Prince Mak

Early life

Mak was born in south-western Sydney, Australia to Chinese parents. He was named 'Henry' after English kings and 'Prince' as a middle name. His father is a builder and his mother works in a Chinese restaurant. He has one younger sister born in 1993. He attended Casula Primary School, Moorebank High School and Macquarie Fields High School. He learned piano as a child and played bass guitar in a band. He later became interested in hip-hop and began popping and locking. He studied music at University of New South Wales before leaving to pursue a career in the entertainment industry in China. Mak can speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese and basic Korean.

Pre-debut

After graduating from University of New South Wales, Mak worked as a dance teacher at Crossover Dance Studio in Chinatown in Sydney. While a dance teacher he was approached by Korean entertainment company, JYP to become a trainee. However his parents did not allow him to accept. Henry studied acting at the Actors College of Theatre and Television however he found it difficult to find acting opportunities in Australia as most roles were not for Asians.

In 2012, he moved to China where he thought he would have more success in breaking into the entertainment industry. He auditioned for SM Entertainment and made it to the final round however he was considered too old. He entered and won a talent competition in Beijing run by Jackie Chan. Chan hand-picked Mak to become a member of his K-Pop boy group, JJCC.

JJCC

Mak moved to Korea in February 2014 and debuted on March 14, 2014 in K-Pop group JJCC (pronounced Double-JC, Hangul: 더블제이씨) despite not knowing any Korean language. He adopted the stage name of 'Prince Mak' as his given name of 'Henry' was already in use by Henry Lau. Mak did not feature in JJCC's debut music video, "At First" due to an injury. While working with JJCC he lived with together with them with several pets in a house. He described each day involved starting at 5.30am with a 13km run followed by dance practice, vocal training, learning Korean and then dancing until 1am or 2am. Due to the rigorous training regime Mak lost 9 kilograms after joining the group.

Mak was a co-host along with his bandmate, Eddy, for the weekday music show Pops in Seoul. He also hosted his own radio show on Australian music show SBS PopAsia in 2015 and returned to host in late 2016. Mak was absent from JJCC's 'Today' promotions due to tympanitis. Due to his absence from 2016 promotions there was much speculation that he had left JJCC. In September 2016 he confirmed that he would now be pursuing solo acting activities in China, but would remain a part of JJCC. As fans continued to speculate, he later confirmed again, in December, that he was still a member of the group.

Solo career

Mak is currently based in Beijing in order to pursue acting. He is also learning some martial arts. Mak travels to Korea once a month to visit his fellow bandmates. He is also currently hosting a radio show 'The Prince Mak Hour' on Australian digital radio station, SBS PopAsia, on Tuesdays at 8pm AEST. A video diary series, 'Prince Mak's Prince Diaries' is aired roughly every two weeks on their YouTube channel as well.

Influences

Despite debuting in a K-Pop group Prince Mak was actually not interested in K-Pop growing up. His biggest influence is Michael Jackson.

Personal life

Prince Mak is close friends with Australian YouTuber, Wengie. They have previously collaborated on several YouTube videos.