Joa, formerly a member of girl group Weekly, has made a new nest at Keyeast and is starting her second act as ‘Actress Jo Hye-won.’

On the 16th, Keyeast announced the news of an exclusive contract with Jo Hye-won, saying, “We will spare no support so that Jo Hye-won, who has a multi-talented charm in singing, acting, and variety shows, as well as a passion for acting, can actively pursue her career as an actress.” They added, “We ask for your big support for Jo Hye-won, who is starting a new journey.”

Jo Hye-won, who debuted in 2020 as JoA(stage name)of the girl group Weekly, was the main rapper and visual youngest member of the team.Weekly won six rookie awards immediately after their debut, and with the title song “After School” from their 3rd mini-album in 2021, they achieved unprecedented success as a 4th-generation rookie girl group, receiving much love from the public, including topping the iTunes Top Albums Chart and surpassing 100 million views on YouTube and 200 million streams on Spotify.

As an actress, she made her debut in the 2022 web film ‘3.5 Period’.In the drama, Hye-won plays the role of Baek Ah-jin, a transfer student who accidentally discovers a rubber watch that can slow down time by 10 times and gets caught up in a secret incident.She received favorable reviews from her first acting challenge for her stable acting and attractive voice tone.Since then, she has been developing a passion for acting and entered Sungkyunkwan University’s Department of Acting Arts as a 24th-year student, preparing for her full-fledged acting career.

In addition to her singing and acting activities, Jo Hye-won also showed off her all-rounder side by gaining popularity with the public through her positive energy and quirky twists in season 1 of her solo web entertainment show ‘Rather Joa’, which was launched last year.Expectations are high for the diverse paths that Jo Hye-won, who has such limitless potential, will unfold after meeting with Keyeast.

Jo Hye-won, who signed an exclusive contract with Keyeast, said, “I’m excited and thrilled to be able to make a fresh start at Keyeast, where my respected seniors are.I will work hard to grow into an actor who can handle various genres and show you a new side of me that I’ve never shown you before, so please look forward to it.”

Meanwhile, KeyEast is a comprehensive entertainment company that has many of South Korea’s top actors under its wing, including Jo Hye-won, Cha Seung-won, Kim Hee-ae, Kang Han-na, Park Myung-hoon, Chae Jung-an, and Han Sun-hwa, and is also showing remarkable results in the production sectors of dramas and variety shows.



Reporter Seungmi smlee@donga.com

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