Kwon Min-ah, better known by the mononym Mina, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as a former member of the girl group AOA. Mina has acted in television dramas, including Modern Farmer and All About My Mom.
Early life
Mina was born on September 21, 1993, in Busan, South Korea. She auditioned for FNC in 2009, and her family moved from Busan to Seoul soon after.
Career
AOA
On July 30, 2012, Mina made her debut as a member of AOA on Mnet's M Countdown with the song "Elvis" from their debut single album, Angels' Story. She was also part of band unit AOA Black, established in 2013. Due to her father's death on November 29, 2014, Mina took some time off from career activities and did not participate in some promotions for "Like a Cat". On May 13, 2019, Mina left AOA after deciding not to renew her contract with FNC Entertainment.
Solo career
In 2013, Mina debuted as an actress with the KBS2 drama special Adolescence Medley, where she played Yoon Jin-yeong. In February 2014, she played the younger role of Kim Hee-sun's character, Cha Hye-won, in the KBS drama Wonderful Days. Mina had her first lead role in the SBS weekend drama Modern Farmer, which aired from October to December 2014. On February 26, 2015, Mina appeared in the music video for solo singer Shade's song "Bad". In May, Mina made her debut as an MC with Y-Star's variety show Gourmet Road. In August, she was appointed as co-MC on Weekly Idol with Apink's Hayoung and VIXX's N, starting from September 2. On September 9, Mina and Nam Joo-hyuk appeared in the music video for solo singer Kangnam's song "Chocolate". 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. In March 2016, Mina 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. In 2017, she has been cast in the remake of 1986's horror movie Woman's Wail, and in the hospital drama Hospital Ship as a nurse. 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. Mina won the Hallyu Star Award at the 10th Korea Drama Awards for her role in Hospital Ship. In February 2018, it was revealed that Mina will also join the cast of KBS weekday drama Queen of Mystery 2 as police officer Shin Na-ra. The same year, she was cast in the web drama Wind-Bell and in Loss Time Life, the remake of a Japanese drama of the same name. On July 1, 2019, it was announced that Mina had signed with O& Entertainment.
Personal life
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. 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."
