Kwon Mina (born September 21, 1993), mononymously known as Mina, is a former South Korean singer and actress. She was a vocalist and rapper of the girl group AOA and bassist of the sub-unit AOA Black. Kwon has acted in television dramas, including Modern Farmer (2014) and All About My Mom (2015).

Kwon Mina
Kwon in February 2016
Born (1993-09-21) September 21, 1993 (age 31)
Busan, South Korea
Occupations
  • Singer
  • actress
Years active2012–2020
Musical career
GenresK-pop
Instrument(s)Vocals, Bass
LabelsFNC
Formerly of
Korean name
Hangul
권민아
Hanja
Revised RomanizationGwon Min-a
McCune–ReischauerKwŏn Mina

Early life

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Kwon was born on September 21, 1993, in Busan, South Korea.[1] She auditioned for FNC in 2009, and her family moved from Busan to Seoul soon after.[citation needed]

Career

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2012–2014: Debut with AOA and solo activities

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On July 30, 2012, Kwon made her debut as a member of AOA on Mnet's M Countdown with the song "Elvis" from their debut single album, Angels' Story.[2] She was also part of band unit AOA Black, established in 2013.[3] Due to her father's death on November 29, 2014, Kwon took some time off from career activities and did not participate in some promotions for "Like a Cat".[4]

In 2013, Kwon debuted as an actress with the KBS2 drama special Adolescence Medley, where she played Yoon Jin-yeong.[5] In February 2014, she played the younger role of Kim Hee-sun's character, Cha Hye-won, in the KBS drama Wonderful Days.[6] Kwon had her first lead role in the SBS weekend drama Modern Farmer, which aired from October to December 2014.[7]

2015–2017: Continued solo activities

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On February 26, 2015, Kwon appeared in the music video for solo singer Shade's song "Bad".[8] In May, Kwon made her debut as an MC with Y-Star's variety show Gourmet Road.[9] In August, she was appointed as co-MC on Weekly Idol with Apink's Hayoung and VIXX's N, starting from September 2.[10] On September 9, Kwon and Nam Joo-hyuk appeared in the music video for solo singer Kangnam's song "Chocolate".[11] On December 5, she joined the cast of the KBS weekend drama All About My Mom, starting from episode 33. She played Go Aeng-doo, a pretty and innocent, yet mysterious young lady.[5][12]

In March 2016, Kwon starred in the seven-part web drama Click Your Heart, produced by her agency FNC Entertainment, where she played a cheerful, but clumsy, 18-year-old high school student who forms friendships and love triangles with four boys.[13] In 2017, she has been cast in the remake of 1986's horror movie Woman's Wail,[14] and in the hospital drama Hospital Ship as a nurse.[15] She compiled an essay collection of quotes and wisdom that are personally meaningful to her titled Stars Don't Lose Their Way at Night that was published on November 1, 2017.[16]

Kwon won the Hallyu Star Award at the 10th Korea Drama Awards for her role in Hospital Ship.[17][18]

2018–present: Continued success, departure from AOA and label changes

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In February 2018, it was revealed that Kwon will also join the cast of KBS weekday drama Queen of Mystery 2 as police officer Shin Na-ra.[19] The same year, she was cast in the web drama Wind-Bell[20][21] and in Loss Time Life, the remake of a Japanese drama of the same name.[22]

On May 13, 2019, Kwon left AOA after deciding not to renew her contract with FNC Entertainment. [23]

On July 1, 2019, it was announced that Kwon had signed with O& Entertainment.[24]

In 2020, she left O& Entertainment and signed with Woori Actors.[25] On September 26, 2020, Kwon left the agency.[26]

Personal life

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Bullying allegations against Jimin

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On July 3, 2020, Kwon alleged in an Instagram post that AOA member Shin Ji-min had bullied her for a decade, which led to her withdrawal from the group in 2019. She posted a photo of her scarred wrist and claimed to have attempted suicide as a result of the bullying.[27] Shin reportedly responded to the accusations by posting the word "fiction" to her Instagram Stories before deleting it shortly after. Kwon criticized the post, stating, "Fiction? It's too scary to say it's fiction."[28][29] The next day, Shin apologized to Kwon through an instagram post and left AOA and the entertainment industry entirely due to the allegations.[30]

