Park Cho-a, better known by the mononym Choa, is a former South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as a former member of the girl group AOA, which debuted in 2012. She was an MC in the variety show We Got Married.
Biography
Choa was born on March 6, 1990, in Incheon, South Korea. She wanted to major in music at university but her conservative father wanted her to get a traditional job, so she enrolled in Aviation Business Administration in Inha Technical College. She also worked as an IPTV salesperson, where she secretly auditioned to be an idol, failing the audition at S.M. Entertainment 15 times. Her first step in becoming an idol was when she met Juniel and was told by her about FNC's auditions for their girl group, AOA.
Career
AOA and retirement
On July 30, 2012, Choa made her debut as a member of AOA on Mnet's M Countdown with the song "Elvis" from their debut single album, Angels' Story. On June 22, 2017, Choa announced that she would be leaving AOA due to depression and insomnia. She stated that she had tried using medication to help, however, there was no improvement in her mental health. This followed after Choa had a hiatus from the group following their activities from January 2017 when they released their first studio albumAngel's Knock. Her departure from AOA was officially confirmed by FNC Entertainment on June 30, 2017. In May 2019, her contract with FNC expired and was not renewed.
As actress and solo singer
On June 12, 2013, it was announced that Choa would play the female lead, Gabriella, in the musical High School Musical. Her agency, FNC Entertainment, revealed photos of Choa practising the duet song, "Start of Something New". Choa said that she wanted to portray Gabriella as sincerely as she could. The musical ran from July 2 to September 1 at Seoul's Blue Square Samsung Card Hall. On March 16, 2014, Choa released a solo OST for TV Chosun's TV seriesBride of the Century. Choa appeared as a new cast member on MBC's variety show "My Little Television". She later left the show on May 19, 2015. Choa also became a new model for sports brand NBA's 2015 S/S, the first few pictures released were colourful and sporty. On March 25, 2015, it was revealed that Choa will be one of the permanent MCs for MBC's We Got Married. On June 6, 2015, she became a new model for 'Alba Heaven' with Yoo Byung-jae. On 22 July 2015, it was revealed that Choa will collaborate with Primary and Iron for Primary's new single 2-3 's song "Don't Be Shy". The song and the full music video starring Choa was released on July 24, 2015. Her music video teaser named "Flame" for her solo debut was released on December 14. The song was later released on December 17, 2015. In October 2016, Choa was confirmed to be the MCs of JTBC new variety show 'Sing For You', scheduled for December 3, 2016.
