Bae Suzy: The ‘Nation’s First Love’ and her decade long journey in the South Korean industry
Bae Suzy turns 30 today and we take a trip down memory lane with her
Dubai: One of the biggest names in K-pop and K-drama, Bae Suzy also called the ‘Nation’s First Love’, turns 30 today. We take a trip down memory lane of the singer and actors decade long journey in the industry.
Born on 10 October, 1994, in Gwangju, South Korea, Suzy attended the School of Performing Arts and graduated in the year 2013. But before becoming a singer and actor, she began her career by modelling for online shopping websites.
The actor was then discovered at an audition, which she was eliminated from after the preliminary round, by a scout from one of the top entertainment agency’s in South Korea, JYP Entertainment. And it was in 2010, when Suzy made her debut in a girl group, Miss A, with members Fei, Jia and Min.
After releasing several singles and albums, the group disbanded in the year 2017, after Miss A member Min left the group. But this did not halt Suzy’s career.
The singer continued to make music and also made her acting debut while being a member of Miss A in 2010, with teen music drama Dream High. The success of the show earned her the award for Best New Actress at the KBS Drama Awards in 2010. Suzy also won a second award that night for Best Couple, with her co-star and ‘Queen of Tears’ star, Kim Soo-hyun.
During her acting career under JYP Entertainment, Suzy starred in hits like ‘Uncontrollably Fond’ (2016) with Kim Woo-bin, ‘While You Were Sleeping’ (2017) with Lee Jong-suk, and Architecture 101 (2012) which earned her the Best New Actress award at the 2012 BaekSang Arts Awards.
After the K-pop group disbanded, Suzy released solo music in 2018, which topped charts and won awards at music shows in South Korea. It was in 2019, after releasing a couple of albums under JYP, that Suzy signed a new contract with acting agency Management SOOP, which is also the agency for popular actor Gong Yoo of ‘Goblin’ and ‘Squid Games’ fame.
The singer, who wanted to focus more on acting, then starred in hits like Start-Up (2020) with Nam Joo-hyuk (Twenty-Five, Twenty-One) and Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha), critically acclaimed show Anna (2022) based on the web series ‘Intimate Stranger’, Doona! (2023) with Yang Se-jong (Still 17!), which was an adaptation of the web toon ‘The Girl Downstairs’, and multi-starrer movie Wonderland (2024) with Gong Yoo, Park Bo-gum, Choi Woo-shik and more.
In an interview with South Korean media SBS Star earlier this year, Suzy spoke about how leaving behind her K-pop idol life has changed her. “Back then, I had no spare time or headspace, and was (living) a more fierce life. There weren’t enough opportunities to think about my life or look at it from a distance,” she said.
“It’s not that things were harder back then; I didn’t know what to do because I was so young. Now that I have more headspace to reflect on my life, I am incomparably more content with my life than I was back then. I don’t think I would have reached this emotional state if I hadn’t gone through that time,” she added.
Suzy made her official comeback as a singer in 2022, with her single ‘Satellite’, four years after her last solo mini-album ‘Faces Of Love’ (2018).
On the work front, Suzy is set to star in a new supernatural rom-com titled ‘All the Love You wish For’ with Kim Woo-bin. The duo have reunited after seven years to star in the upcoming drama, which is said to release in 2025.
Netizens online were overjoyed with the news, as the last time the duo worked together was in 2016, in the drama ‘Uncontrollably Fond’. The duo also created a buzz online among UAE fans when some eagle-eyed fans noticed them earlier this year, filming for their upcoming drama in Dubai.