Kang Daniel

Profile Overview

Kang Daniel (Korean: 강다니엘; born Kang Eui-geon, December 10, 1996), stylized as KANGDANIEL, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, television host, and businessman who rose to fame in early 2017 as the first-place winner of the second season of reality competition series Produce 101. He is a former member of the show's resulting boy group Wanna One that, at the time, was a major power player in the K-pop industry.
Following the end of Wanna One's activities as a group, Kang took a six-month hiatus from the entertainment industry and took over management of his career. In mid-2019, he released his solo debut extended play (EP), Color on Me, which was a commercial success that topped South Korea's Gaon Album Chart. His subsequent works from his color series titled Cyan (2020) and Magenta (2020) also topped the Gaon Album Chart with the former's title track earning Kang his first domestic top ten single. Further solidifying his career as a solo artist, Kang earned his first top five single in Korea as well as his first solo appearance on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart through the single "Paranoia". He then released the third and final chapter of his "color trilogy", Yellow (2021), which topped the Gaon Album Chart and contained his first domestic number one single titled "Antidote".
Alongside his music career, Kang appeared as the host of Mnet's Street Woman Fighter (2021), the spin-off show Street Dance Girls Fighter (2021–2022), the one-episode television special titled Be Mbitious (2022) in addition to Street Man Fighter (2022) as well as Street Woman Fighter 2 (2023). He also made his acting debut through the first-ever Korean Disney+ Star original series, Rookie Cops (2022). His other ventures include establishing an independent entertainment company named Konnect Entertainment to manage his own career, expanding to manage other artists prior to its dissolution in 2024.
Kang is the recipient of numerous accolades including four Seoul Music Awards, one Melon Music Award, one Circle Chart Music Award, and a Guinness World Record. His acting debut also earned him various accolades including two Asia Artist Awards, one Blue Dragon Series Award, and a Seoul International Drama Award. He has made the Gallup Korea list of Most Preferred Idols in 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list in 2019 and 2022, and appeared on People's list of talented emerging artists making their mark in 2022. In the same year, Kang was the recipient of the Seoul Mayor's Award for Culture due to his great contribution to the rise of Seoul's awareness by promoting the Korean Wave in various fields.