Soyeon

Park So Yeon (Hangul: 박소연; Hanja: 朴昭姸^[1]; born October 5, 1987), is a South Korean idol, singer, dancer and actress. She is the leader, main vocalist and spokesperson of K-pop girl group T-ara.

1987-2008: Early life and career beginnings

Soyeon was born on October 5, 1987 in Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea. Her birth name was Park In Jung (朴仁静). In 2005, she took part and was awarded the Gold Award (1st Place) for the CMB Chin Chin Singing Competition.^[2] Soyeon has studied at the prestigious Anyang High School of Arts, located in Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea.
Soyeon was formerly a trainee under SM Entertainment, preparing to be a member of girl group Girls' Generation. However, she left the company six months before their debut due to personal circumstances. After debuting with T-ara she revealed on the show Taxi that at that time she felt the opportunity came so easily and she was in two minds, not fully prepared for the debut.^[3]

2009-present: T-ara

Main article: T-ara

Soyeon was the second new member to be added to T-ara after two former members, Jiae and Jiwon, quit the group in mid-2009. Despite this, she is the main vocalist of T-ara. Soyeon's voice is widely regarded as one of the best among idol girl groups in South Korea.^[4] She was featured on the sports variety show Invincible Baseball.
In 2010, Soyeon was rushed to the hospital after complaints of not feeling well while filming for her cameo role in Master of Study. She was then diagnosed with H1N1 as T-ara was still promoting the follow-up track "Like the First Time" off of their first full-length album, Absolute First Album.^[5]
Soyeon has participated in the OSTs for the movie Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp and the SBS drama Coffee House (TV series).
In 2011, she was a fixed cast member for KBS's variety show 100 Points Out Of 100.
Soyeon participated in the musical adaption of T-ara's hit song "Roly-Poly", which opened on January 13, 2012 at the Sungnam Arts Center.^[6] She has stated that it is one of her dreams to stand on stage and act on it.
She replaced Hyomin as T-ara's new leader starting on January 1, 2012 for their "Lovey-Dovey" promotions. She is be the fourth leader of T-ara after Eunjung, Boram and Hyomin.
Soyeon will appear in the drama “Lovers of Haeundae” as “Lee Kwan Sun.” The drama will begin airing on August 13, 2012.^[7]