Sulli

Choi Jin-ri (March 29, 1994 – October 13 or 14, 2019 ), better known by her stage name Sulli, was a South Korean singer and actress.

Sulli was born on March 29, 1994, in Busan, South Korea.

Aspiring to be an actress, Sulli attended Jungbu Elementary School before moving to Seoul by herself in 2004, while in fourth grade, in order to attend the Seoul branch of the MTM Academy, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing, and acting.

She had previously been enrolled in another acting school by her mother at a young age.

Prior to her debut as a child actress and following her signing to SM Entertainment, her stage name was changed from Choi Jin-ri; which means "the truth" in Korean, to Sulli at the suggestion of a reporter who felt her birth name was "too Christian" and that people from other religions would not like it.

In one interview, she interpreted her stage name to mean "pear blossoms in the snow".

She first made her debut as a child actress, appearing as a supporting cast member on the SBS historical drama Ballad of Seodong (2005).

Following this, she earned a number of guest roles, appearing in the television series Love Needs a Miracle (2005) and Drama City (2007), and the film Vacation (2006).

In 2005, Sulli began acting professionally at the age of 11, when she was selected to play young Princess Seonhwa of Silla in the SBS drama Ballad of Seodong.

She continued to take on minor roles in television dramas and movies such as Vacation (2006), Punch Lady (2007), The Flower Girl is Here (2007) and BABO (2008).

When Sulli was in fourth grade, she attended an SM Entertainment audition, during which she sang the S.E.S. song titled Chingu ("Friend").

After the audition she was officially cast as an S.M. trainee and during the same year, moved into a dormitory with Taeyeon and Tiffany of Girls' Generation.

She then subsequently appeared in the independent films Punch Lady (2007) and BA:BO (2008), the former being her first time cast in a substantial dramatic role.

She continued to stay there up until the debut of Girls' Generation, in 2007.

After signing a record deal with SM Entertainment, Sulli rose to prominence as a member of the girl group f(x) formed in 2009.

The group achieved both critical and commercial success, with four Korean number-one singles and international recognition after becoming the first K-pop act to perform at SXSW.

On September 5, 2009, Sulli debuted as a member of the group f(x), with the single "La Cha Ta".

Concurrently with her music career, Sulli returned to acting by starring in the SBS romantic comedy series, To the Beautiful You (2012), a Korean adaptation of the shōjo manga Hana-Kimi where her performance was positively received and earned her two SBS Drama Awards and a nomination at the 49th Paeksang Arts Awards.

In August 2012, Sulli starred as the lead role in To the Beautiful You, based on the famous Japanese shōjo manga series Hanazakari no Kimitachie.

The drama series started broadcasting on August 15, 2012, on SBS.

Sulli plays Gu Jae-hee, who disguises as a boy in order to attend the same school as her crush.

In order to prepare for her role, Sulli who was known for her long hair cut 60 cm of it.

She later won the New Star Award at the SBS Drama Awards for her performance in the drama.

In 2013, Sulli and group mate Krystal Jung became the new faces of the makeup brand, Etude House.

Sulli's film career progressed with her starring in the fantasy swashbuckler The Pirates (2014) and the coming-of-age drama Fashion King (2014).

In the midst of Red Light promotions, on July 24, 2014, SM Entertainment announced that Sulli decided to take a break from the South Korean entertainment industry due to being mentally and physically exhausted from the continuous malicious comments and rumors of her dating Dynamic Duo rapper Choiza, which was not confirmed at the time, and false rumors of her being pregnant.

Due to her hiatus, she did not participate in the promotion of the 2014 period adventure film The Pirates alongside Son Ye-jin and Kim Nam-gil, where she played a supporting character named Heuk-myo, a young girl who became a pirate after being saved by the female captain.

Later that same year, she resumed her acting career by attending the promotion of the 2014 comedy film Fashion King, based on the webtoon series of the same name, where she played a leading role alongside Joo Won and Kim Sung-oh.

During the press tour for The Pirates, Sulli took a hiatus from the entertainment industry due to health issues and following a year long absence from promoting with f(x), she left the group in August 2015.

Between 2015 and 2017, she embarked on a number of modelling campaigns before becoming an endorsement model for Estée Lauder.

In August 2015, a year into her hiatus, SM Entertainment announced that Sulli had officially withdrawn from the group.

Between 2015 and 2017, Sulli took part in modelling for various campaigns including for Estée Lauder as an endorsement model.

Sulli garnered attention for her role in the experimental neo-noir thriller Real (2017).

Sulli was recognized as a prominent figure in Korean popular culture for her outspoken persona, becoming the top 10 most Googled person in South Korea in 2017.

In 2017, Sulli starred in a leading role in the film Real with Kim Soo-hyun as Song Yoo-hwa, a rehabilitation therapist at the hospital which Kim's character frequents.

The film was released in June of that year.

She later returned to the music industry in 2018, making a guest appearance on Dean's single "Dayfly" and releasing her debut solo single "Goblin" in June 2019, which was her last musical project prior to her death.

Sulli was a featured singer in Dean's single "Dayfly", which was released on November 9, 2018, and served as her first release since leaving f(x) in 2015.

On June 29, 2019, Sulli made her debut as a solo artist with the single album "Goblin", on which she co-wrote and co-produced all of the tracks, and held a special stage Peaches Go!Blin on the same day at SM Town Theater.

In 2019, Sulli joined the JTBC2 variety program The Night of Hate Comments, which discussed celebrity's reactions to hateful comments, malicious rumors and cyberbullying they had encountered online.