Idol Casting Stories revealed.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

A Pink's Eunji: She attended a vocal academy before her director recommended that she audition for A Pink. She got in on first try and debuted two months later.

Jessica and Krystal: SM tried to cast Krystal at first but her parents felt that she was too young and declined. They instead recommended Jessica so Jessica joined SM first, then was followed by Krystal once she got older.

SHINee Minho: An SM manager tried to cast him at a ski resort but Minho declined. He kept following Minho around only to be denied again. The manager then spotted Minho walking home from school and gave him another casting offer. Minho declined. Manager kept following and offering anyway again until Minho finally accepted.

MBLAQ GO: He placed second at a singing competition and was shocked when he found out that the first place winner was someone younger than him. He dropped out of school to focus on his singing before finally debuting as MBLAQ. The first place winner ended up being SNSD's Taeyeon.

EXO-K Sehun: He was eating ddukbokgi at a street food stand when a casting manager approached him. Sehun got scared and thought the person was weird so he ran away. Manager persisted and chased him down for 30 minutes before finally persuading and casting him.

Sunny: She was originally a trainee in a different agency. Her group disbanded before they got to debut so Sunny kind of floated around before she auditioned for SM and got accepted. Ended up being Lee Soo Man's niece.

2PM Wooyoung: He wasn't really given much attention when he originally auditioned for a Wonder Girls' audition. Ended up winning #1 at another public audition and debuting with 2PM.

Tiffany: She was cast while standing in front of a bathroom at a Korean festival.

VIXX Hongbin: He decided to become a singer after watching a non-celebrity perform at a singing competition. After he auditioned and joined a company, he ended up debuting in the same group as that non-celebrity he first saw (VIXX's Ken).

TVXQ Changmin: SM's casting manager waited for Changmin outside of his school every day after seeing him play badminton during phys ed class. He was so persistent that Changmin told his mom. His mom was a BoA fan so she took Changmin to an SM audition because she wanted to see BoA. Changmin passed the audition and debuted with TVXQ.

EXO-K Baekhyun: Baekhyun initially gave up auditioning because he failed all of them and began preparing for music college instead. While clearing his throat and practicing outside of his practical exam room, he was cast by an SM manager.

Super Junior Kangin: He was cast while riding an elephant train at an amusement park.

INFINITE Sunggyu: After graduating from high school, he left home for Seoul to become a singer. He lived alone and worked several part time jobs, one of them being at a cafe. His cafe manager mentioned to a customer that Sunggyu was preparing to become a singer. The customer asked Sunggyu who his favorite singer was and he replied that it was Nell. The customer ended up being Nell's manager and offered him a chance to audition at the company. Sunggyu obviously passed and debuted with INFINITE.

Seohyun: She was cast by an SM manager while riding the subway when she was an elementary school student.

B2ST Doojoon: He was originally preparing for admission into an athletics college but changed paths to become a singer when he saw a Big Bang documentary at home while in his underwear and eating pork cutlets. He became a JYP trainee when he placed 3rd at a public audition. Joined the survival 'Hot Blood' program and almost became a member of 2AM before being eliminated. Left JYP to join Cube and got a fresh start as a member of B2ST, the same group as Hyunseung, a previous member of the same Big Bang documentary he watched.

SHINee Jonghyun: SM originally cast him for his handsome looks when he was a bassist for a band. Ended up becoming SHINee's main vocalist.

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Source: Netizenbuzz, Instiz

Anyone one got other stories?

Comments

[donttakethebait.livejournal.com]

the changmin one always cracks me up bless at his mom. the ken/hongbin one kills meeee. so precious ;_;

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

His Mom has her priorities LOL. Ken/Hongbin is super cute. I want to know if that story came out on their television show (too long couldn't watch it all).

Wasn't Doojoon actually inspired directly by Hyunseung too

[22by7.livejournal.com]

She was originally a trainee in a different agency. Her group disbanded before they got to debut so Sunny kind of floated around before she auditioned for SM and got accepted. Ended up being Lee Soo Man's niece.
I laughed for a whole minute.

I'm a bit creeped out by the Minho and SM manager story, although maybe it's mostly in the way it's written. Still.

Sunggyu's story is like the professional arts version of the incredible meet-cute?? OMG.

[sisterjune.livejournal.com]

gyu's story is the best <33 nell fanboy to the end.
SEHUN, CHANGMIN AND SEOHYUN'S SM CASTING STORIES ARE TERRIFYING TOO. i sent them to u in gmail before i realized u saw it already hahaha XD but jfc the PERSISTENCE. that is straight stalker behavior jfc.

[thesundayaffair.livejournal.com]

/brb applying to be a SM casting manager

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

...so you can chase down underaged kids that you think are going to be hot?

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

what's with all these stalker agents? geez!

Most of these stories are incorrect/exaggerated

[kimeraldbts.livejournal.com]

Jessica was casted while shopping with her mom.

The agency Sunny was in went bankrupt, that's why she suddenly was without a group or agency and one of her former trainers recommended her.

Tiffany was singing in a contest and had offers from several agencies that wanted her to join them. And SM tried quite hard to persuade her to go there. LSM even bring TVXQ to persuade her.

