Ren (singer)


Choi Min-gi, known professionally as Ren, is a South Korean singer, actor, and television personality associated with Pledis Entertainment. He debuted in 2012 as a sub-vocalist of the boy band NU'EST.

Career

Pre-debut

Ren was accepted into Pledis Entertainment after auditioning in 2010. Prior to debuting, Ren appeared as a back-up dancer in After School Blue's "Wonder Boy" in 2011. He participated in Pledis Entertainment's Christmas single "Love Letter" and was also featured in an alternate music video for the song as a member of Pledis Boys. He performed with After School with the rest of Pledis Boys, now dubbed "After School Boys", at the SBS Gayo Daejeon.

2012-present: NU'EST and solo activities

Along with four other Pledis Boys, Ren debuted in the boy band NU'EST in 2012 as a sub-vocalist. He also modeled for Park Yoon-so during the Fall/Winter Seoul Fashion Week, and his androgynous styling drew attention for breaking gender norms. In 2013, Ren appeared Jeon Woo-chi in a minor role. In 2015, he starred in the Japanese film Their Distance.
In 2017, Ren participated as a contestant on Produce 101 Season 2 under his full name for a chance to debut in Wanna One, but he was eliminated in the final episode at rank #20. After the show's end, he and the remaining NU'EST members began promoting as the sub-group NU'EST W from 2017 to 2018. During the group's activity, he wrote the lyrics for his solo songs, "Paradise" and "You & I." At the same time, Ren became a fixed panelist on the talk show Learning the Hard Way. He was also cast in a starring role on the drama Four Sons, but the show's production was briefly suspended in 2018 with only four of sixteen episodes filmed.
In 2018, Ren became a regular cast member on The Kkondae Live. In 2019, he became a regular cast member on Hogu Chart.

Philanthropy

On April 18, 2018, Ren hand-delivered two piggy banks to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation to support the latter's “Creating My Own Angel Contest” campaign. The following year, he and NU'EST member Minhyun brought the children of the foundation to NU'EST's 2019 LOVE Page Fan Meeting in Seoul. In December of the same year, Ren donated all the proceeds of his self-published fairy tale book “함께라서 행복한 우리들" to the foundation.

Discography

Filmography

Films

Television

Musical theatre