Uee
Kim Yu Jin, known professionally as Uee (sometimes romanized as Uie), is a South Korean singer, dancer, actress, and former member of AFTER SCHOOL (애프터스쿨). She graduated from Incheon Sports High School and later obtained a bachelor's degree in Acting from Sungkyunkwan University. She always wanted to be an actress but ended up almost debuting as a singer first. In early 2007, she was originally set to debut as part of the five-member group FIVE GIRLS (오소녀) under Good Entertainment and even appeared in the MTV reality show "Diary of Five Girls". However, the agency faced many financial issues and the debut date kept being delayed. The group was ultimately cancelled, and she had to look for another company. She made her singing debut in April 2009 as AFTER SCHOOL's new main dancer, rapper, vocalist and visual with the digital single "Diva". The group had debuted less than 3 months earlier, but she was added to the lineup weeks after joining Pledis Entertainment (플레디스 엔터테인먼트). The agency introduced the concept of having "admissions and graduations" and allowed the members to join or leave in a natural way, so as she was a new member of the agency, she was added. They received attention for their unique live performances, often incorporating different performance styles into their songs, including drums, tap dancing and pole dancing. She quickly became a fan favorite due to her stage presence and charisma. She made her acting debut in July 2009 with a role in the MBC historical drama, "Queen Seondeok", and again, she found herself being praised by the public for her acting skills and ranked eighth on Forbes Korea's list of most hardworking idols in 2009–2010. In July 2011, she joined sub-unit A.S. RED, formed after the fans voted. Together with the other sub-unit, A.S. BLUE, they released joint single albums. A.S RED's album included the singles "Hollywood" and "In the Night Sky". Her schedule was one of the group's busiest as she combined AFTER SCHOOL's activities, acting, hosting, and being a regular member of several variety shows. In late 2015, Pledis halted all promotions and activities, a move that was severely criticized by the public and that began a long history of the company mismanaging girl groups. AFTER SCHOOL, they never released any new material again, and in May 2017, her contract expired. The group officially disbanded in December 2019 when all members left Pledis (except Nana), but by then, it had been inactive for 4 years. After leaving the group, she continued her career as an actress and has received multiple awards, including the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the 2016 MBC Drama Awards for her role in "Marriage Contract". She is currently represented by Lucky Company (럭키컴퍼니). (Source: MyDramaList) Edit Biography
