# Eugene (actress)

Kim Yoo-jin (Korean: 김유진; born March 3, 1981), known anglicizedly and mononymously as Eugene, is a South Korean actress and singer. She is a former member of the girl group S.E.S., which went on to become one of South Korea's best-selling artists. Following the group's disbandment in 2002, she subsequently left SM Entertainment and released two solo studio albums.
As an actress, Eugene has participated in various television dramas and movies, making her acting debut in KBS2 Loving You (2002). Her other notable roles include in Save the Last Dance for Me (2004), Wonderful Life (2005), Bread, Love and Dreams (2010), A Hundred Year Legacy (2013), All About My Mom (2015) and The Penthouse: War in Life (2020–2021).

## Early life and education

Eugene was born in Seoul, South Korea. With the suggestion of her grandfather, who settled down in Guam, her family immigrated to Guam after she finished the first semester of 5th grade elementary school. She attended Agueda I. Johnston Middle School from October 1992 until June 1995, and John F. Kennedy High School from June until September 1996. She returned to Korea with her mother and younger sister to finish high school, and eventually graduated from Korea Kent Foreign School, Seoul in June 1999. At high school, more than 80% of her subjects were A credits. In elementary school, only 23 out of 24 subjects were awarded. In middle school, almost all her subjects were excellent.

## Career
### S.E.S.

Eugene made her debut with S.E.S. in 1997. S.E.S enjoyed tremendous success, becoming the top-selling K-pop girl group during their era. The group disbanded at the end of 2002 after Bada and Eugene parted ways from SM Entertainment, while Shoo stayed with SM Entertainment until 2006.
On May 28, 2016, Eugene with S.E.S. members Bada and Shoo attended a charity event, Green Heart Bazaar. In October 2016, Eugene along with Bada and Shoo re-formed S.E.S. to celebrate their 20th anniversary since the debut of the group. They started their project of the 20th anniversary debut with released digital single "Love[Story]", a remake of their 1999 single "Love", through SM Entertainment's digital project SM Station on November 28 and its music video released on December 29.
In early December 2016, they aired their ten episode reality show Remember, I'm Your S.E.S., which broadcast through mobile app Oksusu. To accompany their 20th anniversary debut, they held a concert, Remember, the Day, on December 30 and 31 at Sejong University's Daeyang Hall in Seoul.
On January 2, the special album of their 20th anniversary debut Remember was released. The album consists of double lead singles. "Remember" was digitally released on January 1 and "Paradise" was released along with the album on January 2. They held a fanmeet as their last project of 20th anniversary debut called I Will Be There, Waiting For You on March 1, 2017.

### Solo career

After S.E.S. disbanded in late 2002, Kim released two solo albums, 'My True Style' and '810303' . Her first album sold nearly 65,000 records and had one hit ballad, "The Best" which included bonus tracks, "Jesus loves me", in which she handwritten the lyrics to this special mashup. She had also previously released a single, " Shout to the Lord " in 2001 under a collaborative Christian album "The Gift" . Besides releasing solo albums, she also starred in four Korean dramas: Loving You, Save The Last Dance for Me, Wonderful Life, and Love Truly.
Eugene made her theater debut in the musical adaptation of the film Innocent Steps and her film debut in Unstoppable Marriage. After taking on the lead roles in the dramas One Mom and Three Dads, and Creating Destiny, Eugene then starred in the television series Bread, Love and Dreams, which was a huge hit and earned "national drama" status.
In 2007 Eugene took over from Lee Hyori as one of the co-hosts of the variety show Happy Together Friends, until the show was overhauled for a third season. After the success of her previous program Eugene's Makeup Diary, cable style network O'live again chose her as the host of new show Get It Beauty which began airing in July 2010.
Eugene has authored two books: Eugene's Beauty Secrets and Eugene's Get It Beauty. She is also the co-president of the clothing brand byMOMO.
In 2012 she became the host of season 3 of MBC's revamped flagship amateur singing competition show The Great Birth. Her next leading role was in the 2013 weekend family drama A Hundred Year Legacy, which reached ratings of over 30 percent. She then starred in two more family dramas, Can We Fall in Love, Again? and All About My Mom.
On December 17, 2018, it was announced that Eugene had signed with INN Company after deciding not to renew her contract with C9 Entertainment.
In 2020, she appeared in TV series The Penthouse: War in Life aired on SBS TV from October 26.
On August 12, 2022, Eugene held a fan sign event in front of the Lotte World Mall Jamsil store.

