Woo Hye-rim (born September 1, 1992), known professionally as Hyerim or Lim, is a South Korean singer, rapper, and songwriter known for her work as a former member of South Korean girl group
Wonder Girls
Wonder Girls () was a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted in February 2007 with the single " Irony" and 5 members: Yeeun, Sunye, Sunmi, Hyuna and Sohee. After Hyuna's departure in July, Yubin was added int ...
.
Early life
Woo Hye-rim was born on September 1, 1992, in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, South Korea. She was a
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
resident
Resident may refer to:
People and functions
* Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country
* Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training
* Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceuti ...
for 14 years. She can speak Korean, English, Cantonese, and Mandarin fluently. Her father is a grandmaster and promoter of
Taekwondo
''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...
, with the highest 9th-degree black belt in the discipline.
Career
Pre-debut
Originally, Woo was a part of five-member group in training in 2009. While still in training, the group flew to China where they appeared in numerous variety shows performing dance routines and songs to showcase their talent to the Chinese audience. As the group had no official name they were widely known to the Chinese audiences as "JYP Sisters" or simply as "Sisters". They were also dubbed by
JYPE as the "Chinese
Wonder Girls
Wonder Girls () was a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted in February 2007 with the single " Irony" and 5 members: Yeeun, Sunye, Sunmi, Hyuna and Sohee. After Hyuna's departure in July, Yubin was added int ...
". However, before the group could officially debut, two of their members withdrew leaving only three which included Lim herself as well as
Jia and
Fei, who both went onto become members of
Miss A
Miss A (stylized as "MISS A" or "miss A", Hangul: ) was a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted in July 2010 with the single " Bad Girl Good Girl" as a quartet consisting of Fei, Jia, Min, and Suzy. Their ...
.
Wonder Girls and other activities
On January 22, 2010, she was pulled from what would be Miss A and announced to be joining the Wonder Girls, after member
Sunmi
Lee Sun-mi (born Sun Mi on May 2, 1992), known mononymously as Sunmi (stylized as SUNMI), is a South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter and record producer. She debuted in 2007 as a member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls and left the gr ...
put her musical career on hiatus to focus on studies.
Her official debut stage with the group was on February 5, 2010, in a performance in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
.
In 2013, she became a co-host for EBS radio broadcast ''English Go Go!''.
From August 20, 2013 to March 10, 2014, she also served as the host of
Arirang TV
Arirang International Broadcasting is a South Korean-based broadcasting company operated by the International Broadcasting Exchange Foundation.
It began as a cable TV service in South Korea on February 3, 1997, and opened Korea's first overseas ...
's ''
Pops in Seoul
''Pops in Seoul'', airing from 1998 to 2021, has presented Korean pop music for the past eleven years on the network Arirang TV. The show's VJ presented current music, news about K-pop culture, and provided overseas viewers with the latest Korean ...
''.
On June 24, 2015, it was announced that Wonder Girls would be making comeback after two-year hiatus, as a four-member band. On the band's August 2015 release ''
REBOOT
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
'', Woo contributed to the writing and production of three songs.
Hyerim released a collaboration single with
Bernard Park
Bernard Park (born January 29, 1993), also known as Nakjoon, is a Korean singer, born and raised in America. He is best known as the winning contestant of '' K-pop Star Season 3''. He made his official debut on October 13, 2014 with his first ex ...
titled "With You" on April 3, 2016, as a part of JYP Entertainment's JYP Duet Match project. In July of the same year, Lim contributed to the composition of two songs on Wonder Girls' single EP ''
Why So Lonely
"Why So Lonely" is a song by South Korean girl group Wonder Girls. It was released via JYP Entertainment on July 5, 2016, and was distributed by KT Music. The song was written by group members Hyerim, Sunmi, and Yubin, along with songwriter H ...
''.
On January 26, 2017, it was announced that Wonder Girls were to disband after unsuccessful contract renewal negotiation with some of its members. Hyerim was one of the members who renewed her contract with
JYP Entertainment
JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...
. The group released their final single "
Draw Me" on February 10; it also serves as a celebration for their 10th anniversary since debut.
Hyerim left JYP Entertainment on January 25, 2020, and her departure from the label was announced three days later.
On March 10, 2020, Hyerim signed with RRR Entertainment, a new agency founded by fellow Wonder Girls member
Yubin
Yu-bin, also spelled Yoo-bin, is a Korean unisex given name. Its meaning depends on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name.
Hanja and meaning
There are 62 hanja with the reading "yu" and 25 hanja with the reading "bin" on the South Kor ...
since she left JYP Entertainment.
Personal life
In 2017, Hyerim began majoring in Interpretation in
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (abbreviated as HUFS; Korean: 한국외국어대학교) is a private research university based in Seoul, in South Korea. HUFS consistently ranks as one of the best universities in South Korea. The university ...
, under the school's Department of English for International Conferences and Communication (EICC). She was accepted into the program in December 2016 and received a scholarship in her first semester. In February 2018, she was honored with a certificate from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs for creating a voluntary video on safety in traveling overseas.
She helped translate ''
The Diary of a Young Girl
''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Neth ...
'' by
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...
from English to Korean for its publication in South Korea.
Woo graduated from Hankuk in 2021.
Hyerim began dating taekwondo athlete Shin Min-chul in 2013. They were confirmed to be engaged in May 2020 and got married on July 5.
On October 8, 2021, Hyerim announced she was expecting for her first child with Shin. On February 25, 2022, Woo's agency confirmed that she gave birth to her first son on February 23, 2022.
Discography
Singles
Songwriting and composing credits
Filmography
Film
Television shows
Hosting
Ambassadorship
* publicity ambassador for Gachibom Film Festival (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Hyerim's Official Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woo, Hye-lim
1992 births
Living people
Wonder Girls members
JYP Entertainment artists
English-language singers from South Korea
Japanese-language singers of South Korea
Mandarin-language singers of South Korea
South Korean female idols
South Korean female models
South Korean women pop singers
South Korean television personalities
South Korean expatriates in Hong Kong
Danyang U clan
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies alumni