Introduction
Park Ji-yeon (born June 7, 1993), referred to as Jiyeon, is a South Korean singer and actress. She debuted as a member of girl group T-ara in July 2009. The group went on to become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Apart from her group's activities, she has also starred in various television dramas such as Soul (2009), Master of Study (2010), Dream High 2 (2012), Triangle (2014), also starred in various films such as Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp (2012), Encounter (2015). She debuted as a solo artist with her first EP, Never Ever, on May 20, 2014, making her the first T-ara member to debut as a solo artist.
Early life and education
Park was born in Seoul, South Korea, on June 7, 1993, from a Korean family. She briefly attended Hyehwa Girls' High School and graduated from Lila Art High School in 2012. She didn't attend university to focus on her career.
Career
2008–2009: Career beginning and T-ara
She and Hahm Eun-jung are the only two members of T-ara to be trained in acting. Instead, the two switched over to singing despite their original intentions.
Park has expressed an interest in modeling. In 2008, when she was 15 years old, she was featured in several pictorials and advertisements for clothing company Smart with Korean boy band SHINee. She collaborated with Davichi and SeeYa on the digital single "Women's Generation", which was released in May 2009, making her the first member of T-ara to appear in public. She appeared in SG Wannabe's music videos "I Love You" and "Crybaby" from their 2009 album, Gift from SG Wannabe. Early on, the Korean media dubbed her as "Little Kim Tae-hee" due to her close resemblance to Kim.
Park auditioned at the Mnet Casting System and joined the company in 2008. She subsequently debuted with T-ara on July 29, 2009 as the youngest member (maknae).
2010–2013: Acting debut and breakthrough
In 2010, Park starred in Master of Study, a Korean screen adaptation of Japanese manga Dragon Zakura. That same year, she played the leading role in horror film Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp and starred in the youth drama Jungle Fish 2.
In October 2010, Park became the host for MBC's Show! Music Core, alongside Bae Suzy, Choi Min-ho and Onew. She also became a cast member of SBS's variety show Heroes.
In 2011, Park was cast in the Korean dub of the animated film, Gnomeo and Juliet.
In 2012, she was cast in the teen drama Dream High 2, starring Kang So-ra, GOT7's JB and Jin-young, 2AM's Jinwoon, SISTAR's Hyolyn, and Park Seo-joon.
2014–2017: Solo debut
Park made her solo debut in May 2014, releasing the title track "Never Ever" (also known as "1 Minute 1 Second"). The music video ranked number one on China's biggest music video site YinYueTai for two weeks straight.
In June, Park was cast in MBC's television series Triangle, starring as the potential wife for Yim Si-wan's character. The same month, she began hosting SBS MTV's The Show alongside Lee Hye-ri.
In May 2015, Park was cast in the Korean-Chinese film Encounter alongside actor Lee Dong-gun. In July 2015, she collaborated with 2BiC's Jun-hyung on the song "Summer Love".
In 2016, Park was cast in the web drama My Runway alongside Kang Dong-ho. The drama was released on Netflix in December 2016.
In February 2017, it was announced that Park would be making her solo comeback after three years with a new album. However, album preparations were later cancelled.
2018–present: Solo activities
In early 2018, Park and her fellow T-ara members departed from MBK Entertainment following the expiration of their contracts. She later signed with Chinese agency Longzhen Culture Development in May 2018. Park and Vietnamese singer Soobin Hoàng Sơn have released music videos for the Korean version and Vietnamese version of their collaboration track, "Between Us". Jiyeon signed with Partners Park in November 2018 for her domestic activities.
On November 26, it was revealed that Park would release a digital single in mid December, as a thank you gift for fans. On December 22, 2018, Park released music videos for the Korean and Chinese version of her winter ballad track "One Day".
On April 2, 2019, Park was cast in the KBS2's mystery, romantic comedy drama I Wanna Hear Your Song alongside Yeon Woo-jin, Kim Se-jeong and Song Jae-rim.
On December 26, 2019, Park released her second EP Senpass,acronym for "Sense" and "Compass". The EP consists of five-track including the title track "Take A Hike".
Discography
Extended plays
| Title | Album details | Peak positions | Sales | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never Ever |
|
3 | 11 | 2 |
|
| Senpass |
|
N/A | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | |||||
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak positions | Sales | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | CHN | |||||
| "My Sea" | 2013 | — | — | — | N/A | Bunny Style! |
| "1 Minute 1 Second (Never Ever)" | 2014 | 17 | 6 | 1 |
|
Never Ever |
| "Summer Love" (with Jun-hyung of 2BiC featuring Yoon Yo) |
2016 | — | — | — | N/A | Summer Love |
| "Between us" (with Soobin Hoang Son) |
2018 | — | — | — | Between us | |
| "One Day" | — | — | 1 | Non-album single | ||
| "Take A Hike" | 2019 | — | — | — | Senpass | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region | ||||||
Soundtracks
| Year | Album | Song | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Cinderella Man OST | "Women's Generation" | 3:32 | with Seeya and Davichi |
| "Forever Love" | 3:32 | |||
| 2010 | Master of Study OST Part 1 | "Rolling" | 4:01 | Solo |
| Jungle Fish 2 OST | "Little By Little" | 4:10 | ||
| 2012 | Dream High Season 2 OST | "Superstar" | 3:42 | with Hyolyn and Ailee |
| "Together" | 4:19 | with JB | ||
| "Day After Day" | 3:43 | Solo | ||
| 2013 | Bunny Style! | "Dangerous Love" | 3:40 | with Hahm Eun-jung and Hyomin |
| 2014 | Triangle OST Part 6 | "Kiss And Cry" | 3:31 | with Cho Seung-hee (F-ve Dolls) and Shorry J (Mighty Mouth) |
| 2017 | What's My Name | "Lullaby" | 3:12 | Solo |
| 2018 | Queen of Mystery 2 OST Part 8 | "The Path Leading To Home" | 3:14 | |
| 2019 | I Wanna Hear Your Song OST Part 3 | "One Blue Night" | 4:46 |
Other charted songs
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | ||||
| 2014 | "Yeouido Cherry Blossom" | 70 | Never Ever | |
| "Marionette" | 80 | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | ||||
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | SBS Entertainment Award | Best Teamwork | Heroes | Won |
| KBS Drama Awards | Best New Actress | Master of Study | Nominated | |
| Best Couple Award with Yoo Seung-ho | Nominated | |||
| 2014 | 16th Seoul International Youth Film Festival | Best Young Actress | Triangle | Nominated |
| 2015 | Cable TV Broadcast Awards | Popularity Award | The Show | Won |
| The 3rd Yinyuetai VChart Award | Best Korea Female Singer | Never Ever | Won | |
| Yahoo Asia BUZZ Award | Most Popular Asian İdol | N/A | Nominated |