Park Ji-yeon, referred to as Jiyeon, is a South Korean singer and actress. She debuted as a member of girl groupT-ara in July 2009. The group went on to become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Apart from her group's activities, she has also starred in various television dramas such as Soul, Master of Study, Dream High 2, Triangle, also starred in various films such as , Encounter. She debuted as a solo artist with her first EP, Never Ever, on May 20, 2014, making her the first T-ara member to debut as a solo artist.
She and Hahm Eun-jung are the only two members of T-ara to be trained in acting. Instead, the two switched over to singing despite their original intentions. Park has expressed an interest in modeling. In 2008, when she was 15 years old, she was featured in several pictorials and advertisements for clothing company Smart with Korean boy bandSHINee. She collaborated with Davichi and SeeYa on the digital single "Women's Generation", which was released in May 2009, making her the first member of T-ara to appear in public. She appeared in SG Wannabe's music videos "I Love You" and "Crybaby" from their 2009 album, Gift from SG Wannabe. Early on, the Korean media dubbed her as "Little Kim Tae-hee" due to her close resemblance to Kim. Park auditioned at the Mnet Casting System and joined the company in 2008. She subsequently debuted with T-ara on July 29, 2009.
2007–2013: Acting debut and breakthrough
In 2007, Park starred in Lobbyist, In 2008 Park starred in Ae-ja and Min-ja, in 2009 Park starred in Possessed,in 2009-2010 Park starred in High Kick! 2, In 2010, Park starred in Master of Study, a Korean screen adaptation of Japanese mangaDragon Zakura. That same year, she played the leading role in horror film and starred in the youth drama Jungle Fish 2. In October 2010, Park became the host for MBC's Show! Music Core, alongside Bae Suzy, Choi Min-ho and Onew. She also became a cast member of SBS's variety showHeroes. In 2011, Park was cast in the Korean dub of the animated film, Gnomeo and Juliet. In 2012, she was cast in the teen drama Dream High 2, starring Kang So-ra, GOT7's JB and Jin-young, 2AM's Jinwoon, SISTAR's Hyolyn, and Park Seo-joon.
2014–2017: Solo debut
Park made her solo debut in May 2014, releasing the title track "Never Ever". The music video ranked number one on China's biggest music video site YinYueTai for two weeks straight. In June, Park was cast in MBC's television series Triangle, starring as the potential wife for Yim Si-wan's character. The same month, she began hosting SBS MTV's alongside Lee Hye-ri. In May 2015, Park was cast in the Korean-Chinese film Encounter alongside actor Lee Dong-gun. In July 2015, she collaborated with 2BiC's Jun-hyung on the song "Summer Love". In 2016, Park was cast in the web drama My Runway alongside Kang Dong-ho. The drama was released on Netflix in December 2016. In February 2017, it was announced that Park would be making her solo comeback after three years with a new album. However, album preparations were later cancelled.
2018–present: Solo activities
In early 2018, Park and her fellow T-ara members departed from MBK Entertainment following the expiration of their contracts. She later signed with Chinese agency Longzhen Culture Development in May 2018. Park and Vietnamese singer Soobin Hoàng Sơn have released music videos for the Korean version and Vietnamese version of their collaboration track, "Between Us". Jiyeon signed with Partners Park in November 2018 for her domestic activities. On November 26, it was revealed that Park would release a digital single in mid December, as a thank you gift for fans. On December 22, 2018, Park released music videos for the Korean and Chinese version of her winter ballad track "One Day". On April 2, 2019, Park was cast in the KBS2's mystery, romantic comedy drama I Wanna Hear Your Song alongside Yeon Woo-jin, Kim Se-jeong and Song Jae-rim. On December 26, 2019, Park released her second EP Senpass, a portmanteau of "Sense" and "Compass". The EP consists of five-track including the title track "Take A Hike".
