Born in Seoul, South Korea, Rain's life has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs with a rags-to-riches rise from poverty to international stardom. A shy child in elementary school who barely spoke a word, Rain and his sister enjoyed a comfortable life until the 1997 recession, when his father's mill and bakery businesses failed. His father left for Brazil to try to pursue other business opp ...
show all Born in Seoul, South Korea, Rain's life has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs with a rags-to-riches rise from poverty to international stardom. A shy child in elementary school who barely spoke a word, Rain and his sister enjoyed a comfortable life until the 1997 recession, when his father's mill and bakery businesses failed. His father left for Brazil to try to pursue other business opportunities in hopes of sending money back home, but Rain felt bitter and abandoned, living in poverty with his sister and his mother, who was ailing from diabetes and trying to support the family as a food vendor. Rain caught the desire to become a dancer when, at a school talent show in sixth grade no one from his school stepped forward to dance, so he gave it a try, imitating the moves he saw on TV. The applause was extremely gratifying to an introverted child like Rain and he was hooked. He decided to become a dancer. In order to learn, he sought out street kids who danced professionally, but was also sometimes bullied and beaten up by them. Rain got his start briefly as part of a boy-band called Fanclub, but after they released only two CDs, the company promoting the band failed and Rain was back to square one. Revealing abuses in the Korean entertainment industry, Rain describes himself and the other Fanclub members as being like "caged animals" locked up and forced to rehearse for up to ten hours without food. During his junior year of high school he lived with some of his dance group members, subsisting mostly on cups of ramen noodles. In pursuit of his dream of becoming a performer, Rain neglected his studies and came into conflict with his mother over it. He has expressed regret over this. To prove himself to and to help the family financially by becoming successful, he auditioned for entertainment companies eighteen times only to be rejected and told that he was talented, but too ugly to become a star because he didn't have "double eyelids." In 2000, he was accepted by JYP Entertainment as a trainee after a grueling 3-4 hour audition. CEO Park Jin Young describes Rain at the audition as "desperate" and "like a tiger who was about to starve to death" (2008 Discovery Channel documentary "Hip Korea"). JYP stipulated that Rain had to attend college so, after studying "ferociously," Rain got accepted to Kyunghee University and became a music major. Rain spent three years as a trainee and back-up dancer for JYP, who says he was deliberately tough on Rain in order to drive Rain harder to be the best and to channel his intelligence and bitterness. Desperate to make his debut in order to help his mother who was becoming increasingly sick, Rain did not achieve success in time to save her. She died from complications of diabetes a year before his debut, due mainly to lack of money for adequate medical care. One of the most formative events of Rain's life was the death of his mother and he has dedicated his career to her memory, visiting her grave before embarking on each new project. Rain is known as one of the hardest working individuals in the entertainment industry and is known for his discipline, perseverance in the face of difficulty and for his acts of charity.
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