## Personal life

On May 11, 2011, Eugene announced that she would be married to Ki Tae-young, her leading man in the 2009 TV series Creating Destiny. Their wedding was held at the Seoul Central Church in Anyang, Gyeonggi-do, on July 23, 2011. They were the first couple featured on Super Couple Diary, a reality show filming the daily married life of celebrity couples. Eugene gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Lohee on April 12, 2015. She also gave birth to another girl, Lorin, on August 18, 2018.
After the sinking of the MV Sewol, fans of Eugene began to doubt her belief in the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea. She explained she is not a believer of the Evangelical Baptist Church, but in the Korean Christianity Baptist Church which separated from the Evangelical Baptist Church 32 years ago.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales |
| Title | Album details | KOR | Sales |
| My True Style... | Released: May 30, 2003 Label: F&J Entertainment Formats: CD, digital download Track listing The Best Cha Cha (차 차) Rainy Day You And I Bad Boy Feel Me Good-Bye (사랑인가요) Sweet Babe Lovely Day Stay With Me Regret (후회) My Best Friend 늘 처음처럼 (Loving You) 기억해요 (Remember Me) (Bonus Track) Jesus Loves Me (Bonus Track) | 10 | KOR: 54,270 |
| 810303 | Released: August 18, 2004 Label: Kakao M Formats: CD, digital download Track listing Wuthering Heights (폭풍의 언덕) Windy I'm sorry.. I'm sorry..(미안한건..서러운건..) Pleeez Happy Time Pandora Late Love (늦은 사랑) Relax Remote Control My Dream How About You? (넌 어떠니?) A Parting Shot (이별이 내게 주는 것) Windy (Remix) 810303 (To Be Continued) | 9 | KOR: 25,245 |

### Soundtrack contributions

| Title | Year | Peak positions | Album |
| Title | Year | KOR | Album |
| "Narration" (with Park Yong-ha) | 2002 | — | Loving You OST |
| "Love Montage" (with Park Yong-ha) | 2002 | — | Loving You OST |
| "Salang...geu Cheosneukkim" (사랑...그 첫느낌) (with Park Yong-ha) | 2002 | — | Loving You OST |
| "Dalaeui Tema (Chorus Ver.)" (다래의 테마) | 2002 | — | Loving You OST |
| "My Dream" | 2004 | — | Save the Last Dance for Me OST |
| "Like Candy" (캔디처럼) | 2006 | — | I Really Really Like You OST |
| "I like you" (좋아해) (duet with Mr. Burn) | 2006 | — | I Really Really Like You OST |
| "Jeongseon Arirang" (정선 아리랑) | 2006 | — | I Really Really Like You OST |
| "Romantic Christmas" (로맨틱 크리스마스) (duet with Lee Sun-kyun) | 2008 | — | Romantic Island Christmas story OST |
| "Plastic syndrome" (플라스틱 신드롬) | 2008 | — | Romantic Island OST |
| "Travel Memories" (추억여행) | 2008 | — | Romantic Island OST |
| "—" denotes release did not chart. ||||

### Participation in albums

| Title | Year | Peak positions | Album |
| Title | Year | KOR | Album |
| "Shout to the Lord" (내 구주 예수님) | 2001 | — | The Gift |
| "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" | 2004 | — | Christmas With Pfull |
| "—" denotes release did not chart. ||||

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2007 | Unstoppable Marriage | Park Eun-ho |
| 2008 | Heartbreak Library | Jo Eun-soo |
| 2008 | Romantic Island | Yoo Ga-young |
| 2009 | Yoga Hakwon | Hyo-jung |
| 2020 | Paper Flower | Go Eun-sook |

