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Lee Dong-hae (이동해) (born October 15, 1986), better known mononymously as Donghae (lit. East Sea),
is a Korean pop singer and occasional actor. He is one of the four lead dancers of boy band Super Junior
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 on October 15, 1986. 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.[1] 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.
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In 2004, Donghae- along with Leeteuk- was put into another boy band and formed Super Junior with ten other trainees. The group later became known as Super Junior 05, the presumed first generation of the rotational music group, Super Junior