Who is Park Cho-rong? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

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Childhood & Early Life

Park Cho-rong was born into a middle class family on March 3, 1991 in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. She is the second child of three sisters who were brought up in Chungcheongbuk-do.

Her father was a master of Hapkido and owned an academy for training youth in martial arts. Due to the influence of her father she trained in Hapkido for eight years to earn a 3rd degree black belt.

Park started her schooling at Byungsul Kindergarten School and did her elementary and middle high school from Bukang School. She completed her high school from Choongbook High School. Besides martial arts, she also learnt dancing as a child.

She auditioned for JYP Entertainment at the age of 18, but she was eliminated in the final round. Park was determined to become an entertainer and did not get disheartened by her initial failure. Later she joined the South Korean record label Cube Entertainment as a trainee from where she launched her career in the entertainment world.

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Career

She made her debut on television with a minor role as Cho-rong in the South Korean romance drama serial ‘All My Love’ on MBC network in 2010. This was followed by a special appearance as Lee II-hwa in her younger days in the serial ‘Reply 1997’ that revolves around the lives of six friends from their carefree high school days to their present life.

She started her music career with the music video ‘Shock’ by the boy band ‘Beast’. She worked with a few other bands before her career took a boost in 2011 when she was announced as a lead member of the South Korean girl band ‘Apink’.

Prior to the release of their first single ‘Mollayo’, Park and her girl band participated in a pre-debut reality show titled ‘Apink News’ that was an ideal launch pad for their music.

Park is one of the main songwriters for ‘Apink’. She started writing songs for the group with the number ‘April 19th’ that marked the first anniversary of the band. She debuted as a member of the band on ‘Mnet’s M! Countdown’ and has sung their numbers ‘Mollayo’ and ‘Wishlist’ which are also part of their EP ‘Seven Spring of Apink’.

It did not take long for the band to become a sensation among Korean youth and Park Cho-rong to become an icon. Hit numbers written by her include ‘Wanna Be’, ‘Deja Vu’, ‘To Us’ and her latest number ‘Eyes’ for the album ‘Pink Up’ which was released in 2017.

She got her first lead role in a television drama in 2014 when she played the role of Han Soo-ah / Bong-sook in the romantic comedy ‘Plus Nine Boys’ on tvN network.

As she climbed up the ladder to be a celebrity in her own right she participated as a cast member in the reality show ‘One Night Food Trip’ in 2017 on O’live & tvN network. She went on to appear in the variety shows ‘X-Pink’ and ‘Oh! Cool Guys’ where she was popular among the cast members as well as her fans.

Park Cho-rong is active on social media where she has a large fan following. She often posts photographs of herself and the activities of Apink that have gone viral in the past. Her popularity has spread from South Korea to Japan, China and the rest of Asia.

Major Works

Her television serials include ‘All My Love’ (2010), ‘Reply 1997’ (2012) and ‘Plus Nine Boys’ (2014).

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She participated as a cast member on the reality show ‘One Night Food Trip’ (2017) on O’live & tvN network.

She has written the lyrics for the songs ‘April 19’ for the album ‘Une Annee’ (2012); ‘Love Story’ and ‘So Long’ for the album ‘Pink Blossom’(2014); ‘Wanna Be’ for the album ‘Pink Luv’ (2014); ‘Deja Vu’ for the album ‘Pink Memory’ (2015), ‘The Wave’ and ‘To Us’ for the album ‘Pink Revolution’ (2016); ‘Cliche’ for the album ‘Dear’ (2016) and ‘Eyes’ for the album ‘Pink Up’ (2017).

Personal Life

Park Cho-rong goes by the stage name of just Chorong and is also known by the nicknames Rongrongje, Mama Rong, Rong Leadah and Rongcho by her friends, band mates and fans.

She was a shy girl when she entered the entertainment industry, but as she gained experience she has opened up to become an extrovert and leader of her band.

She is the eldest member of her girl band and is considered a motherly figure. That is how she picked up the nickname Mama Rong. She has gained the respect of other members of Apink as well as the directors and producers.

She was rumoured to be dating Suho of EXO in 2014. However, the relationship is yet to be confirmed. As per her manager, her official status is single.

Trivia

In an interview she once mentioned that most of her fans are older to her and at times double her age. They seem to be embarrassed when they come to meet her face-to-face, but are quite different online. Her band even once received a death threat from a fan which is being investigated.

Her forte is song-writing. In fact, her singing has been criticised by fans because it appears to be auto-tuned and a bit babyish.

Apink started with seven members in 2011 but is left with only six, as Hong Yoo-kyung left in 2013.

Park Cho-rong Biography