# Sunny (singer)

Susan Soonkyu Lee (born May 15, 1989), known professionally as Sunny, is a South Korean and American singer and entertainer based in South Korea. She debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation (and later its subgroup Girls' Generation-Oh!GG) in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of South Korea's most widely known girl groups worldwide. Apart from her group's activities, Sunny has participated in numerous side projects including original soundtracks, television variety shows, musical acting and radio hosting.

## Life and career
### 1989–2007: Early life and career beginnings

Sunny was born on May 15, 1989, in Orange County, California, United States. Her family consists of her parents and two older sisters who are ten and fifteen years older than her. She and her sisters share the same birthday. Sunny's paternal uncle is Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment. While she was still an infant, her family moved to Kuwait. After the outbreak of the Gulf War, Sunny and her family returned to South Korea and settled in Jongno-gu, Seoul. She attended Seoul Cheongun Elementary School, Paiwha Girls' Middle School and Paiwha Girls' High School. Sunny was influenced to become a singer by her father, who was in a college band. In 1998, Sunny joined SM Entertainment and became a trainee for five years. She transferred to Starworld agency, where her father worked as a manager, and was to debut in a duo group called Sugar. The group, however, never came to fruition. In early 2007, singer Ayumi Lee convinced Sunny to rejoin SM Entertainment. She continued her training there and made her official debut as a member of Girls' Generation in August 2007. The group gained significant popularity with the release of their hit single "Gee" in 2009.

### 2008–present: Acting and solo projects

Aside from Girls' Generation's activities, Sunny has participated in a number of side-projects. In early 2008, Sunny worked as a co-host of the Melon Chunji Radio with Super Junior's Sungmin. In August 2008, she contributed a solo song, "You Don't Know About Love" for the SBS's drama Working Mom. In 2009, Sunny released two songs—a solo track "Finally Now" for the interactive movie Story of Wine and a duet "It's Love" for the MBC's drama Heading to the Ground, with Girls' Generation's member Taeyeon.
During 2009 and 2010, Sunny was a co-host for MTV Korea television music program The M with SS501's Kim Hyung-jun and 2AM's Im Seulong. She also joined the KBS2's variety show Invincible Youth along with Girls' Generation member Yuri. The reality program narrated a journey of a group of South Korean celebrities who were brought together to work and experience the agricultural and rural life. In March 2010, Sunny recorded "Your Doll" for the SBS's drama Oh! My Lady soundtrack—it became her first song to enter the Gaon Digital Chart, at number 88.
During 2011 and 2012, she continued on with her participation in KBS2's Invincible Youth 2. She was praised by the director of the show as someone who has "intelligence", "great adaptability" and the ability to make other cast members get along well.
In January 2012, stepping into the field of voice-over for the first time, she was featured in the Korean-dubbed version of animated film The Outback. She voiced a koala character named Miranda. Sunny found the recording process to be initially difficult, stating that because Miranda was such a "charismatic" and "strong" character, it was hard to express "with just [her] voice" as it would have been "a different story if [she] was showing the actions". With the help of the director, however, she was able to finally "grasp the character". In March 2012, Sunny became a host for SBS MTV's television program Music Island. During the year, she also recorded two duets—the first song is titled "I Love You, I Love You", with Brown Eyed Girls' member Miryo while the other one is titled "It's Me", with f(x)'s Luna for the SBS's drama To the Beautiful You. The songs debuted at number 56 and 25 on the Gaon Digital Chart and at number 51 and 16 on Billboard's K-pop Hot 100 chart, respectively.
During 2012–2013, Sunny was cast in her first musical, Catch Me If You Can, based on the true story and life of a con man named Frank Abagnale. The story was turned famous by the 2002 movie of the same name. She played a character named Brenda, who is the girlfriend of the male lead. Her performance received favorable reviews. Shin Yeong-seon from The Chosun Ilbo noted on Sunny's ability to understand the character and praised her well-portrayal of Brenda's "exaggerated cuteness and flippant acting". Jang Kyungjin of 10asia enjoyed her singing, "While Sunny wasn't a member in her group who put her vocals forth, she showed her power through Brenda's 'Fly, Fly Away' with her clean, firm voice, showing her potential to the audience." Sunny was nominated for the "Best New Actress" at the 6th Musical Awards. In June 2013, Sunny released the song "The 2nd Drawer" for the MBC's drama The Queen's Classroom. It debuted at number 76 on K-pop Top 100 Chart.
In March 2014, Sunny participated in the Korean-dubbed version of the animated film Rio 2. She voiced Jewel, a female Spix's macaw. The director noted on her ability to not only deliver the lines, but also successfully expressed other sound effects, like breathing. In an interview, Sunny felt that the most appealing part of dubbing is the ability to go back to her childhood. In June 2014, Sunny was cast in her second musical, Singin' in the Rain, based on the 1952 movie of the same name. Sunny played Kathy Selden, an aspiring actress. In November 2014, her solo song, "First Kiss", was released as a part of musician Hwang Sung Je's Project Super Hero series.
Between 2014 and 2015, she became a cast member of the SBS's reality show Roommate. The show featured a group of celebrities living together, sharing the house as well as household tasks. During the same period, Sunny hosted the MBC radio show's FM Date. She contributed her own self-written logo song for the show and also won the "Rookie Radio DJ Award" at the year-end MBC Entertainment Awards. In April 2015, Sunny's voice was featured on indie-band Roof Top House's debut single "Heart Throbbing". The song managed to enter Gaon Digital Chart at number 89. In August-October 2015, she was a co-host for the short-lived JTBC's variety show Serial Shopping Family.
In March 2016, it was revealed that Sunny would be a celebrity judge in the new show, Vocal War: God's Voice. The purpose of the show is to create a one-on-one vocal battle between veteran singers in Korea and talented amateur vocalists. Starting from June 2016, Sunny joined the main cast of the JTBC variety show Cheonhajangsa (천하장사), a show featuring various traditional markets.
In August 2023, Sunny left SM after her exclusive contract with the company ended.