Mental health

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On August 6, 2020, Kwon posted a photograph on Instagram with the caption "Jinri-ya, I miss you", which was believed to be a reference to Sulli (Choi Jin-ri) of f(x), who committed suicide in 2019.[31] In a separate post, Kwon revealed that she had recently been hospitalized after a relapse in self harm, following a KakaoTalk conversation she had with an FNC Entertainment representative who believed Shin's apology to be sincere. She expressed anger at the possibility of Shin resuming activities and finished the post by begging the company to be more considerate of their artists.[32] Two days later, in a since-deleted Instagram post, Kwon shared a graphic image of her slit wrist accompanied by an apparent suicide note stating:

"I don't want to go unfairly. Shin Ji-min, Han Seong-ho, Kim Seol-hyun, live well. My mom, older sister, and family weren't able to say anything and will probably cry though they've done nothing. Compensate them all for mental distress. Please give them a lot. You're the kind of person who only knows about money. The account wasn't even settled properly, the contract was 8 years, and there was no breakdown of expenditures for the illegal trainee debt of 3 billion won ($2,522,758.80 USD). You didn't answer me when I contacted you until the end. Irresponsible people. You don't even know how I was treated for 11 years, and to the bystanders or whatever, listen carefully. Those people are all like trash that I can't even describe. Do you even know the kind of people who'll push for a sane person's death? I'm happy, but I want to go. It's painful here. Don't come to my funeral when I die. You're dirty. When I die, I'll torment you all. I can't live with this evil, okay."[33]

FNC officials notified authorities immediately upon seeing the post and she was transported to the hospital.[34] At the end of October, Kwon left FNC and went on a career hiatus to focus on her recovery.[35]

Discography

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Filmography

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Television series

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Year Title Role Notes
2013 Puberty Medley Yoon Jin-yeong Supporting role
2014 Wonderful Days young Cha Hae-won
Flower Grandpa Investigation Unit Han Seul-hee Cameo
Modern Farmer Lee Soo-yeon Supporting role
2015 All About My Mom Go Aeng-doo
2016 Click Your Heart Mina Lead role
2017 Hospital Ship Yoo Ah-rim Supporting role
2018 Queen of Mystery 2 Shin Na-ra
Sweet Revenge 2 Herself Cameo
2019 Wind-Bell Yeo-jin Lead role
Loss Time Life So-jin Lead role

Reality show

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Year Title Role Note
2013 Cheongdam-dong 111 Herself [36]

Variety show

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Year Title Role Notes
2015 Gourmet Road MC
Weekly Idol co-MC

Music video appearances

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Year Title Artist Notes
2015 Flowsik 1Week feat. Gary

