LAY

Zhang Yixing (Chinese: 张艺兴; pinyin: Zhāng Yìxīng; born (1991-10-07)7 October 1991), known professionally as Lay Zhang or simply Lay (Korean: 레이), is a Chinese rapper, singer, songwriter, dancer, actor and businessman. Zhang first gained recognition for participating in the Chinese television talent show Star Academy in 2005. He later debuted as a member of the K-pop boy group Exo and its Chinese sub-unit Exo-M under SM Entertainment in 2012.

In 2015, Zhang founded a personal agency for his solo activities and music releases and released an autobiography titled Standing Firm at 24. In 2016, Zhang released his first extended play (EP), Lose Control, to commercial success. The EP peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and number four on Billboard's US World Albums chart. Since his debut as a solo artist, Zhang has released four EPs and four studio albums. He founded the Chromosome Entertainment Group, which began recruiting trainees worldwide, in 2020.

Zhang has been included on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 (placing in the top 20 in multiple years) and on the CelebrityZ Top 100 Most Valuable Celebrities list (placing 23rd in 2016) published by market research company Kantar and Chinese business magazine CBN Weekly. Outside of music, Zhang became the first celebrity to serve as publicity ambassador for the Communist Youth League of China of Changsha in 2016 and has also ventured into acting. He has starred in films and television shows such as Ex-Files 2 (2015), The Mystic Nine (2016), Kung Fu Yoga (2017), The Island (2018), The Golden Eyes (2019), Empress of the Ming (2019) and Crime Crackdown (2021).