## Discography

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
| Album ||
| Title | Year | Gaon | Hot | Sales | Album |
| As lead artist ||||||
| "Heart Throbbing" (심쿵주의보) (with Rooftop House Studio) | 2015 | 89 | — | KOR: 21,799 | Rooftop Project The 1st Album |
| "U&I" (쟤 보지 마) (with Henry) | 2017 | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| As featured artist ||||||
| "Time" (Hitchhiker featuring Sunny, Hyoyeon and Taeyong) | 2018 | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| Promotional singles ||||||
| "First Kiss" | 2014 | — | — | — | Hwang Soun Je Project Superhero 3rd Line up |
| Collaborations ||||||
| "I Love You, I Love You" (사랑해 사랑해) (Miryo featuring Sunny) | 2012 | 56 | 51 | KOR: 102,375 | MIRYO aka JOHONEY |
| Soundtrack appearances ||||||
| "You Don't Know About Love" (사랑을 몰라요) | 2008 | — | — | — | Working Mom OST |
| "Finally Now" | 2009 | — | — | — | Story of Wine OST |
| "It's Love" (사랑인걸요) (with Taeyeon) | 2009 | — | — | — | Heading to the Ground OST |
| "Your Doll" (그대 인형) | 2010 | 88 | — | — | Oh! My Lady OST |
| "It's Me" (나야) (with Luna) | 2012 | 25 | 16 | KOR: 218,992 | To the Beautiful You OST |
| "The 2nd Drawer" (두 번째 서랍) | 2013 | — | 76 | KOR: 30,346 | The Queen's Classroom OST |
| "Odd Imagination" (with Henry) | 2018 | — | — | — | Two Yoo Project - Sugar Man 2 Part 6 |
| "Collar" (옷깃) | 2021 | — | — | — | Bossam: Steal the Fate OST |
| "Your Bright Smile Is on the Clouds in the Sky" (너의 환한 미소가 하늘 구름 위에 있어) | 2021 | — | — | — | Let Me Be Your Knight OST |
| Other appearances ||||||
| "3" | 2013 | — | — | — | 2011 Girls Generation Tour (Live) |
| "You Are A Miracle" (with various artists) | 2013 | 32 | — | KOR: 53,496 | SBS Gayo Daejun: Friendship Project |
| "Sound of Your Heart" (너의 목소리) (with Steve Barakatt, as part of SM Town) | 2016 | — | — | — | S.M. Station Season 1 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. ||||||

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012 | The Outback | Miranda | Voice-over for the Korean-dubbed version |
| 2012 | I AM. – SM Town Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden | Herself | Biographical film of SM Town |
| 2014 | Rio 2 | Jewel | Voice-over for the Korean-dubbed version |
| 2015 | SMTown The Stage | Herself | Documentary film of SM Town |

### Television series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Unstoppable Marriage | Bulgwang-dong's Seven Princesses Gang | Cameo (Ep. 64) |
| 2009 | Hilarious Housewives | Sunny | Cameo (Ep. 126) |
| 2011 | Sazae-san: Special 3 | Sunny | Cameo |

### Television shows

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2009–2010 | The M | Co-host | |
| 2009–2012 | Invincible Youth | Regular cast | Season 1 (episodes 1–32, 37, 38, 51) Season 2 (episodes 1–31) |
| 2012 | Music Island | Main host | |
| 2013 | Real Men | Narrator | |
| 2014–2015 | Roommate | Regular cast | Season 2 |
| 2015 | Shopping Family | Main host | |
| 2016 | Star Advent | Main host | |
| 2016 | Strong Man | Regular cast | |
| 2017 | Snowball Project | Regular cast | |
| 2017 | Hyena on the Keyboard: Pilot | Main host | |
| 2017 | A Man Who Feeds The Dog | Narrator | Season 2 |
| 2017–2018 | To You, From Me | Regular cast | |
| 2018 | Real Life Men and Women | Regular cast | |
| 2018 | Love Translation | Regular cast | |
| 2018 | Supermodel 2018 Survival | Performance mentor | |
| 2018–2019 | Video Star | Main host | Season 2 (episodes 91–115) |
| 2019 | Shall We Chicken? | Main host | |
| 2021–present | Beauty and Luxury 6 | Host | |
| 2021 | Spicy Girls | Cast member | |
| 2024 | No Way Home | Main host | with Hyoyeon |

### Web shows

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2021 | Idea Panda | Host | with Lee Eun-ji and Kim Poong |
| 2021 | Legendary Trainee | Host | |
| 2021 | Love Catcher in Seoul | Host | |

### Radio shows

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2008 | Melon Chunji Radio | Co-DJ | with Super Junior's Sungmin | |
| 2014–2015 | MBC FM4U's Sunny's FM Date [ko] | DJ | | |

## Musical theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012–2013 | Catch Me If You Can | Brenda Strong | Lead role |
| 2014 | Singin' in the Rain | Kathy Selden | Lead role |
| 2016–2017 | Cafe-in ~Mr Sommelier Miss Barista | | Lead role, Japanese musical |

## 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 |
| Korea Musical Awards | 2013 | Best New Actress | Catch Me If You Can | Nominated |
| MBC Entertainment Awards | 2014 | Rookie Radio DJ Award | Sunny's FM Date | Won |
| Mnet 20's Choice Awards | 2010 | Hot Female Multitainer | Sunny | Nominated |
| Musical Awards | 2012 | Best New Actress | Catch Me If You Can | Nominated |