June 7: Park Ji-yeon Also known as Jiyeon, of the South Korean group T-ara, is 20-years-old today.

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Ji-yeon was born in Seoul, South Korea on June 7, 1993, and graduated from Lila Art High School in 2012. She did not go to college due to her busy acting schedule and career.

Ji-yeon has also modeled. In 2008, when she was 15 years old, Ji-yeon was featured in several pictorials and advertisements for SMART with Korean boy band SHINee. She collaborated with Davichi and SeeYa on the digital single "Female Generation/Forever Love,” which was released in May 2009. She also appeared in SG Wannabe's music videos "Saranghae" and "My Love is Crying" from their 2009 album, Gift From SG WANNABE.

Early on, the Korean media dubbed Ji-yeon "Little Kim Tae Hee" due to her close resemblance to Kim. In 2008, she entered and won the Smart Model Contest. Subsequently, she auditioned at the Mnet Casting System and joined the company.

The group T-ara debuted on July 29, 2009, when Ji-yeon was 16 years old; the majority of the members were in their early twenties. She was the youngest member until Areum was introduced in June 2012, followed by Dani, who was added in December on the same year.

Ji-yeon made an appearance on the highly-ranked KBS television show Master of Study as Na Hyun Jung, a heavily burdened love-struck high school girl who joins a special class consisting of five underperforming students who must gain acceptance to the top South Korean university, commonly referred to as the "Cheonha-Dae" (in Korean). Ji-yeon played the lead character in Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp alongside with Yoon Si Yoon, which was released in July 2010.

Ji-yeon was cast in a drama Dream High Season 2 as Rian/Lee Ji Kyung. During the August 19, 2011 rehearsal taping of KBS Music Bank for their final stage performance of promoting Roly Poly, Ji-yeon pulled a right knee ligament. She continued to tour, although she needed assistance for each trip due to her injuries.

T-ara debuted in 2009 under Core Contents Media. Before their debut, there was a high level of interest in the group as they were called the "Super Rookies" and had been training for three years prior.

Originally a five-member group composed of Jiae, Jiwon, Eunjung, Hyomin, and Jiyeon, they released their first song "Joheun Saram" -"Good Person") for the soundtrack of the Korean drama Cinderella Man in April 2009. After Jiae and Jiwon withdrew from the group two months later, T-ara debuted as a six-member group with the addition of Boram, Soyeon, and Qri in July 2009,releasing their first single "Geojitmal."
 

Their debut studio album Absolute First Album was released in December 2009 and spawned several hit singles including "TTL (Time to Love)", "Bo Peep Bo Peep", and "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo." The group's first single was a remake of their 2009 hit "Bo Peep Bo Peep." It ranked at number one on the Oricon weekly charts,the first time a debuting Korean girl group has done so in the charts' history.

In April 2013, it was announced that T-ara would be forming a sub-unit with the members Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon and Areum called T-ara N4. This is a shortened form of 'T-ara Brand New 4', signifying the transformation of the four members.The sub-unit debuted on April 29, 2013, with the song "Countryside Life."

 

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