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2017 10th Korea Drama Awards Hallyu Star Award Won
36th MBC Drama Awards[37] Best New Actress Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "AOA Profile on FNC Official Website".
  2. ^ Park HyunMin (September 2, 2012). "[Interview Part I] AOA Lands on Earth on Angel Wings and Guitars". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  3. ^ Lee KyungNam (July 11, 2013). "AOA to Launch Band Unit AOA Black". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  4. ^ Sung So-young (December 1, 2014). "Mina takes personal time". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Yi, Yoonjung (November 24, 2015). "AOA Mina to Join Drama 'All About My Mom'". BNT News. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  6. ^ Jin Eun-soo (July 16, 2014). "AOA's Mina cast in 'Modern Farmer'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  7. ^ An So-hyoun (July 11, 2014). "[Exclusive] AOA's Mina Cast as Lead in Drama 'Modern Farmer'". enews World. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  8. ^ "[MV] Shade(그늘) _ Bad(나쁜 짓)". YouTube. February 25, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  9. ^ Lee Hye-rin (May 1, 2015). '식신로드' AOA 민아, 녹화 중 졸음 밀려와 '폭소'. OSEN (in Korean). Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  10. ^ Ghim, Sora (August 13, 2015). "N, Ha Young And Mina Join 'Weekly Idol' As Fixed Members". BNT News. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  11. ^ Kim Yu-jin (September 9, 2015). "Kangnam releases 2nd teaser video of 'Chocolate'". K-Pop Herald. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  12. ^ Oh Su-jeong (November 24, 2015). AOA 민아, '부탁해요 엄마' 합류…최태준·조보아와 삼각관계. TV Daily (in Korean). Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  13. ^ Lee Woo-young (March 17, 2016). "Viewers to choose ending in new Web drama 'Click Your Heart'". The Korea Herald. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  14. ^ Cheon, Seol-hwa (May 22, 2017). 조여정 X 이유영, 전설의 사극 공포 영화 '여곡성' 리메이크판 주연 유력 [[Exclusive] Jo Yeo-jeong and Lee Yu-yeong to star in the legendary horror movie "Woman's Wall". AOA's Mina, Joo Da-young confirmed too]. Star Daily News (in Korean). Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  15. ^ Choi, Na-young (June 15, 2017). [단독] AOA 민아, MBC '병원선' 합류..연기돌 입지 굳힌다 [AOA's Mina joins MBC "Hospital Ship"]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  16. ^ Park, So-hyun (October 23, 2017). AOA 권민아, 에세이 작가 변신…'별은 밤에도 길을 잃지 않는다' 출간 (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  17. ^ "[단독] AOA 민아, MBC '병원선' 합류..연기돌 입지 굳힌다" (in Korean). Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  18. ^ "AOA's Mina and KARA's Gyuri win big at 2017 Korea Drama Awards". SBS PopAsia. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  19. ^ "[공식입장] AOA 권민아, '추리의 여왕2' 출연 확정..철부지 경찰" (in Korean). Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  20. ^ "아이돌스타 진영·민아, 서울시 웹드라마 '풍경' 주인공". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). October 1, 2018.
  21. ^ "AOA's Minah cast in web drama". Korea JoongAng Daily. October 3, 2018.
  22. ^ "[공식]AOA 민아, '로스타임라이프' 주연 확정…송유빈과 커플 호흡" (in Korean). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  23. ^ "FNC 측 "AOA 5인 재계약 후 팀유지, 민아는 탈퇴"(공식입장 전문)" (in Korean). Naver. May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  24. ^ "Former AOA member Mina signs with new label O& Entertainment". July 1, 2019.
  25. ^ "Kwon Mina signs with Woori Actors". August 14, 2020.
  26. ^ Jeong-woon, Han (September 26, 2020). "권민아 "우리액터스와 계약 해지, 조금만 기다려주길"(전문)" [Kwon Mina, "Cancel the contract with Woori Actors, please wait a little bit longer" (professional)]. Newsen. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  27. ^ Kim, Seung-hyeon (July 3, 2020). 걸그룹 AOA '멤버 간 괴롭힘' 논란…권민아 "자해 시도도" VS 지민 "소설" 반박. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo Company. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  28. ^ Yoon, Gi-baek (July 3, 2020). 권민아, AOA 지민 향해 사과 요구… 증거사진 공개까지 [전문]. Edaily (in Korean). Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  29. ^ Ahn, Ha-na (July 5, 2020). 지민, AOA 탈퇴...FNC 측 "모든 연예 활동 중단"(공식). MBN Star (in Korean). Maeil Broadcasting Network. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  30. ^ "지민, AOA 탈퇴...FNC 측 "모든 연예 활동 중단"(공식)". Naver. July 3, 2020. Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  31. ^ Jung, An-jee (August 6, 2020). 권민아 "진리야 보고싶다" 故 설리 향한 그리움…밝은 근황 후 무슨 일 있나. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo Company. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  32. ^ "Former AOA member Mina confesses to attempting self-harm as she continues to call out Jimin + FNC Entertainment reps". Allkpop. August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  33. ^ "Former AOA member Mina posts image of self-harm & alarming message calling out Jimin, Seolhyun & FNC Entertainment CEO". Allkpop. August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  34. ^ Kim, Su-ji (August 8, 2020). 권민아, 응급실 긴급 이송...소속사 "다행히, 생명 지장 없다". Naver (in Korean). Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  35. ^ 김 (Kim), 수영 (Sooyoung) (August 9, 2020). "FNC "입장 표명 늦어진 이유는…권민아 건강 회복이 우선"" [FNC: "The reason for the delay in announcing the position is... Kwon Min-ah's health recovery comes first"]. The Korea Economic Daily (Hankyung). Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  36. ^ Kwon Soo-bin (November 12, 2013). "FT Island and CN Blue to Appear in a FNC Reality Drama". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  37. ^ Jang, Woo-young (December 30, 2017). "[MBC연기대상]김선호·김정현·서주현·이선빈, 신인상 수상 영광" [[MBC Acting Awards] Kim Seon-ho, Kim Jung-hyun, Seo Joo-hyun, Lee Seon-bin, Glory of Rookie of the Year Award] (in Korean). Herald POP. Retrieved September 26, 2022 – via Naver.
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