One Direction are Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. All of the group hail from the U.K., save for Horan, who is from Ireland. All five of the boys (ages 18-20) auditioned for the UK X Factor in 2010 as solo artists. However, at the suggestion of Simon Cowell they joined forces as a group, quickly becoming one of the competitions most popular acts of all time, finishing in the final three and garnering a gigantic fan-base along the way.