Hoshi Furu Yoru ni in Japan (January 2023), ‘Here with me’ for tvN’s See You in My 19th Life (July 2023), ‘시간을 넘어 너에게로’ (Siganeul Neomeo Neoege) for tvN’s Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (August 2025) and ‘What A Love’ for Netflix’s Boyfriend on Demand (March 2026).
His musical debut was Marie Antoinette, which opened at the Charlotte Theater on 13 July 2021, where he played the Swedish nobleman Fersen. In The Man Who Laughs, staged at the Seoul Arts Center Opera Theater from 9 January to 9 March 2025, he shared the lead role of Gwynplaine with Park Eun-tae, Lee Seok-hoon and Kyuhyun.
Two years as a soloist
His first full-length album, 청춘의 포말 (YOUTH), came out on 22 April 2024. A month later, from 25 to 27 May, his first solo concert, Dear Youth,, sold out all three nights at Kyung Hee University’s Grand Peace Palace, according to SM, and grew into a 14-show Asia tour across nine cities, from Yokohama to Jakarta. The encore, Dearest Youth,, was held at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium from 1 to 3 November. In between, on 6 November, came the single ‘시리도록 눈부신 (The Story)’.
According to SM, his second album, Soar, features Yoon Do-hyun, Kim Yoon-ah, NELL’s Kim Jong-wan and the lyricist Kim Eana. “Ever since I worked on my first album I wanted to make music with people I respect and love,” he told Money Today. Before the release he held a listening session in Ikseon-dong that included an exhibition of photographs he took himself to capture the album’s mood. The title track, ‘안녕, 우주 (Memory)’, reached number one on KBS2’s Music Bank on 20 June 2025, which OSEN noted was his first number one on a terrestrial music show since his solo debut. That month he also won the Best Solo Award and a Bonsang at the 34th Seoul Music Awards.
His second concert, Doors, opened at Jamsil Indoor Stadium from 13 to 15 June and went on to seven places in Asia. Star News reported that some 33,000 people came to the encore, Yours, at Inspire Arena in Incheon from 9 to 11 October, where he said: “If even one person hears my songs and finds a dream or some courage, I’d be glad.”
He enlisted in the army for active duty on 8 December 2025, and the single Promise came out the next day. Sports Kyunghyang wrote in July 2026 that he was serving alongside Jungwoo.