Park So-yeon (born October 5, 1987), better known mononymously as Soyeon, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as the lead vocalist of South Korean girl group T-ara.
Soyeon was born on October 5, 1987 in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Her birth name was Park In-jung. She has officially changed her name to Park So-yeon. In 2005, she took part and was awarded the Gold Award (1st place) for the CMB Chin Chin Singing Competition. Soyeon has studied at the prestigious Anyang High School of Arts, located in Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea.
Soyeon was formerly a trainee under SM Entertainment, preparing to be a member and supposed to be the leader of girl group Girls’ Generation. However, she left the company six months before their debut due to personal circumstances. After debuting with T-ara she revealed on the show Taxi that at that time she felt the opportunity came so easily and she was in two minds, not fully prepared for the debut.
Soyeon was the second new member to be added to T-ara after two former members Jiae and Jiwon withdrawal from the group in mid-2009. She was featured on the sports variety show Invincible Baseball.In 2010, Soyeon was rushed to the hospital after complaints of not feeling well while filming for her cameo role in Master of Study. She was then diagnosed with H1N1 while T-ara was still promoting the follow-up track “Like the First Time” off of their first full-length album, Absolute First Album.
Soyeon has participated in the OSTs for the movie Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp and the SBS drama Coffee House.
Soyeon participated in the musical adaption of T-ara’s hit song “Roly-Poly”, which opened on January 13, 2012 at the Sungnam Arts Center.She has stated that it is one of her dreams to stand on stage and act on it.
She replaced Hyomin as T-ara’s new leader starting on December 7, 2011 for their “Lovey-Dovey” promotions. She is be the fourth leader of T-ara after Eunjung, Boram, and Hyomin. In July 2013 Soyeon stepped down as leader and Qri became the fifth leader.
Soyeon appeared in the drama “Haeundae Lovers” as Lee Gwan-soon. The drama aired on August 13, 2012.
