Jessica Jung

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Jessica Jung

Jessica Jung (Korean name: Jung Soo-yeon; Hangul: 정수연; Hanja: 鄭秀妍; born April 18, 1989), better known by her first name Jessica, is a Korean American singer, dancer, actress and model. She was born in San Francisco, and is fluent in both Korean and English. She is a member of the South Korean nine-member girl group Girls' Generation, where she is one of the main vocalists. Jessica Jung was born on April 18, 1989 in San Francisco, California. She auditioned at the SM Entertainment Casting System and joined the company in 2000. She had been trained for seven years as a trainee before debuting with Korean girl group Girls' Generation. Her younger sister, Krystal Jung, is a member of the Korean girl group f(x), also created by SM Entertainment. Jessica was the first member to be signed with SM Entertainment in 2000. In 2007, she was chosen as a member of the group Girls' Generation. The 9-member girl group debuted on August 5, 2007. The group has released two full albums, three mini-albums, and various singles. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running #1 song on KBS's Music Bank, having held the #1 chart ranking for 9 consecutive weeks. That year also saw the group winning various awards, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards. Girls' Generation began a foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010, with the Japanese remakes of their 2009 Korean hits "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" and "Gee". On October 27, 2010, the group released their third Korean mini-album, Hoot, which consisted of five songs.

In addition to her group activities, Jessica released two singles with Seohyun and Tiffany: "Oppa Nappa" (Hangul: "오빠 나빠", lit. Bad Older Brother) and "Mabinogi (It's Fantastic!)". Jessica collaborated with 8Eight for the song "I Love You" from their 2nd album Infinity which was released on March 3, 2008. (Though she is not the one in the mv, she is the one singing the harmony and adlibs.) In addition, she had various duets — one with Shinee member, Onew, called "One Year Later", and one with Park Myung-soo, "Naengmyeon". She sang the "Seoul Song" with Super Junior's Leeteuk, Sungmin, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun and fellow group members Taeyeon, Sunny, Sooyoung, and Seohyun. Jessica made her musical theatre debut in the South Korean production of Legally Blonde, alongside Lee Ha-nui and Kim Ji-woo; the production opened on November 14, 2009. She had a cameo role on SBS TV Oh My Lady! in March 2010. Along with Girls' Generation, Jessica has been featured as a model for numerous advertisements, endorsements, and campaigns. In May 2008, she with fellow members Tiffany, Yoona and TVXQ members had a TV ad for Haptic Motion. She sang and starred in the TV ad for Caribbean Bay with her fellow Girls' Generation members and 2PM. On the October 13th 2010, Jessica released a digital single entitled Sweet Delight, which is a theme song of a commercial of South Korean leading food company SPC group. In early 2011, Jessica modeled for Dior Cosmetics with bandmates Hyoyeon, Yuri, Tiffany, Sooyoung and Sunny. Jessica had her first runway for Lee Juyoung’s fashion show for the 2011/12 Seoul Fashion Week at Seoul’s SETEC Center on March 29, 2011. Jessica wore the line, Resurrection by Juyoung, from the designer who created pieces for Marilyn Manson, The Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga. In May 2010, Jessica became a regular guest on the show Happy Birthday until she withdrew on June 7, 2010 due to Girls' Generation's overseas activities.