Nam Woo Hyun was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. He is currently majoring in Applied Music at Dong Ah Institute of Media and Arts. He has an older brother, Nam Boo Hyun. Boo Hyun is the owner of a popular BBQ restaurant, 먹&삼 생고기집, located in Suyu, Seoul. In an interview with 10asia, Woohyun revealed he originally aspired to be a soccer player. However, he could not pursue this dream and eventually realized his dream of becoming a singer when he was in high school, and auditioned at Woollim Entertainment to pursue a career in music as a solo singer. He passed the audition with a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Lately" and was taken in as an idol trainee. He admitted being a little disappointed but worked hard to practice dancing instead. Prior to debuting with Infinite, Woohyun was a model for a shopping mall alongside Beast's Jun Hyung and T-ara's Ji Yeon. He also competed in the 6th Hello Star Contest performing Lee Hyori's U Go Girl. In one of his first broadcast appearances, he played the lead role in KooPD's music video for 귀가 멀어 in 2007. Later in 2009, he appeared on Mnet's 소녀펀치 (Girl Punch) and sang Lee Seung Gi's 하기 힘든 말 (Words that are hard to say). Woohyun made his debut in 2010 as the main vocalist of Infinite. He is one of the main vocalists of the band alongside leader Kim Sung Kyu. December 2014 marked Nam Woohyun's directorial debut with the short horror film, 홍콩에서 생긴일 (What Happened in Hong Kong). Last May 9, 2016, Woo Hyun debuted his first solo mini-album titled Write. It contains 6 songs, 3 of which he composed himself. On October 24, 2019, he enlisted for his mandatory military service, serving as a public service worker. He was unable to serve as an active-duty soldier due to his shoulder injury in 2014. On August 5, 2021, he officially completed his service. On October 19, 2021, Nam made his comeback with his fourth EP With. On October 7, 2022 it was announced that he has parted ways with his Watch drama online for free.