Eugene (entertainer)

Eugene Kim
Birth name Kim Yoo-Jin
Also known as Eugene, Yoo Jin
Born March 3, 1981 (1981-03-03) (age 30)
Origin Seoul, South Korea
Guam
Genres K-pop
Occupations Singer, Actress
Years active 1999–present
Labels PFull Entertainment
SM Entertainment
Website eugene.pfull.com
Birth name
Hangul 김유진
Hanja 金楢真
Revised Romanization Gim Yu-jin
McCune–Reischauer Kim Yu-chin

Kim Yoo-jin (Korean: 김유진, born March 3, 1981), professionally known in English as Eugene, is a singer, actress, and emcee. She was a former member of a Korean female idol group called S.E.S., popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She has released two solo albums and has gone on to star in dramas and movies and work as an MC in various shows and programs.

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Early life

Eugene was born in Seoul, South Korea, but spent her childhood in Guam after moving there after elementary school. She returned to Korea with her mother and younger sister sometime in high school, and eventually graduated from Korea Kent Foreign School.[1]

Girl Group member

By way of an audition tape, Eugene was able to be part of a music group for SM Entertainment in South Korea, even though she was still in Guam. Debuting in 1997, S.E.S. became one of the biggest Korean groups of all time, having the record for biggest selling album by a female group in Korea. While in S.E.S., Eugene became known for her beauty and was part of the reason why S.E.S. had many advertising contracts. In fact, for certain print campaigns (like for Korean cosmetics company Etude), Eugene had the leading role, being the focus of the advertisements.

Solo career

After the split of S.E.S. in 2002, Kim starred in four Korean dramas: Loving You, Save The Last Dance for Me, Wonderful Life, and I Really, Really Like You. She also appeared in commercials and advertisements, notably for Korean cosmetics company Cathy Cat. In addition, she released two solo albums. My True Style, her first album, has sold nearly 65,000 records and had one hit ballad, "The Best". Her second album 810303 sold a disappointing 19,000 copies. Although sales were low, Eugene still had a very successful single with "Windy", mostly due to her new "sexy" image (compared to her previous girl next door image). This song was performed on all the music video programs in Korea for many months, in addition to her second single. Promotions were stopped near the end of the year.

Eugene made her theater debut in the musical adaptation of the film Innocent Steps[2] and her film debut in Unstoppable Marriage.[3]

After taking on the lead roles in the dramas One Mom and Three Dads[4] and Creating Destiny, Eugene starred in the massive hit King of Baking, Kim Tak Goo.

In 2007 Eugene took over from Lee Hyori as one of the co-hosts of the KBS variety show Happy Together Friends, until the show was overhauled for a third season. After the success of her previous program Eugene’s Makeup Diary, cable style network O'live again chose her as the host of new show Get It Beauty which began airing in July 2010.[5]

Eugene has authored two books: Eugene's Beauty Secrets[6] and Eugene's Get It Beauty.[7]

She is co-president of the clothing brand byMOMO.

Marriage

On May 11, 2011, Eugene announced on her fansite that after a year and a half of dating, she was getting married to Ki Tae-young, her leading man in 2009's Creating Destiny.[8][9][10] The couple later held a joint press conference to discuss further details about their relationship and wedding plans.[11] The couple released their prenup pictorial a week before the wedding.[12][13][14][15] The couple married in a private wedding ceremony at the Seoul Central Church in Anyang, Gyeonggi-do, on July 23, 2011.[16] Eugene's dress was designed by renowned Filipino-French designer, Monique Lhuillier.[17]

Discography

Albums

Album Release Date Unit Sales Agency Label
1st: My True Style... 2003-05-30
54,270
F&J Entertainment
YBM Seoul Records
2nd: 810303 2004-08-18
25,245
Pfull
EMI

Collaborations

Soundtrack

Album Release Date Label Song
Save the Last Dance for Me OST 2004-11-25
PONY CANYON
Track 5: My Dream
I Really Really Like You OST 2006-04-26
Fantom Entertainment
Track 3: Like a Candy
Track 7: Really Really Like You (Rock version)
Romantic Island Christmas Story (Single) 2008-12-11
Pastel
Track 1: Romantic Christmas (duet with Lee Seon-kyun)
Romantic Island OST 2008-12-16
Pastel
Track 3: Plastic Syndrome
Track 10: Travel Memories

Featured Artist

Album Release Date Label Song
Oh Jong Hyuk 1st album: OJ Issue 2006-09-11
Universal Music
Track 13: One Month
Kan Mi Youn 1st album: Refreshing 2006-09-15
CJ Music
Track 3: 그 앤 너에게 반하지 않았어
Ahn Jae-wook 4th album: Life for Love 2009-08-05
Pony Canyon Korea
Track 5: Make Me Smile
Bada 4th album: Look at the Sea 2009-08-06
Platys Entertainment
Track 13: ...나요
Shoo single: Devote One's Love 2010-01-08
LOEN Entertainment
Track 3: With Me
Kim Jin Woo single: Love Latte 2010-08-05
다날
Track 1: Love Latte

Carol

Album Release Date Label Song
Christmas with Pfull 2004-12-10
EMI
Track 6: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2005-12-12
EMI
Track 6: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Filmography

Year Television Role Network
2002 Loving You Jin Da-rae KBS
2004 Save the Last Dance for Me Ji Eun-soo SBS
2005 Wonderful Life Jung Se-jin MBC
2006 I Really Really Like You Yeo Bong-soon MBC
2008 One Mom and Three Dads Song Na-Young KBS2
2009 Creating Destiny Han Sang-eun MBC
2010 King of Baking, Kim Tak Goo Shin Yoo-kyung KBS2
2011 Drama Special: Princess Hwapyung's Weight Loss Princess Hwapyung KBS2
Year Film Role
2007 Unstoppable Marriage Park Eun-ho
2008 Heartbreak Library Jo Eun-soo
Romantic Island Yoo Ga-young
2009 Yoga Hyo-jung

Musical

Hosting (MC)

Books

Appointed as Goodwill Ambassador

Awards

References

External links