Mark Tuan (born Mark Yien Tuan (Chinese: 段宜恩; Korean: 마크투안)), known mononymously as Mark, is a Taiwanese-American rapper, singer, songwriter and model. He is the rapper, lead dancer, sub-vocalist and visual of the South Korean boy group GOT7.
Biography
Born as Mark Yien Tuan in Los Angeles, California, he spent a number of years in Paraguay and Brazil before eventually returning to California, where he grew up. He is Taiwanese, and has two older sisters and one younger brother. He took violin and piano lessons in elementary school, and moved to guitar in junior high school.
He attended Arcadia High School in Arcadia, California. In 2010, while with his friends at school, he caught the attention of a JYP Entertainment scout, who invited him to the auditions. Tuan had no desire to pursue a musical career but was encouraged by his friends and family who told him it was a good opportunity and thus, he gave it a try. He subsequently passed the audition with the song "When I’m Gone" by Eminem and dropped out of school, which he attended until grade 10. He moved to South Korea in August 2010, where he learned acrobatics for one year, and martial arts for two years. Learning to sing, rap and dance, and performing on a stage as a trainee, inspired him to pursue the idol life and to become a singer.
Career
2011-2013: Pre-debut
In 2011, he appeared in a commercial for KT Olleh.
In 2012, Tuan made a cameo in the first episode of Dream High 2 as a backup dancer alongside JB and Jinyoung, who later became members of GOT7 with him.
He appeared in the fourth episode of Mnet's 2013 reality-survival program WIN: Who is Next, which presented iKon and Winner members, who at the time were still trainees under YG Entertainment. It also featured future fellow GOT7 member's Jackson Wang, BamBam and Yugyeom.
2014-2020: Debut and solo career
On January 16, 2014, Tuan debuted as a part of K-pop boy group GOT7, with the EP Got It?. Since his debut, Tuan has expressed his goals in working harder to become a singer-songwriter and making his own music. Tuan officially began writing rap and lyrics for Got7 songs since the Just Right EP, with the track "Back To Me". He contributed heavily to Flight Log: Turbulence, participating in the rap and lyric making in five out of thirteen songs, including "My Home" and "Let Me". With Got7's third studio album Present: YOU, Tuan released his first Korean solo song "OMW" featuring fellow member Jackson Wang. September 13, 2018 marked the release date of "OMW" as Tuan's first solo music video which later became the first music video from a JYPE idol to achieve one million views on Naver.
On February 10, 2018, Tuan, along with fellow member BamBam, held a special "Project Blur" fan meeting in Thailand at MCC Hall The Mall Ngamwongwan.
Tuan has shown a keen interest in the fashion industry with launching his career as a model on magazines across South Korea, China and Thailand. Since early 2017, he has appeared on Dazed Korea, Ceci Korea, Grazia, Oh! Boy, Arena Homme+, 1st Look, Chicteen, Sudsapda, Stream, Yoho, Firebible, Jstyle, Beijing Youth Weekly, Nylon, Ele, Allure, Cosmo, The Star, Shinyouth, K-Media, Vogue Korea, GQ Thailand, Sweetdonut, Ginger, Starbox Young, Size, Vogue Thailand, Unnamedideal, Juz! Entertainment, Madame Figaro Mode, etc. Tuan became the cover of the 200th issue of the Korean charitable magazine The Big Issue, which provides support for the homeless, in March 2019. He has also released two limited edition apparel collections with Represent in 2018 and 2019 under XCIII referring to his birth year, helping in the creation and designing of each piece. The second collection, XCIII Evolution, sold 40,446 items, with all profits going to the charity Save the Children.[2][3]. After attending Milan Fashion Week 2019 for Ermenegildo Zegna with GQ Thailand and his collaboration with Represent, Tuan has expressed the desire to create his own brand. Tuan made his first US magazine cover in November 2020 for Lined's Changes issue.
