Kim Taeyeon (Hangul: 김태연; Hanja: 金太妍; born March 9, 1989 in Jeonju, South Korea), is a South Korean singer, actress, spokesmodel, radio DJ, and leader of the South Korean idol group, "Girls' Generation" (소녀시대 / 少女時代). She has also worked as a TV presenter, radio DJ and appeared in reality-variety shows, as well as recorded solo singles.

Trained in singing and dancing, Taeyeon was discovered in the 2004 SM Entertainment's 8th Annual Best Contest winning Best Singer 1st Place & Grand Award in the contest. In 2004, she was featured in The One's song "You Bring Me Joy" before debuting as Girls' Generation leader in 2007. She is a 2008 graduate of Jeonju Art High School and was decorated by the Lifetime Achievement Award of the high school.

Singing career

Taeyeon has contributed to a couple of soundtracks as a solo artist, singing the theme song "Manyage" ("만약에", "If") for the KBS2 drama Hong Gil Dong and "Deullinayo" ("들리나요", "Can You Hear Me") from the Beethoven Virus soundtrack. "If" became popular on various online charts, around the same time "Baby Baby" was released, while "Deullinayo" received the YEPP Popularity award at the 2008 Golden Disk Awards.

She also sang "SarangInGulYo" ("사랑인걸요", "It is love") with Sunny for the drama Heading to the Ground, and the "S.E.O.U.L." song with members of Super Junior and Girls' Generation. She also sang the song for Caribbean Bay with her fellow members Jessica, Seohyun, Tiffany and Yuri with 2PM.

She sang a duet song with her mentor The One, called "Like a Star" which was released on November 17, 2010. She also sang in the soundtrack of SBS's Athena:Goddess of War, with the song "I Love You". The song was released on 13 December 2010. The song took number 1 in some hit charts.

On January 31, 2011, Taeyeon sang a duet with Kim Bum Soo, titled "Different". The song also took number 1 not long after it was released.

Acting career

On May 7, 2010, she had her musical debut as the main female role in "Midnight Sun", which is based on the Japanese novel "Taiyō no uta" by Aya Denkawa. The musical is about Kaoru Amane, a 17-year-old girl, who suffers from Xeroderma pigmentosum, forbid her to going out during the daytime. She keeps her hopes up by writing songs and singing every night at a train station. Taeyeon received good press for her performance. Furthermore, she learned to play guitar for her musical performance.

Taeyeon and her band mate Seohyun were cast as voice actors for the Korean dub of the 3D animation Despicable Me. Taeyeon dubbed the voice of the character Margo, while Seohyun's role is Margo's younger sister Edith.

TV shows

She was featured on Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation reality-variety show We Got Married as part of the third rotation of couples; she was featured with comedian Jeong Hyeong-don. When this news was announced on January 7, 2009, it caused an uproar among South Korean netizens due to the 11-year age difference between the two.

Taeyeon is also a sub MC for Kim Seungwoo's talk show, 'SeungSeungJangGu' (Korean: 승승장구) on KBS, MCing alongside 2PM's Wooyoung, Choi Hwajung, Kim Shinyoung, and Kim Seungwoo.

Radio Shows

Taeyeon became a DJ on Good Friend Radio, which she co-hosted with Super Junior's Kangin until he left on April 19, 2009. From then on, she hosted the radio show single-handedly. Earning the nickname"DJ Taengoo". Taeyeon ceased her DJ duties from April 26, 2010 onwards.

☛ http://girlsgeneration.smtown.com

☛ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taeyeon

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.