Kim Se-jeong

Kim Se-jeong (born August 28, 1996), known mononymously as Sejeong, is a South Korean singer and actress.

She finished second in Mnet's girl group survival show Produce 101, becoming a member of the project girl group I.O.I.

She was also a member of Jellyfish Entertainment's girl group Gugudan.

Kim Se-jeong was born on August 28, 1996, in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, but moved to Anyang, Gyeonggi where she stayed with her mother and older brother at her aunt's house.

Her parents split when she was a child, leaving her mother to single-handedly raise her and her brother.

She has previously stated that she did not contact her father until she was in her third year of middle school.

Before her debut, Kim participated in track and field competitions in elementary and middle school and was part of the Theatre Club in her high school.

Kim passed Jellyfish Entertainment's auditions through a competition of 3,000 to 1 ratio, thus becoming a trainee.

Kim is currently studying practical music at Hanyang Women's University.

She was awarded with a "Best Challenge" Award on the 11th SBS Entertainment Awards.

In 2012, Kim participated in the second season of competition television show K-pop Star 2 at the age of 16.

She did not make it through the second round of the ranking audition, but Yang Hyun-suk brought her back as a wildcard for the casting round where Kim performed a duet of Taeyang's "I Need A Girl" with fellow contestant Jo Yoo-min.

They both made it to the final casting round along with contestants Nicole Curry and Lee Soo-kyung where Kim was eliminated from the competition.

She would later get a "Rookie Variety" nomination in the 15th KBS Entertainment Awards.

In January 2016, Kim represented Jellyfish Entertainment together with fellow trainees Kim Na-young and Kang Mi-na on the reality survival show Produce 101 for the chance to debut in an Mnet Project girl group.

All three were assigned to "Group A" in the first episode of the program and Kim achieved the first-place ranking on several episodes.

Kim was the runner-up contestant of the season, garnering 525,352 votes, officially becoming a member of the girl group I.O.I. They debuted on May 4, 2016, with the lead single "Dream Girls" from the album Chrysalis.

On June 10, 2016, YMC Entertainment revealed that Kim would return to her agency to join and promote its upcoming girl group.

On June 28, 2016, while still members of I.O.I, Kim and Kang Mi-na joined Gugudan with the lead single "Wonderland".

On November 23, 2016, Kim participated in Jellyfish Entertainment's music channel project Jelly Box and released the single "Flower Way", produced by Zico, along with a music video.

The single peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and Kim received her first solo artist music program trophy for the single on the November 30 episode of Show Champion.

Kim hosted the new KBS show Talents for Sale alongside Kim Jong-kook, Lee Seo-jin and Noh Hong-chul in 2016.

She is currently active as a solo artist and actress, best known for her lead roles in the television series School 2017 (2017), The Uncanny Counter (2020–2023), and Business Proposal (2022).

I.O.I disbanded in January 2017 and the members returned to their respective agencies at the end of their contracts.

On January 12, 2017, Kim released the song "If Only" for the soundtrack of The Legend of the Blue Sea.

Later that year, she collaborated with Lee Tae-il of Block B for the digital single "I Like You, I Don't", which charted at number 8 on the Gaon Music Charts.

Kim also collaborated with NCT's Doyoung on a song titled "Star Blossom" for the SM Station Season 2 music project.

In March 2017, she joined the reality-documentary Law of the Jungle in Sumatra.

In July 2017, she took on her first major acting role as the lead character Ra Eun-ho in KBS2's teen drama School 2017 where she won the "Best New Actress" award at the 31st KBS Drama Awards.

She also was a vocalist for the series' soundtrack titled "Believe in this Moment".

In September 2017, she was announced to star in Netflix's first Korean variety show Busted! That month, she also starred on OnStyle's show Get It Beauty.

In January 2018, Kim became the first special co-host of Baek Jong-won's Alley Restaurant.

Kim and LEO were chosen to sing the official cheer song entitled "We, the Reds" for the South Korea national football team for the 2018 World Cup Tournament.

In June 2018, she was cast for tvN's sci-fi variety program Galileo: Awakened Universe, which was filmed using the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), the largest and longest-running Mars surface simulation facility in the world.

They were the first Korean entertainment crew to set foot on the Research Station.

In June 2018, she formed Gugudan SeMiNa with fellow Produce 101 alumni members Mina and Nayoung.

They debuted on July 10, 2018, with the single "SeMiNa".

In September 2018, Kim released the song "Paramour" for the Mr. Sunshine soundtrack.

In 2019, Kim took her second leading role in the mystery romantic-comedy drama I Wanna Hear Your Song where she played a timpanist who lost her memories due to traumatic events.

She would later win the K-Drama Hallyu Star Award on the 2019 KBS Drama Awards for the role.