Will A Pink's Jung Eun Ji be the next female k-pop idol to become a k-drama star? Her roles have been getting bigger and some compare her star potential to that of Miss A's Suzy Bae.
Suzy Bae was last year's most successful singer-actress. Suzy was already popular for her roles in the drama "Dream High" and the film "Architecture 101," when she took the role of warrior Dam Ye Wol in the 2013 drama "Gu Family Book." After winning praise for her performance she received so many offers for commercials that she became known as the "queen of commercials."
Alone and together with the fellow members of miss A, she modeled in ads for yogurt, shoes, school bags and vitamin drinks.
Other female k-pop idols that aced the transition include Girls Generation's Im Yoona, who appeared in "The Prime Minister and I" and IU, who starred in "Pretty Man."
And then there are the actresses who became so famous that people forgot they ever sang, like Baby V.O.X's Yoon Eun Hye or Sugar's Hwang Jung Eum.
With Jung Eun Ji's role in the new drama "Trot Lovers" it is possible that she could be the next idol actress star and start getting endorsement deals.
In "Trot Lovers," Jung Eun Ji plays Choi Choon Hee, a young woman wants to be a trot singer. She gets career help from an arrogant musician, played by Ji Hyun Woo. He hates trot music and considers it old fashioned and lacking in class. But he winds up helping her anyway and she becomes a star. Completing the drama's love triangle is a talent agent played by Shin Sung Rok.
Why are the odds in favor of Jung Eun Ji becoming an even bigger star?
As an actress Jung Eun Ji has been full of surprises. Jung Eun Ji joined A Pink in 2010 but has only been acting for two years. Her first role was playing the sassy fan girl Sung Shi Won in "Reply 1997" and her comic performance was praised as being impressive for a newcomer. That role won her a Baeksang Arts Award for Best New TV Actress.
She then had a supporting role in the melodrama "That Winter The Wind Blows," which won her Best Performance at the APAN Star Awards and a New Star Award at the SBS Drama Awards. She also had a cameo in "Reply 1994."
She spoke to enewsworld while she was filming "Reply 1997" and admitted that she never had an acting lesson.
"I've never learned how to act," she said. "I did get one lesson from a teacher right before the drama started, but I looked unnatural because I was imitating the teacher."
Check her out in the new drama and let us know what you think?