Lee Seung-hyun (Hangul: 이승현; born December 12, 1990), known by his stage name Seungri (Hangul: 승리; lit. victory) (or V.I in Japan), was a member of Korean group BIGBANG under YG Entertainment Inc. Before joining the group, he was a member of a dance team in Gwangju, South Korea. He first appeared on television on the reality television series Let's Cokeplay: M.Net Battle Shinhwa, a show in which Shinhwa attempted to create a boy band that could be a "second Shinhwa".
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Lee Seung-hyun (Hangul: 이승현; born December 12, 1990), known by his stage name Seungri (Hangul: 승리; lit. victory) (or V.I in Japan), was a member of Korean group BIGBANG under YG Entertainment Inc. Before joining the group, he was a member of a dance team in Gwangju, South Korea. He first appeared on television on the reality television series Let's Cokeplay: M.Net Battle Shinhwa, a show in which Shinhwa attempted to create a boy band that could be a "second Shinhwa". Although he was noticed for his dance skills, his lack of vocal skills led to him being eliminated. He was later scouted by the record label YG Entertainment and joined the group BIGBANG in 2006. Although he was initially cut on the ninth episode of the group's documentary series, he was given another chance to impress YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk and succeeded. Seungri is known for his dance skills. In his hometown, Gwangju, he was part of the dance group II Hwa. He has competed against his fellow BIGBANG member Taeyang in several dance competitions, as well as against Super Junior's Eunhyuk, 동방신기's Yunho, and SHINee's Taemin. Seungri also choreographed some of BIGBANG's dance. Seungri became the first member of BIGBANG to act in a musical with the performance in Sonagi in 2008. His next musical, Shouting, was performed in 2009 alongside another BIGBANG member Daesung, who was unable to perform at the last minute due to a car accident. Seungri made his film debut in with the movie Why Did You Come to My House?, followed by My 19 alongside another BIGBANG member T.O.P. The movie was released on November 12, 2009. Although his first solo song Next Day was recorded as part of BIGBANG's album track, his second solo song Strong Baby was released as a promotional single for the group's second Korean album. In order to shed the "youngest member" look from BIGBANG Seungri promoted the single with a more mature look along with a stylized dance. On March 11, 2019, Seungri departed from BigBang and retired from the entertainment industry after he allegedly supplied sex workers in 2015 and was charged with sexual bribery and embezzlement. He was convicted in 2020 after the police investigation of the Burning Sun scandal. Seungri's military trial commenced on September 16, 2020, where he denied 7 of his 8 charges. A military court found Seungri guilty on all charges and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 1.15 billion won (US$970,000) on August 12, 2021, which was reduced to 18 months on January 27, 2022 based on his admission of guilt. During the sentence reduction, Seungri pleaded guilty to all charges brought against him and expressed that he "will reflect on his actions". He was released from prison on February 9, 2023.
