Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including ten Grammy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, the Contemporary Icon Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. According to Billboard, he is the best performing male soloist in the history of the Mainstream Top 40.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, he appeared on TV shows as a child, before rising to prominence in the late 1990s as one of the two lead vocalists and youngest member of NSYNC, which eventually became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Timberlake's debut solo album, Justified (2002), yielded his first solo hit singles, "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body". His critically acclaimed second album, FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006), debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and spawned three consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles – "SexyBack" (featuring Timbaland), "My Love" (featuring T.I.) and "What Goes Around... Comes Around". Established as a solo artist worldwide, his first two albums both exceeded sales of 10 million copies. Subsequently, Timberlake collaborated on a string of successful songs, including The Lonely Island's viral hit "Dick in a Box", which became one of the most-viewed YouTube videos at the time, and his fourth US number-one single, Timbaland's "Give It to Me".
From 2008 through 2012, Timberlake put his music career on hiatus and focused on his acting career, holding starring roles in the films The Love Guru (2008), The Social Network (2010), Bad Teacher (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011), and In Time (2011). He resumed his music career in 2013 with his third and fourth albums, The 20/20 Experience and The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2; both albums topped the Billboard 200, with the former becoming the best-selling album of the year and spawning the top three singles "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors".