Lay Zhang

Age: 33

Birthday: October 7, 1991

Nationality: Chinese

Gender: Male

Zhang Yi Xing, known professionally as Lay Zhang or simply Lay, is a Chinese singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, director, dancer, and actor. He is a member of EXO and the main dancer of EXO-M. Lay was a local child star in Hunan, having won third place in a competition hosted by the popular TV program "Star Academy" in 2005. He made his debut movie appearance in the Chinese movie 'Oh My God!'. Lay joined SM Entertainment in 2007 after a successful audition with the company's global casting system in Wuhan. At the time of the auditions, he was 16 years old and was studying for his college entrance exams. In 2011, prior to debuting with EXO, he briefly worked with SHINee for their concert tour as Jonghyun's dance replacement. Lay was formally introduced as a member of EXO on January 17, 2012. Lay debuted as a soloist on October 28, 2016, with the release of his first extended play titled "Lose Control", including the two singles "What U Need?" and "Lose Control", becoming the first EXO member to have debuted as a solo singer. Lay started his own entertainment company called Chromosome Entertainment Group on October 7, 2020. As of April 8, 2022, his contract with SM Entertainment has expired, and he has not renewed it. On the same day, Lay released a single titled 酒 (JIU) to commemorate his 10th debut anniversary. With the change of agency, the group will not be disbanded and EXO is still a 9-member group. From September to the end of November 2022, Lay embarked on his second solo tour called "Grandline 2: Infinite Lands", which took him to places like Malaysia, Singapore, and one stop in the United States. He also headlined the first-ever "MetaMoon Music Festival," which aimed to celebrate Asian cultures at Barclays Center in New York City in late November. On September 24, 2022, he released a 5 song EP entitled 西 (Xi) or West, available on all international platforms. On January 18, 2023, he won Artist of the Year for 2022 at the Weibo Music Awards. On September 26, 2023, Lay won Producer of the Year for 2023 at the Weibo Music Awards. (Source: Chinese = Wikipedia, GMA News, Weibo || Translation = MyDramaList).