Profile Girl's Generation (SNSD)

Snsd Member

T A E Y E O N (태연)

Birth Name: Kim Tae Yeon

Stage Name: Taeyeon

Birthday: March 9, 1989

Birth Place: Jeonju, North Jeolla, South Korea

Position: Leader, Main Vocalist

Height: 164 cm

Weight: 45 kg

Blood Type: O

Specialty: Chinese, Singing

Hobbies: Watching movies, listening to music

TRIVIA

• Despite her kid-like appearance, Taeyeon is the oldest member and leader of SNSD.
• Taeyeon is considered as the best singer of SNSD.
• Taeyeon is the SNSD member with the largest fanbase. Her fanbase is the largest among female idol singers in Korea.
• Her vocal mentor is The One who praised her as his most memorable student. Prior to SNSD, 15-year-old Taeyeon was featured on his song called ‘You Bring Me Joy (Part 2)’. Six years later in late 2010 the teacher-student duo re-teamed for a hit single ‘Like a Star’.
• Taeyeon is nicknamed as “OST Queen” because she has numerous of #1 hit drama soundtracks.
• Her hometown is Jeonrado Jeonju.
• Taeyeon’s parents own a optical shop in Jeonju.
• She made her musical debut as Kaoru Amane in Midnight Sun, a musical adaptation of movie ‘Taiyou no Uta’. She learned how to play guitar for that role.

• Taeyeon’s favorite color is purple.
• Taeyeon has a infamous self-explanatory nickname, which is “Byuntaeng” (byuntae + taengoo, “byuntae” means “pervert”).
• She once stated that her ideal man is Vegeta of manga/anime Dragon Ball.
• Tayeon loves jelly, gummy worms and the likes.

J E S S I C A (제시카)

Birth Name: Jessica Jung Soo Yeon

Stage Name: Jessica

Birthday: April 18, 1989

Birth Place: San Francisco, California, USA

Position: Main Vocalist

Height: 164 cm

Weight: 46 kg

Blood Type: B

Specialty: English, piano, singing

Hobbies: Watching movies, shopping, listening to music

TRIVIA

• Nicknamed as Ice Princess, Sergeant Sic, and Sica-sama because of the cold, predominant vibe she has.
• Jessica is often considered as a real-life tsundere; A tsundere is a Japanese manga/anime character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing their warm side over time.
• Jessica was born in San Francisco, California. After street-casted by SM Entertainment when she was 11 year-old, she and her family moved to South Korea.
• Jessica trained for more than seven years before debuting with SNSD, making her the one who trained longest among the nine members.
• Her younger sister, Krystal Jung, is a member of label-mate idol group, f(x).
• Jessica is allergic to cucumber.
• Jessica is SNSD’s resident sleepy-head. She can sleep up to 16 hour a day and is the hardest member to wake up.
• Jessica once revealed that her hobbies are soccer and boxing. She also loves reading books and magazines.
• She made her musical debut as Elle Woods in the musical adaptation of Legally Blonde.
• A “Sica Effect” (Sica Hyogwa) is when the atmosphere went down or turned cold once Jessica said something.
• Jessica is close to FinKL’s Ock Juhyun and actress Park Minyoung of drama Sungkyunkwan Scandals fame.

S U N N Y (써니)

Stage Name: Sunny

Birthday: May 15, 1989

Position: Lead Vocalist

Height: 160 cm

Weight: 44 kg

Blood Type: B

Specialty: Sports

Hobbies: Listening to music, shopping

TRIVIA

• Sunny is the shortest member of SNSD.
• Sunny is in charge of aegyo (cutesy acts) in SNSD.
• She doesn’t really fond of her real name, Soon-kyu because it sounds old and outdated.
• The name Soon-kyu lives on through her participation in variety show ‘Invincible Youth’ wherein Sunny revealed her hard-working side as a farmer. Many viewers thought “Soonkyu” was a nickname given to fit her persona of  hard-working country-side girl in the show, while in fact it’s her real name. She also gained the nickname “Chicken-catcher Soonkyu” thanks to her impressive ability to catch chicken.
• Sunny was born in United States and the moved to Kuwait when she was an infant.
• She and her family was a war refugee during the Gulf War in Kuwait.
• Sunny has a phobia to fireworks and loud sounds, probably because of the Gulf War experience she had.
• Sunny is an avid gamer.
• Sunny is a niece to SM Entertainment’s founder and former CEO, Lee Sooman.
• She’s the last to join SNSD and the one who received the shortest training in SM Ent; that was because she was trained in another company, owned by singer Wheesung, for five years but the company went bankrupt so Sunny auditioned to SM Entertainment instead.
• Sunny shares the same birthday with both of her older sisters.