In the spring of 2019, he joined Jus2 in their 'Focus' Premiere Showcase in Asia, acting as the MC for Macau (April 7), Taipei (April 14) and Singapore (May 4) stops.
Activities in China
Tuan's increasing presence in the Chinese market began in 2018 with attending photoshoots, events and interviews. In January 2019, the variety show Change Your Life (重量级改变) marked Tuan's first television appearance in mainland China. On April 11, 2019, Tuan attended the Weibo Starlight Awards in Hong Kong and won the Hot Star Award.
Tuan held his first ever set of fan meetings in China, titled "On Your Mark", visiting Nanjing, Chengdu and Shanghai from 2019 to 2020. On July 20, 2019, he held the first of his solo fan meetings in Nanjing, China which sold out all 3000 seats. It was reported that the tickets for the event sold out within the first minute. The event also saw the signing of his first photobook, Mark宜夏, which had been earlier released on June 30. He then went on to a September 14 fan meeting in Chengdu, China the same year followed by a final stop in Shanghai, China on January 11, 2020. On the day of the last fan meeting, he released his first Chinese single, "Outta My Head", officially debuting as a solo artist. The single topped the QQ Music Top1 Album Billboard (Paid Albums) for the week ending January 12, 2020.[4] It also ranked 8th in sales figures for digital albums/singles/EPs in China for the month of January.[5]
His second single, titled "从未对你说过" in Chinese and translated to "Never Told You", was released as a charity single on White Day, later made available on Spotify and Apple Music via Dark Horse Entertainment. "从未对你说过" was released in collaboration with the China Children's Charity Relief Foundation, and their partnership also saw the sale of a sweater in collaboration with ETET to help children in Heqing County in Yunnan Province.
Promoting in four countries (China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand), he has had many endorsement deals across China and Vivo in Thailand alongside group member BamBam. This includes becoming the brand ambassador in China for Davines (大卫尼斯) in April 2019 and Mentholatum on May 27, 2020 for Mentholatum Acnes, having previously endorsed Mentholatum's Lip Tiara in December 2019. In August 2020, Tuan became the brand ambassador for China Unicom, a large telecommunications operator in China.
From June 15 until August 28, 2020, Tuan appeared on eight episodes of Huya Super Idol League Season 10 as "Gamer Mark".
2021-present: Departure from JYPE and future activities
In January 2021, Tuan, along with the other six members of GOT7, chose not to renew his contract with JYP Entertainment. Following his departure, Tuan opened a YouTube channel which shortly gained over a million subscribers before he had posted any content to it. On January 21, he then uploaded his first video.
The opening of Tuan's company Mark Tuan Studio (段宜恩工作室) in Beijing, China was announced on February 7 with focus on his solo Chinese activities and promotions. On February 12, he released the single "One in a Million" in collaboration with Sanjoy Deb. An animated music video, which Tuan was also an executive producer of, was then released on his YouTube channel on Valentine's Day. He also served as the executive producer of GOT7's "ENCORE" music video released on February 20.
A third apparel collection in collaboration with Represent, named XC3, went on sale on March 17. On April 29, Tuan signed with Creative Artists Agency. On June 2, he became the ambassador for Sisley's Black Rose Skin Infusion Cream. The same month, Tuan made the cover of L'Officiel Philippines alongside Winnie Harlow. On June 16, Tuan collaborated with Anessa for a limited edition Artist Box, becoming the first artist to do so.
In the second half of the year, he sang "Never Gonna Come Down" with Bibi for the movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This marked his first OST. He attended Paris Fashion Week for Rick Owens, Raf Simons, Lanvin and Balenciaga in September.
On November 12, 2021, Tuan released the digital single "last breath". He subsequently released other songs in 2022, namely "my life" on January 21, "lonely" on March 24, and "save me" on April 7.
From May 27 to May 29, 2022, he held a sold-out solo fan meeting in Thailand titled "Pull-Up".
