Jung Jin-young / Jinyoung (정진영)

Jung Jin-young, a prolific singer-songwriter since his B1A4 days, produced a series of royalty-free music in 2022. Not to be confused with the other "Jinyoungs"—the actor Jung Jin-young born in 1964, Park Jin-young of JYP Entertainment, and GOT7’s Park Jin-young—Jinyoung the virtuoso has also been making waves as a k-drama actor.

Photo from HanCinema

Birthday: November 18, 1991

Instagram: @jinyoung0423

Twitter: @_jinyoung911118

With the rest of the K-pop group B1A4 (named after the five members’ blood types), he debuted in 2011 on Show! Music Core. B1A4 went on to release seven studio albums, win several Best Newcomer awards, and become successful in South Korea and Japan. After leading the band for seven years, Jinyoung eventually left B1A4.

While he started acting by playing bit parts such as in The Thousandth Man (2012), he landed a supporting role as a troublemaker in the TV drama/comedy She Is Wow (2013). He then acted in his first film as a grandson who recruits his grandmother for his band in the comedy fantasy Miss Granny (2014). It was in 2015 where he caught the attention of viewers in his portrayal of a singer-wannabe in the musical drama Persevere, Goo Hae-ra.

2016 became his banner year as he produced songs for a girl group in the reality show Produce 101, charmed audiences worldwide for his portrayal of a smart but lovestruck noble in the youth historical drama Love in the Moonlight, earned a Baeksang Best New Actor (TV) nomination, and won the KBS Drama Awards Best New Actor. In 2018, the book K-Pop Makers named Jinyoung as one of the eight South Korean “hidden gems and hidden producers,” a list that includes the multi-awarded Pdogg, the producer of many of BTS' hits.

Meanwhile, he continued to captivate viewers in the drama special If We Were a Season opposite Chae Soo-bin and in the two-season romantic series My First First Love, all released in 2019. Before enlisting in the military, he starred in the body-swap comedy movie The Dude in Me. Fresh from his military discharge in April last year, he led the k-drama Police University as a former hacker and first-year student taught by Cha Tae-hyun's character. Most recently, he co-hosted the two-hour KBS1 music show Korea on Stage: 600 Years of Open Roads and joined the TVING k-variety Young Actors' Retreat with the rest of the Love in the Moonlight, Itaewon Class, and The Sound of Magic casts.

He is set to star opposite Cho Yi-hyun (All of Us Are Dead) in the TV series Summer Vacation, join seasons 2 and 3 of the Netflix apocalyptic horror Sweet Home, and lead the k-drama adaptation of Miss Granny with Jung Ji-so (Parasite).