Nichkhun Horvejkul

Nichkhun was born in Rancho Cucamonga, California, U.S. to Thai Chinese parents and is a dual national of Thailand and the United States. His maternal grandparents emigrated to Thailand from Hainan, and he has said that he has extended family and distant ancestors from Guangzhou. His mother, Yenjit Horvejkul (née Mekworewut), is the chief executive officer of her family's pharmaceutical business, Union Medical, which imports pharmaceutical products from abroad and is a major government contractor. His wealthy background earned him the nickname "Thai Prince" in South Korea. The second of four children, Nichkhun has an older brother Nichan Bert (born September 11, 1986), and two younger sisters, Nichthima Yanin (born July 22, 1990) and Nachjaree (Chereen) (born October 20, 1994). After moving back to Thailand, the family resided in the Bangkok suburbs and Nichkhun and his siblings attended Thai-medium schools. He had no inclination towards the performing arts as a child and was a competitive badminton player. At the age of twelve, he boarded at Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand for a year and a half and was sent back to Racho Cucamonga, where he and his brother lived with an aunt while attending school. He attended Etiwanda High School before transferring to Los Osos High School. He was scouted by a scout manager of JYP Entertainment at the Los Angeles Korean Music Festival as a high school senior and offered a trainee contract, despite having no background in singing or dancing. In 2006 he moved to South Korea for training, becoming the first non-ethnic Korean trainee at the company.