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Kwon Mina (born September 21, 1993) mononymously known as Mina, is a South Korean singer and actress. She was a sub-vocalist, lead rapper and bass member of the girl group AOA. Kwon has acted in television dramas, including Modern Farmer (2014) and All About My Mom (2015).
Early life
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]
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
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]
2018–present: Continued success, departure from AOA and new agencies
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, due to harsh bulling by older member Shin Jimin..[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
Bullying allegations against Jimin
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]
Mental health
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.[30] 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.[31] 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."[32]
Her agency officials notified authorities immediately upon seeing the post and she was transported to the hospital. [33] At the end of October Kwon left the agency and went on a career hiatus to focus on her recovery.
^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.
^Choi, Na-young (June 15, 2017). [단독] AOA 민아, MBC '병원선' 합류..연기돌 입지 굳힌다 [AOA's Mina joins MBC "Hospital Ship"]. News Chosun (in Korean). Retrieved June 16, 2017.
^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.
^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.
