Lay

Lay Profile

• Birth Name: 张艺兴 (Zhāng Yìxīng)
• Stage Name: Lay
• Nationality: Chinese
• Date of Birth: 1991.10.07
• Zodiac Sign: Libra
• Chinese Zodiac: Sheep
• Height: 177 cm (5’8”)
• Weight: 60 kg
• Blood Type: AB
• Personal Social Media: Instagram, Twitter, Weibo

Lay Facts & TMI

• Lay was born in Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
• His family consists of maternal grandparents, mother, and father.
• Lay is an only child.
• He lived with his grandparents when he was a child.
• Lay debuted as a member of EXO-M.
• His ‘superpower’ in EXO is healing.
• His position in the team is main dancer and subvocal.
• Lay aspired to be a singer since he was a child, he was cast by SM Entertainment after winning a competition in China.
• He arrived in Korea in October 2008.
• At first, Lay couldn’t dance really well, he learned to dance from Kai.
• Since the release of EXO’s 4th album in 2017, Lay hasn’t participated in any of EXO’s group activities.
• Lay has a calm personality, he’s famous for being kind as well.
• Lay doesn’t like being called ‘kind’ because he often heard people telling him, “It must be hard for you because you are too kind”.
• Lay is the only foreign member in EXO.
• Because of his vacant stare, Lay often gets questioned if he’s tired.
• He is known to be a passionate and hardworking person in everything he does.
• Lay has a great affection toward fans, on 2014 he held a birthday party with 200 fans where he gifted each of them a self-designed t-shirt.
• Being a foreigner, Lay often made cute mispronunciations of Korean and Japanese words.
• He understands and speaks decent English.
• Lay underwent a serious surgery when he was a child due to blood clotting disorder.
• When he was a child, Lay appeared in various TV shows and audition programs.
• He spent 4 years of training period in Korea.
• Prior to his debut, Lay performed a dance at SHINee’s concert in 2011.
• He can play guitar and piano.
• Lay has been consistently composing songs.
• Lay wrote a song for EXO titled ‘Promise’ with Chanyeol and Chen, it can be found in the ‘Love Me Right’ repackage album.
• He released his first solo album titled ‘Lay 02 Sheep’ in 2017.
• Lay came to Korea to bid farewell.
• On D.O.’s enlistment day, he gathered with other members to see him off.
• He was one of the main mentors and also the presenter on iQiyi’s audition program, Idol Producer.
• Lay’s favorite color is purple.
• The words that he wants to hear the most from fans is “I’ll be with you”.
• He particularly likes taking a shower, he can take a shower up to 4 times a day.
• If there’s Kai who often forgets something at EXO-K, then EXO-M has Lay.
• His favorite item was an MCM backpack that his mother gave him.
• He likes junk food and carbonated beverages.
• Among his favorite foods is chili fried pork.
• He has complexes about his weight.
• Lay cares so much about what people think about him.
• He hates getting blown on his neck.
• Lay said that the place he wants to go the most in Korea is Baekhyun’s grandma’s house, the reason is, “I wonder what kind of household he grew up in to be such an amazing kid”.
• He has sturdy thighs.
• Due to excessive dance practice, he often suffers knees and waist injuries.
• His hobbies are exercising, swimming and playing basketball.
• He is good at badminton.
• He said that the variety show programs he wanted to join the most are ‘We Got Married’ and ‘Running Man’.
• He has a lot of interest in cooking.
• He is afraid of pigeons.
• He started using Instagram on May 8, 2014.
• He loves the snack ‘Honey Butter Chips’.
• He got his first driving license in early 2016.
• He bought 350 portions of pizzas, sandwiches, and ice cream for fans who attended EXO’s Inkigayo recording on June 26, 2016.
• According to NCT127 members, Lay is a sunbae that treats them for meals the most.
• He donates to charities regularly, he even ranked 18th on China’s Top Philanthropist Celebrity List in 2017.
• Lay said that he struggled with anxiety when performing on stage, but EXO members helped him overcome this problem.
• Lay is a brand ambassador for more than 30 brands.
• He’s been nicknamed as ‘Little sheep’ by his fans in China, refers to his Chinese zodiac.
• Lay’s clothing measurements are medium for tops and 28~30 for pants.
• Among Lay’s nicknames are XingXing, Changsa City Prince, JPGLay, LayXing, ZhangMinam, Xingie, etc.
• Lay’s shoe size is 260mm.