Re: Most of these stories are incorrect/exaggerated

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Jess casted in the street int he US. But there's always some story about Krystal being asked to join SNSD. Which I hope isn't true because she'd be like 12 or something.

[age-ofconsent.livejournal.com]

Sm managers are fucking weird. Lol at Changmins mom though, I might do something like that

[froggster.livejournal.com]

Minho's and Sehun's stories sound so creepy.
Hongbin's is cute. Now I get why he said that Ken inspired him to become a singer.
Sunggyu's sounds like a movie plot.

[digitalqueen.livejournal.com]

Sunggyu's whole life is a movie plot. Sometimes I'm bothered by his nastiness, but then I remember how hard his life was. His family lost their house so they had to live in some friends basement for a while. Then his parents kick him out for wanting to be a singer so he had to live in those hostel sort of places and work several jobs.

[mad-nux.livejournal.com]

GO's story would make an awesome kdrama then he and Tae have a reunion or smth and end up together in the end lol

[miuratenshi.livejournal.com]

I need to see this.

[miuratenshi.livejournal.com]

Poor Minho.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

I'd have called the police.

[921227.livejournal.com]

jfc some these are even creepier once you realize the idols were barely teenagers at the time. SM be creepin on kids hardcore.

Hongbin and Ken's is really cute and I'd really like to know some other EXO members stories considering a few of them were trainees for barely a year before debuting

[footballfina.livejournal.com]

Almost all of them were cast "on the street", the only member that actually auditioned for SM was Kai.

I know Luhan was cast while shopping in Myeongdong
Xiumin came second in a Everysing singing competition (which I think Jino won) and afterwards was approached
Chanyeol was cast because of his face when he was super young (much like Sehun and Suho)

[nightfrost75.livejournal.com]

Some of these are too cute and some of them scream stranger danger (when you remember how young some of these artist started training at).

[sisterjune.livejournal.com]

krystal being casted at AGE FIVE is never not horrifying to me. i would never let my child anywhere near such a company no matter how famous and powerful it was. i mean its comforting to know doesnt have some dark history of sex abuse cases re: trainees but even so...wtf are those managers even thinking?

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

Those CREEPERS. Seriously, I would've run away forever and call the police or something.

And I'm amazed at those that were casted by their looks and ended up being good vocals. Wow.

Sunggyu's story is every fan's dream, tbh.

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

YES

*cough*Chanyeol*cough*

[annhh.livejournal.com]

they got really lucky with seohyun and tiffany, if they went by looks only

creepy as always

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

The Seohyun one had me side eyeing but then kids are casted the world over so it's normal I guess. but weird regardless.

[goldynchickie.livejournal.com]

Some of these creepy since at lot weren't even teenagers.

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

Yes this! x_____x

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Never knew Jonghyun was a bassist. That kid has the most interesting background.

[22by7.livejournal.com]

He was asked about it on some show recently and he laughed saying he doesn't actually remember how to play bass. Forgetting what show though.

[hongaerin.livejournal.com]

OP this picture is the best, congratulations on your outstanding creative skills !

SM managers sound like creepers, like if someone started following me like that I would be so scared and I would have ended up calling the police.
GO's story had me laughing.
Sunngyu's story is so cute, they should make a drama with this plot !

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

lmfao the kangin one xD

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

Idk but Kangin's story cracks me up.

[batterydead.livejournal.com]

same here

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

EXO-K Baekhyun: Baekhyun initially gave up auditioning because he failed all of them and began preparing for music college instead. While clearing his throat and practicing outside of his practical exam room, he was cast by an SM manager.

He failed them all, but his voice is amazing. o____O

[weerainbow.livejournal.com]

I was shocked at that too! He must have been turned down for other reasons than his voice because the boy has an amazing instrument

[konichiwacobra.livejournal.com]

some of these are so creepy. they were basically harassing children.

[gabucha26.livejournal.com]

The VIXX story kinda makes me want to learn more about them lol

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

His story sounds like what great Yaoi mangas are made of.

[fantaesticbaby.livejournal.com]

i think that a lot of these stories are made up to sound cool.
Like the idyllic story that Luhan told where he said he was cast while he was shopping in Korea, but then i found out he actually auditioned for JYP, didn't get in but SM wanted him instead.

[stinkytoenaty.livejournal.com]

Sunggyu's sounds very Cinderella-like but you can actually find his sm auditions on YouTube failing miserably to get in.

[jia-zhang.livejournal.com]

EXO-K Sehun: He was eating ddukbokgi at a street food stand when a casting manager approached him. Sehun got scared and thought the person was weird so he ran away. Manager persisted and chased him down for 30 minutes before finally persuading and casting him.

Always my faveourite casting story. Poor scarred baby.

Somehow I think the job of a casting director would be kinda hilarious, just image the husband/wife convos, "So I saw this kid today, and I chased him down..."

[cuizy.livejournal.com]

chased for 30 min..... lolllll

I want to be a casting manager too..... but I'm afraid I don't have the stamina to run 30 min to chase down some little boy

[tothechangmin.livejournal.com]

changmin's story always cracks me up, especially when he does the imitations of his mother being all excited and going against her husband's wishes just to see boa.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

IKR

[es2pido.livejournal.com]

i cast lee hi bc she a qt.

8*>

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

* because you had a boner