T I F F A N Y (티파니)

Birth Name: Stephanie Hwang Mi Young

Stage Name: Tiffany

Birthday: August 1, 1989

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California, USA

Position: Lead Vocalist

Height: 164 cm

Weight: 51 kg

Blood Type: O

Specialty: English, flute

Hobbies: Watching movies, listening to music

TRIVIA

• One of Tiffany’s biggest charms is her eye-smile.
• Tiffany was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in Diamond Bar, LA, California.
• After casted in Los Angeles, Tiffany came to Korea in 2004 all by herself.
• Although Tiffany graduated from Korea Kent Foreign School on April 2007, she had attended primary and secondary schools in California – South Pointe Middle School (US) and Diamond Bar High School (US).
• Tiffany’s favorite color is Pink.
• She shares the same birthday with her one-year-older brother, Leo Hwang.
• Tiffany has a puppy named Romeo.
• Tiffany is a devout Christian.
• During her trainee days she roomed with Taeyeon and Zhang Liyin.
• To avoid confusion with CSJH’s Stephanie, she picked the stage name Tiffany. She revealed that Tiffany was the name her mother wanted to give her, but her father named her Stephanie instead.
• Her “idol title”, Brighter than Jewels (boseok boda bitnaneun), is the meaning of her Korean name, Mi-young.
• During Tiffany’s debut days, she wasn’t as fluent in Korean and often makes pronunciation mistake. She mispronounced her introduction of “boseok” (보석, Jewel) to “beoseot” (버섯, mushroom) so the fans thought she was saying “Brighter than Mushroom”. She gained the nickname “Mushroom” ever since.
• One of her nickname is Ti-manager or Manager Hwang because she often take the role of manager to her fellow members due to her caring nature.

H Y O Y E O N (효연)

Birth Name: Kim Hyo Yeon

Stage Name: Hyoyeon

Birthday: September 22, 1989

Birth Place: Incheon, South Korea

Position: Vocalist, Main Dancer

Height: 162 cm

Weight: 49 kg

Blood Type: AB

Specialty: Chinese, dance

Hobbies: Watching movies, listening to music

TRIVIA

• The best dancer and the fastest runner of SNSD.
• Hyoyeon is ambidextrous, she actively use both of her left hand and right hand.
• The other eight members think revealed that she’s SNSD’s mood maker and also the funniest member.
• One of her most well-known nickname is “Kim Yeolsal” (ten-year old Kim) or because her jokes are similar to that of ten-year old and she also has a lot of mood swings.
• Hyoyeon collects cute, colorful stationery and stickers.
• She hits people and tell secrets when drunks. The members revealed that the maknaes, Yoona and Seohyun, are her usual drunk “victims”.
• SNSD’s “fashion terrorist”.
• Prior to her debut, Hyoyeon traveled to Beijing, China in 2004 with Super Junior’s Siwon to learn Mandarin and more about Chinese culture.
• In 1999, she enrolled in Winners Dance School, a famous dance school in South Korea specializing in popping, locking, animation and various other hip-hop styles.
• At Winners Dance School, Hyoyeon teamed with MissA’s Min and formed a dancing duo called Little Winners.
• Besides Hip -hop dance, Hyoyeon also learned Jazz and Latin dance.
• She received dance instruction from the Electric Boogaloos and top choreographers such as Kim Hye Rang, Poppin Seen, Kwang Hoo (aka Crazy Monkey), Poppin DS, Kwon Seok-Jin (aka Locking Khan) and ex-Black Beat’s / Beat Burger’s Shim Jae Won.
• Hyoyeon’s Chinese name is 孝渊 (Xiàoyuān)

Y U R I (유리)

Birth Name: Kwon Yu Ri

Stage Name: Yuri

Birthday: December 5, 1989

Birth Place: Seoul, South Korea

Position: Vocalist, Lead Dancer

Height: 169 cm

Weight: 46 kg

Blood Type: AB

Specialty: Chinese, swimming, dancing, acting

Hobbies: Studying, swimming, exercising

TRIVIA

• SNSD’s biggest prankster.
• Her image is that of sexiness, but she’s also known for her “kkab” (crazy / hyper, playful acts).
• Yuri often talks to herself in a self-hypnosis way.
• Among her nicknames are “Black Pearl” and “Cola”, both referring to her unique personality and her tanned skin.
• She wrote the lyrics to one of SNSD’s ballads, titled “Mistake”. The song was included in SNSD’s third mini-album.
• Yuri is a health nut. Every morning, Yuri drinks grinded Ma juice mixed with milk, honey, and apples. She also regularly drinks Chinese herbal tonic.
• She does yoga. On the variety show ‘Invicible Youth’, there was a segment of “Yuri’s Yoga Classroom”.
• “Yuri” literally means “glass” in Korean.
• Yuri collects Mickey Mouse items. She also likes anime/manga Crayon Shinchan.
• She gained the nickname “BK Yuri” after she threw an impressive underhand opening pitch at a baseball game back in 2007. The nickname is taken from  Byunghyun Kim, a former major league player known for his underhand pitch.
• Yuri’s favorite Japanese food is takoyaki.
• Yuri’s ideal man is Song Seung-hoon.
• She attends ChungAng University’s Department of Theater along with BIGBANG’s Seungri. Fellow member Sooyoung is her senior in the same department.

