Choi Min-gi (born November 3, 1995), known professionally as Ren, is a South Korean singer, actor and television personality. He began his professional career in 2012 as a vocalist of the South Korean boy group
NU'EST
NU'EST (; short for New Establish Style Tempo) was a South Korean boy band formed and managed by Pledis Entertainment. The group consisted of five members: JR, Aron, Baekho, Minhyun and Ren. They debuted on March 15, 2012, with the single ...
. Following his contract's expiration in
Pledis Entertainment in March 2022, Choi established his career as a solo artist signed under
BPM Entertainment
BPM Entertainment (), also known as Big Planet Made, is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2021. The company is best known as the home to the trio Viviz, solo artists Soyou, Huh Gak, Ha Sung-woon, Lee Mu-jin, Be'O, Mighty Mouth ...
.
Career
Pre-debut
Ren was accepted into
Pledis Entertainment after auditioning in 2010. Prior to debuting, Ren appeared as a back-up dancer in
After School Blue's "Wonder Boy" in 2011. He participated in Pledis Entertainment's Christmas single "Love Letter" and was also featured in an alternate music video for the song as a member of Pledis Boys. He performed with After School with the rest of Pledis Boys, now dubbed "After School Boys", at the ''
SBS Gayo Daejeon
''SBS Gayo Daejeon'' (, broadly ''SBS'' '' Battle of the Bands'') is an annual televised music festival that is broadcast by the Seoul Broadcasting System at the end of each year. The program first aired in 1997, and awards were given to musica ...
''.
2012-2022: NU'EST
Along with four other Pledis Boys, Ren debuted in the boy band
NU'EST
NU'EST (; short for New Establish Style Tempo) was a South Korean boy band formed and managed by Pledis Entertainment. The group consisted of five members: JR, Aron, Baekho, Minhyun and Ren. They debuted on March 15, 2012, with the single ...
in 2012 as a sub-vocalist. He also modeled for Park Yoon-so during the Fall/Winter Seoul Fashion Week, and his androgynous styling drew attention for breaking gender norms. In 2013, Ren appeared ''
Jeon Woo-chi
Jeon Woo-chi (, 14?? ~ 15??) was a Taoist scholar during the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He is known by many as the most prominent "sorcerer" in Korean history, and a representative trickster from old Korean literature. His art name was Woosa (), w ...
'' in a minor role. In 2015, he starred in the Japanese film ''
Their Distance''.
In 2017, Ren participated as a contestant on ''
Produce 101 Season 2
''Produce 101 Season 2'' () was a 2017 boy group survival reality show on Mnet, and is the second season of the original South Korean version of the franchise. The public (called 'national producers') "produces" a boy group by choosing 11 mem ...
'' under his full name for a chance to debut in
Wanna One
Wanna One () was a South Korean boy band formed by CJ E&M through the second season of ''Produce 101''. The group was composed of eleven members: Kang Daniel, Park Ji-hoon, Lee Dae-hwi, Kim Jae-hwan, Ong Seong-wu, Park Woo-jin, Lai Kuan-lin, Yo ...
,
but he was eliminated in the final episode at rank #20. After the show's end, he and the remaining NU'EST members began promoting as the sub-group
NU'EST W
NU'EST W was the second subunit of South Korean boy band, NU'EST. The group consisted of NU'EST members, JR, Aron, Baekho, and Ren, promoting in the absence of Minhyun, who at the time was promoting with Wanna One. The group disbanded on Dec ...
from 2017 to 2018. During the group's activity, he wrote the lyrics for his solo songs, "Paradise" and "You & I." At the same time, Ren became a fixed panelist on the talk show ''Learning the Hard Way''.
He was also cast in a starring role on the drama ''Four Sons'',
but the show's production was briefly suspended in 2018 with only four of sixteen episodes filmed.
In 2018, Ren became a regular cast member on ''The Kkondae Live''.
In 2019, he became a regular cast member on ''Hogu Chart''.
From 2020 to 2021, Ren hosted the radio show ''"To.Night"'' on Naver NOW with bandmate
Aron
Aron may refer to:
Characters
*Aron (comics), from the Marvel Universe comic ''Aron! HyperSpace Boy!''
*Aron (Pokémon), in the ''Pokémon'' franchise
* Aron Trask, from John Steinbeck's novel ''East of Eden''
*Áron or Aaron, the brother of Mos ...
.
He also began his musical theatre career as the lead role in Everybody's Talking About Jamie in 2020 and in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2021.
NU'EST's exclusive contract with Pledis Entertainment expired on March 14, 2022 and Ren (alongside members
Aron
Aron may refer to:
Characters
*Aron (comics), from the Marvel Universe comic ''Aron! HyperSpace Boy!''
*Aron (Pokémon), in the ''Pokémon'' franchise
* Aron Trask, from John Steinbeck's novel ''East of Eden''
*Áron or Aaron, the brother of Mos ...
and
JR) will leave the agency, therefore concluding their 10-year career as a group.
2022-present: solo activities
In May 2022, Ren signed with
BPM Entertainment
BPM Entertainment (), also known as Big Planet Made, is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2021. The company is best known as the home to the trio Viviz, solo artists Soyou, Huh Gak, Ha Sung-woon, Lee Mu-jin, Be'O, Mighty Mouth ...
as a solo artist.In the same month, Ren also joins the UNIVERSE platform.
In September 2022, it was confirmed by the agency that Ren would hold a solo fan-con event '2022 Ren Fan-Con
he Day After in Korea and Japan in early November.
Philanthropy
On April 18, 2018, Ren hand-delivered two piggy banks to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation to support the latter's "Creating My Own Angel Contest" campaign. The following year, he and NU'EST member
Minhyun brought the children of the foundation to NU'EST's 2019 LOVE Page Fan Meeting in Seoul. In December of the same year, Ren donated all the proceeds of his self-published fairy tale book “함께라서 행복한 우리들" (literally translated as "We're Happy Because We're Together") to the foundation.
Discography
Filmography
Films
Television series
Television shows
Radio shows
Theatre
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1995 births
Living people
Musicians from Busan
Pledis Entertainment artists
BPM Entertainment artists
South Korean male idols
South Korean male pop singers
South Korean male film actors
South Korean male television actors
21st-century South Korean male singers
21st-century South Korean male actors
Produce 101 contestants