Jessica Jung

Jessica Jung is an American and South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, author, and businesswoman. She is best known as a former member of the South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. Beyond her work with the group, Jung has established a solo music career, acted in musical theatre, television, and film, published young adult novels, and founded the fashion brand Blanc & Eclare.

Jung was born on April 18, 1989, in San Francisco. Her passport birth name is Jessica Jung, while her Korean name, Sooyeon, was acquired later due to necessity while working in South Korea. In 2000, while on vacation in South Korea, Jung and her sister Krystal were spotted in a shopping mall by a member of SM Entertainment. She joined the agency and spent seven years as a trainee while attending Korea Kent Foreign School before making her official debut.

In August 2007, Jung debuted as part of Girls' Generation. Alongside group activities, she participated in various soundtrack recordings, duets, and television appearances. She made her musical theatre debut playing Elle Woods in the South Korean production of Legally Blonde in November 2009, a role she reprised in 2012. Jung made her television acting debut in the drama Wild Romance in 2012 and starred with her sister in the 2014 reality television show Jessica & Krystal.

Jung launched her fashion brand, Blanc, in August 2014, which was later renamed Blanc & Eclare. In September 2014, she was dismissed from Girls' Generation, and her contract with SM Entertainment officially ended in August 2015. She subsequently signed with Coridel Entertainment in 2016 and released her debut solo extended play, With Love, J, in May 2016. The album reached the top of the Gaon Weekly Album Chart and was followed by a Christmas EP titled Wonderland in December 2016.

In 2017, Jung released her third EP, My Decade, to mark her tenth anniversary since debuting, and was listed in Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list. She signed with United Talent Agency in May 2018 for North American representation. Jung released her debut novel, Shine, in September 2020, which became a New York Times bestseller, and later published its sequel, Bright, in May 2022.

Jung's other endeavors include becoming a global ambassador for cosmetics brand Revlon in 2020 and opening her first restaurant, Clareau, in Seoul in 2021. In 2022, she competed in the third season of the Chinese reality television show Sisters Who Make Waves, placing second and debuting in the group X-Sister. In November 2023, she released her fourth EP, Beep Beep, and embarked on her Diamond Dreams concert tour.