Lee Dong-hae (born October 15, 1986), referred to as Donghae, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, composer and actor. He was trainee at SM Entertainment after winning a prize at SM's Youth Best Contest in 2001. After four years of training, Donghae debuted as a member of boy group Super Junior in November 2005. Since then, he has risen to prominence due to the group's success on the Asian music scene and further participated in the group's projects Super Junior-M, Super Junior-D&E, and the agency's projects SM The Performance. He is one of the first four Korean artists to appear on Chinese postage stamps.
Donghae was born in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, South Korea. His grandmother helped his mother to deliver him. He has an elder brother named Lee Dong-hwa . When he was young he wanted to become a football player but his dad wanted him to be a singer since he gave up of his dream to become one himself. In 2001, Donghae signed with SM Entertainment after winning a prize at SM's Youth Best Contest. Under SM Entertainment, Donghae was put in singing, dancing, and acting lessons, and was then recruited into a five-member boy band Smile, with future bandmate Leeteuk, but the idea was soon dropped. In 2004, Donghae, along with Leeteuk, was put into a twelve-member boy band named Super Junior 05 .