Bae Suzy

Early life

Suzy was born in Buk District, Gwangju, South Korea on October 10, 1994, to Bae Wan-young and Jeong Hyun-sook; she has an older sister, Su-bin, and a younger brother, Sang-moon. She attended School of Performing Arts Seoul. Before debuting, she was an online shopping model. In 2009, she auditioned for Mnet Superstar K and made it through the preliminary round but she was ultimately eliminated. However, she caught the attention of a scout from JYP Entertainment and soon became a trainee. After training for a year, she was paired with fellow members Fei and Jia. After the addition of Min into the group, the four of them prepared to debut as miss A.

Debut with Miss A

In March 2010, Suzy joined fellow members Fei, and Jia to form the group miss A. The trio began their first official promotional activities in China as a group by signing up with the Samsung Electronics group in China. The group released a song used for the commercial called "Love Again" for the Samsung Beat Festival. The song was written by Korean composer Super Changddai, and the music video was directed by Hong Won-ki. The group was later joined by a fourth member, Min.

The four piece girl group eventually made their debut in July 2010 through JYP Entertainment, with the single "Bad Girl Good Girl". After a successful promotion period of seven weeks, the group came back in October with a new title track, "Breathe", from the second single Step Up. They promoted the song for a month and had their last goodbye stage on November 7.

The group then returned in July 2011 with the release of their first full-length studio album A Class with the title track "Good Bye Baby". The group held their goodbye stage in early September after finding great success with their album and title track. They then turned their focus towards their overseas activities, including their Chinese debut. In February 2012, they came back with their new style of music through Touch.

In the later quarter of the year 2012, they released Independent Women Pt.III. The album was designed to pay homage to the song "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child, the group's idol. On November 6, 2013, miss A made their comeback after more than a year with a second full-length studio album Hush. The title track was composed by famous composer duo, E-Tribe. On March 30, 2015, the group released another chart topping hit song titled "Only You" produced by Black Eyed Pilseung from their mini album Colors.

2010–2012: Solo activities and rise in popularity

In October 2010, Suzy became the host for MBC Show! Music Core alongside Minho and Onew, both from SHINee, and Jiyeon, from T-ara. Suzy later hosted other shows such as Inkigayo, M! Countdown, M! Countdown Hello Japan, the 21st Seoul Music Awards, 26th Golden Disk Awards with F.T. Island's Hongki, and Mnet 20's Choice Awards alongside actor Song Joong-ki where she won an award under the category "Hot New Star of 2011". Since then, Suzy continues to host many events from music shows to major award ceremonies.

Apart from her group activities, Suzy also ventured into acting. She made her acting debut in the high-school drama Dream High, which aired on KBS from January 3 to February 28. Suzy also released an OST for the drama, titled "Winter Child". The drama was a success locally, earning high viewership ratings during its two-month run; and also gained popularity in other countries. At the KBS Drama Awards, Suzy won the Best New Actress award as well as Best Couple award with co-star Kim Soo-hyun. Suzy also became a cast member in KBS TV reality show Invincible Youth 2. The show began filming its first episode on October 19 and aired on November 11.

Suzy made her movie debut in the film Architecture 101 (2012) playing the younger version of the female protagonist. Architecture 101 was one of the ten most-watched films in Korea in the first quarter of 2012, and achieved over 4.1 million admissions nine weeks after its theater release; a new box office record set for Korean melodramas. The same year, Suzy played a supporting role in KBS drama Big, written by the Hong sisters, alongside Gong Yoo and Lee Min-jung.

She is also the first Korean female celebrity to win a singer rookie award, drama rookie award and movie rookie award, having received the Best New Actress award at the 48th Baeksang Arts Awards for her acting performance in Architecture 101. On December 22, 2012, Suzy won the Best Newcomer award in the Variety category at the KBS Entertainment Awards for her stint in Invincible Youth 2

2013–2016: Mainstream success

In 2013, she starred in the fusion martial arts action historical drama Gu Family Book alongside Lee Seung-gi. She received acting recognition at the MBC Drama Awards, winning the Top Excellence award and at the Seoul International Drama Awards, winning the Outstanding Actress award. She also featured on the variety show Healing Camp, becoming the youngest guest on the show.

In May 2014, Suzy was cast in the film The Sound of a Flower (2015) as Jin Chae-sun, Korea's first female Pansori singer. The movie depicts the struggle of a singer who is not allowed to perform in the public because of her gender during the Joseon era. To prepare herself for the role, Suzy received training in pansori for a year. The same year, Suzy collaborated with Taiwanese singer-actor Show Luo in the single "Together In Love", featured in his album Reality Show.

In January 2016, Suzy released a digital single titled "Dream" with EXO's Baekhyun. The song debuted at number one on Gaon's weekly digital chart and proceeded to win the "Best Collaboration" award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. She then starred in the melo-romance drama Uncontrollably Fond with Kim Woo-bin. Suzy released two OSTs for the drama, including a self-composed song. In September 2016, Suzy's wax figure at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong went on display. She is the first Korean female celebrity to receive a wax-likeness of herself at Madame Tussauds.

2017–present: Solo debut

In early 2017, Suzy made her debut as a solo artist with the album titled Yes? No?. Her pre-release single "Pretend" was released on January 17 and achieved an all-kill on music charts. In February 2017, Suzy released a duet with singer Park Won, titled "Don't Wait for Your Love".

Suzy then returned to TV, starring alongside Lee Jong-suk in the drama While You Were Sleeping which will premiere in September 2017. This drama serves as the second collaboration between Suzy and scriptwiter Park Hye-ryun after working together in the 2011 hit drama series Dream High.

In the media

Following her appearance in the film Architecture 101, she was hailed as Korea's Icon of First Love for her natural acting and innocent charm. She also became one of the most in-demand endorsers in South Korea, and has been hailed a "CF Queen" due to numerous endorsement deals ranging from cosmetics, apparel, up to basic commodities like sugar. She made more than 10 billion won in 2013 with more than 14 endorsement deals in one year.

Personal life

In March 2015, Suzy and South Korean actor Lee Min-ho were confirmed to be in a relationship.

Discography

Ambassadorial roles

On April 28, 2011, Suzy and Kim Soo-hyun were officially revealed to be the ambassadors of the "16th Goyang Korea Flower Show" in the Gyeonggi Province. The flower show was held at the Goyang Flower Exhibition Center at Ilsan Lake Park on April 29.

On August 28, 2013, Suzy was appointed as the honorary ambassador for the "Korean National Police Agency".

On November 19, 2013, Suzy alongside Ki Bo-bae, Son Yeon-jae, Yang Hak-seon and Choi Eun-sook was appointed as the promotional ambassador for the "2015 Summer Universiade". Suzy participated in a number of promotional videos, posters and photos, as well as a host of other events used to promote the Universiade.

In 2015, Suzy was named the 791st member of the Community Chest of Korea's Honor Society, which consists of people who donate W100 million (US$1=W1,105) or more to the charity.