S O O Y O U N G (수영)

Birth Name: Choi Soo Young

Stage Name: Sooyoung

Birthday: February 10, 1990

Birth Place: Seoul, South Korea

Position: Vocalist, Lead Dancer

Height: 171 cm

Weight: 49 kg

Blood Type: O

Specialty: Japanese

Hobbies: Watching movies, listening to music, dancing

TRIVIA

• The tallest member of SNSD.
• Prior to SNSD, Sooyoung was a part of J-pop duo ‘Route φ’ along with Marina Takahashi. The duo released three singles.
• Sooyoung is fluent in Japanese.
• She’s the third youngest of SNSD. However, despite being a ’90ers along with Yoona, Sooyoung is considered as a part of the 89 line because she was in the same grade with the six ’89ers.
• The biggest eater of SNSD, hence the nickname “Shikshin” (God of Food). However, she also doesn’t gain weight easily.
• “Sooyoung” literally means “swimming” in Korean.
• Her English name, Summer, was given by fellow member Jessica.
• Sooyoung is a devout Christian.
• Sooyoung has a great interest in fashion. She’s also considered as the most fashionable SNSD member.
• Her older sister, Choi Soojin, is a musical actress.
• Despite her tough image, Sooyoung is said to be the one who cries most easily.

Y O O N A (윤아)

Birth Name: Im Yoon Ah

Stage Name: Yoona

Birthday: May 30, 1990

Position: Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Face of The Group

Height: 168 cm

Weight: 48 kg

Blood Type: B

Specialty: Dancing, acting

Hobbies: Watching movies

TRIVIA

• Widely known as the “center” image of SNSD thanks to her immense popularity among Korean public. Age-wise, she’s also placed in the “center” of SNSD; Seohyun (born in 1991) is a year younger than Yoona (born in 1990) and the other 7 members are one year older and considered as same-age friends (born in 1989 and Sooyoung in early 199o).
• The physically strongest member of SNSD, gained her a nickname Him Yoona (strong Yoona).
• Despite her sweet girlish image, Yoona is actually boyish. One of her well-known nickname is Im-choding(elementary-school boy Im).
• Being the the second youngest of SNSD doesn’t stop her to be one of their biggest prankster.
• SNSD’s second biggest eater after Sooyoung.
• Her claim-to-fame was the hit daily drama ‘You’re My Destiny’ which ratings peaked at 41% viewership.  The drama was also her first time as a lead in drama.
• The said drama also gained her popularity among ahjumma (middle-aged women) in Korea.
• Yoona is a fan of Takuya Kimura.
• Yoona claimed that she has more confidence in dancing and acting rather than singing.
• Yoona likes to play bowling in her spare time.
• Nicknamed as ‘Alligator Yoong’ because she laughs with her mouth wide open, resembling an alligator.
• Often picked as the ideal girl by numerous Korean male and female celebrities.

S E O H Y U N (서현)

Birth Name: Seo Joo Hyun

Stage Name: Seohyun

Birthday: June 28, 1991

Birth Place: Seoul, South Korea

Position: Lead Vocalist, Maknae

Height: 169 cm

Weight: 49 kg

Blood Type: A

Specialty: Chinese, piano

Hobbies: Listening to music

TRIVIA

• The youngest member of SNSD. Being the only child in her family, she feels thankful to gained eight older sisters through SNSD.
• She is known for her upright personality.
• Seohyun loves sweet potato so much that she claimed she’d pick sweet potatoes over male. In the make-believe marriage variety show ‘We Got Married’, she was coupled with CN Blue’s Jung Yonghwa and they were given the nickname “Sweet Potato Couple”.
• Her favorite anime is Keroro Gunsou.
• Seohyun’s favorite male celebrity is Johnny Depp.
• She also loves manga / dorama Nodame Cantabile.
• Her idol is UN’s General Secretary Ban Ki-moon.
• Seohyun hates unhealthy foods.
• Seohyun went to the same high-school with Yoona (Daeyeong High School) but then she transferred to Taeyeon’s alma mater, Jeonju Arts High School, and graduated there. Now she’s attending Dongguk University’s Department of Art along with Yoona.
• Seohyun plays piano since she was very young, she started to learn guitar during her participation in ‘We Got Married’.

Profile Girl's Generation (SNSD)