On July 1, 2022, Tuan released the digital single "imysm". The song was the fifth and last single extracted from his first studio album the other side, which was published on August 26, 2022 together with the music video of title track Far Away. The singer is credited both for songwriting and composition across every song of the 20-track record, showcasing both his singing and rapping abilities.
Discography
Studio albums
- the other side (2022)
Singles
- "Outta My Head" (2020)
- "从未对你说过 (Never Told You)" (2020)
- "One in a Million" (with Sanjoy) (2021)
- "last breath" (2021)
- "my life" (2022)
- "lonely" (2022)
- "save me" (2022)
- "imysm" (2022)
Soundtrack appearances
- "Never Gonna Come Down" (with Bibi) from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: The Album (2021)
Filmography
Dramas
| Year | Title | Role | Channel | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Backup dancer | KBS | Cameo (Episode 1) | |
| 2015 | Himself | Youku Tudou | Online drama by JYPE and Youku Tudou | |
| 2016 | Sanctuary | Nadao Bangkok | Thai advertisement short film |
Variety shows
| Year | Title | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | WIN : Who is Next | Mnet | Rap and dance battle contestant (Episode 4) |
| 2017 | Law of the Jungle in Wild New Zealand | SBS | Episodes 265-268 with Park Chul-min and Sung Hoon |
| 2019 | GOT7's Real Thai | TrueID, XtvN | With Jinyoung, Youngjae and BamBam |
| GOT7 Golden Key | STATV | With Youngjae | |
| All For One (以团之名) | Youku | Special mentor |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Weibo Starlight Awards | Weibo Hot Star | N/A | Won |
Video Gallery
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |
References
- ↑ Two older sisters and one younger brother.
- ↑ "Mark Tuan | XCIII Evolution" Represent
- ↑ "KOREA’S TOP ENTERTAINER LEE JOON GI COLLABORATES WITH REPRESENT" HipHop Magz
- ↑ https://m.weibo.cn/status/4462122894901820
- ↑ https://www.weibo.com/2004482285/IvyO38Z9Q
 | |
|---|---|
| Jay B • Mark • Jackson • Jinyoung • Youngjae • BamBam • Yugyeom | |
| Mini albums | |
| Albums | |
| Repackage albums | MAD: Winter Edition • Present: YOU&ME Edition |
| Digital singles | Home Run • One and Only You • Breath • ENCORE |
| Singles | |
| Albums | |
| Mini albums | Hey Yah • Turn Up • THE New Era • • Love Loop |
| World tours | 1st World Tour 'Fly' (2016) • World Tour 'EYES ON YOU' (2018) • World Tour 'KEEP SPINNING' (2019) |
| Japanese tours | 1st Showcase "IMPACT IN JAPAN" (2014) • 1st Japan Tour "AROUND THE WORLD" (2014) • Japan Tour "MORIAGATTEYO" (2016) • Japan Showcase Tour "MEET ME" (2017) • Japan Arena Special "MY SWAGGER" (2017) • Japan Tour "TURN UP" (2017) • Japan Connecting Hall Tour "THE NEW ERA" (2018) • Japan Arena Special "ROAD 2 U" (2018-2019) • Japan Tour "OUR LOOP" (2019) |
| Thailand tours | Thailand Tour "NESTIVAL" (2017) • Thailand Tour "NESTIVAL" (2018) • Fanfest "SEVEN SECRETS" (2019) |
| Tours/fanmeets | Asia Tour Showcase (2015) • 1st Fanmeeting Tour (2015) • Flight Log: Turbulence Fanmeet Tour (2016-2017) • Global Fanmeeting (2017) |
| Anniversary fanmeetings | 365+ 1st Fanmeeting • Amazing Got7 World 2nd Fanmeeting • We Under The Moonlight 3rd Fanmeeting • IGOT7 Research 4th Fanmeeting • Dreaming of Soccer King (Fly GOT7) 5th Fanmeeting (2019) • The Winter We Loved 6th Fanmeeting (2020) |
| Other | GOT7 2022 FANCON: HOMECOMING with I GOT 7 (2022) |