### Television series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2002 | Loving You | Jin Da-rae | |
| 2004 | Save the Last Dance for Me | Ji Eun-soo | |
| 2005 | Wonderful Life | Jung Se-jin | |
| 2006 | Love Truly | Yeo Bong-soon | |
| 2008 | One Mom and Three Dads | Song Na-young | |
| 2009 | Creating Destiny | Han Sang-eun | |
| 2010 | Bread, Love and Dreams | Shin Yoo-kyung | |
| 2011 | KBS Drama Special | Princess Hwapyung | Episode: "Princess Hwapyung's Weight Loss" |
| 2012 | Ohlala Couple | Min-young | Cameo appearance (Ep. 2) |
| 2013 | A Hundred Year Legacy | Min Chae-won | |
| 2014 | Can We Fall in Love, Again? | Yoon Jung-wan | |
| 2015 | All About My Mom | Lee Jin-ae | |
| 2020–2021 | The Penthouse: War in Life | Oh Yoon-hee | |

### Television show

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2002 | Saturday is Coming | Host |
| 2003 | Nam Hui-seok and Eugene's Love Story | Host |
| 2005 | Happy Together Friends | Host |
| 2009 | Living Beauty - Eugene's Makeup Diary, Season 1 | Host |
| 2012 | Super Couple Diary | Host |
| 2012 | The Great Birth - Season 3 | Host |
| 2010–2014 | O'live TV Get It Beauty | Host |
| 2016 | The Return of Superman | Ep 114 - Ep 210 |
| 2022 | The Battle for Move-in: Penthouse | Tenant |
| 2022 | Oh! My Wedding | Wedding planner |
| 2022 | Hot Goodbye | Host |

### Web shows

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2022 | Half of Me | Narrator | Good Neighbors YouTube channel | |

### Hosting

| Year | title | Notes |
| 2023 | 30th Hanteo Music Awards | with Shin Dong-yup |

## Musical theatre

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2007 | Innocent Steps | Chae-rin |

## Books

* Eugene's Beauty Secrets (2009)
* Eugene's Get It Beauty (2011)

## Awards and nominations

Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee of the award, and the result of the nomination :
| Award ceremony | Year | Category | Nominee / work | Result |
| APAN Star Awards | 2013 | Excellence Award, Actress | A Hundred Year Legacy | Nominated |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2002 | Best New Actress | Loving You | Nominated |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2002 | Popularity Award | Loving You | Won |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2010 | Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama | Bread, Love and Dreams | Won |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2011 | Best Actress in a One-Act/Special/Short Drama | Princess Hwapyung's Weight Loss | Won |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2015 | Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama | All About My Mom | Won |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2015 | Best Couple Award | Eugene (with Lee Sang-woo) (All About My Mom) | Nominated |
| KBS Drama Awards | 2015 | Netizen Award, Actress | All About My Mom | Nominated |
| Korea Best Dresser Awards | 1999 | Best Dressed, Female Singer | Eugene | Won |
| Korea Drama Awards | 2013 | Excellence Award, Actress | A Hundred Year Legacy | Nominated |
| Korea Visual Arts Festival | 2004 | Photogenic Award, Singer | Eugene | Won |
| MBC Drama Awards | 2005 | Excellence Award, Actress | Wonderful Life | Nominated |
| MBC Drama Awards | 2005 | Popularity Award | Wonderful Life | Nominated |
| MBC Drama Awards | 2013 | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama | A Hundred Year Legacy | Nominated |
| MBC Drama Awards | 2013 | Best Couple Award | Eugene (with Lee Jung-jin) (A Hundred Year Legacy) | Nominated |
| MBC Drama Awards | 2013 | Popularity Award | A Hundred Year Legacy | Nominated |
| Mnet KM Music Festival | 2005 | PD's Choice Special Award | Eugene | Won |
| SBS Drama Awards | 2004 | Top Excellence Award, Actress | Save the Last Dance for Me | Nominated |
| SBS Drama Awards | 2004 | New Star Award | Save the Last Dance for Me | Won |
| SBS Drama Awards | 2020 | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-Length Drama | The Penthouse: War in Life | Won |
| SBS Drama Awards | 2021 | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries Genre/Fantasy Drama | The Penthouse: War in Life 2 and 3 | Nominated |
| Seoul International Drama Awards | 2021 | Outstanding Korean Actress | The Penthouse: War in Life | Nominated |