Bae Su-ji (Korean: 배수지; born October 10, 1994), anglicized as Bae Suzy, and also known mononymously as Suzy, is a South Korean singer and actress. A former member of girl group Miss A (2010–2017), she made her debut as an actress in 2011 with the television series Dream High and starred in the film Architecture 101 (2012). Following the latter's success, Bae has been nicknamed the "Nation's First Love" by South Korean media outlets. She then starred in dramas Gu Family Book (2013), Uncontrollably Fond (2016), and While You Were Sleeping (2017). In 2017, she made her debut as a solo recording artist with the extended play Yes? No?, and gained further prominence after starring in the television series Anna (2022) and Doona! (2023), as well as the films Ashfall (2019) and Wonderland (2024).
Bae Su-ji was born in Buk District, Gwangju, South Korea on October 10, 1994, to Bae Wan-young, former coach of the Korean national youth taekwondo team, and Jeong Hyun-sook. She has an elder sister and a younger brother. She attended the School of Performing Arts Seoul and graduated in 2013. Before debuting, she was an online shopping model and was part of a street dancing crew to show her parents that she was serious about becoming an idol.
2009–2010: Beginnings with Miss A
In 2009, Bae auditioned for Mnet Superstar K and made it through the preliminary round but was ultimately eliminated. However, she caught the attention of a scout from JYP Entertainment and soon became a trainee after singing an excerpt from Younha's "Love". In March 2010, Bae became a member of the group Miss A.
2010–2016: Rising popularity and acting debut
In October 2010, Bae became the fixed host for MBC Show! Music Core alongside Minho and Onew, both members of Shinee, and Jiyeon, of T-ara. She left it in October 2011 and later hosted other events such as the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and Mnet 20's Choice Awards where she won an award under the category "Hot New Star of 2011".
Apart from her group activities, Bae ventured into acting. She made her acting debut in the teen drama Dream High, which aired on KBS from January 3 to February 28. She also released a soundtrack for it, titled "Winter Child". The drama was a local success, earning high ratings during its two-month run, and also gained popularity in other countries. At the KBS Drama Awards, Bae won the Best New Actress award and the Best Couple award with co-star Kim Soo-hyun. She also became a cast member in KBS' reality show Invincible Youth 2. The show began filming on October 19 and aired on November 11.
In 2012, Bae made her film debut with Architecture 101, playing the younger version of the female protagonist. Architecture 101 was one of the ten most-watched films in South Korea in the first quarter of 2012, and achieved over 4.1 million admissions nine weeks after its theater release, a new box-office record for Korean melodramas. The same year, Bae played a supporting role in the romantic comedy Big, written by the Hong sisters and starring Gong Yoo and Lee Min-jung.
Bae was the first Korean female celebrity to win a singer rookie award, drama rookie award, film rookie award, and variety rookie award. She received the Best New Actress award at the 48th Baeksang Arts Awards for her acting performance in Architecture 101, and the Best Newcomer award in the variety category at the KBS Entertainment Awards for her stint in Invincible Youth 2.
In 2013, she starred in the fusion sageuk Gu Family Book alongside Lee Seung-gi. She received acting recognition at the MBC Drama Awards, winning the Top Excellence award and at the Seoul International Drama Awards, winning the Outstanding Actress award. She also featured on the variety show Healing Camp, becoming the youngest guest on the show.
In May 2014, Bae was cast in the film The Sound of a Flower as Jin Chae-seon, Korea's first female pansori singer. The film, which was released in 2015, depicts the struggle of a singer who is not allowed to perform in public because of her gender during the Joseon era. To prepare herself for the role, Bae received training in pansori for a year. The same year, she collaborated with Taiwanese singer-actor Show Lo in the single "Together In Love", featured in his album Reality Show?.
In January 2016, Bae released a digital single titled "Dream" in collaboration with Exo's Baekhyun. The song debuted at number one on Gaon's weekly digital chart and proceeded to win the Best Collaboration award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. She then starred in the melodrama Uncontrollably Fond with Kim Woo-bin. Bae released two OSTs for the drama, one of which she co-composed. The series was a commercial success in China and gained more than 4 billion views on Youku. In September 2016, Bae's wax figure at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong was unveiled. She is the first Korean female celebrity to receive a wax-likeness of herself at Madame Tussauds. A second wax figure of Bae also went on display at Madame Tussauds Singapore.
2017–2023: Debut as a solo recording artist and acting recognition
In early 2017, Bae made her debut as a solo artist with the EP Yes? No?. Her pre-release single "Pretend" was released on January 17 and achieved an all-kill by topping all eight South Korean online music charts. The title track "Yes No Maybe" was released a week later, on January 24. In the same month, Dingo Studio ran a ten-episode reality show documenting Bae's everyday life called Off The Record, Suzy. In February 2017, Bae released a duet with singer Park Won, titled "Don't Wait for Your Love". She then returned to television in September 2017, starring alongside Lee Jong-suk in the fantasy romance While You Were Sleeping as a field reporter who can see the future through her dreams. On December 7, Bae released a remake of Yoo Jae-ha's "Because I Love You" for Yoo's 30th anniversary tribute album. On December 27, following the announcement of Min's departure, JYP Entertainment announced that Miss A had disbanded. Bae renewed her contract with JYP Entertainment.
On January 22, 2018, Bae's pre-release single "I'm in Love with Someone Else" was released and achieved a real-time all-kill. Her second EP, Faces of Love, was released on January 29, with the title track "Holiday" featuring rapper DPR Live. On February 14, the music video for her b-side track, "SObeR", was released. On March 9, Bae released her fourth music video for the single "Midnight", featuring a piano ensemble by Yiruma. On March 31, 2019, Bae left JYP Entertainment following the expiration of her contract. She then signed a contract with acting agency Management Soop. On September 20, Bae co-wrote and featured on Babylon's single "Out of Breath". She then starred in the spy-action drama Vagabond, playing a secret agent; and disaster film Ashfall, playing Ha Jung-woo's wife. On September 4, 2020, Bae starred in the short film Live Your Strength as a woman who suddenly breaks up with her lover and finds a new beginning. The film is directed and adapted to screenplay by Kim Jee-won based on an original story written by Bae. A month later, she starred in the romantic drama Start-Up as an aspiring entrepreneur who dreams of becoming Korea's Steve Jobs.
In 2021, Bae held an online concert titled Suzy: A Tempo to commemorate her 10th debut anniversary. On February 17, 2022, she made her comeback as a singer after four years with a single titled "Satellite". Three months later, she joined musician Kang Seung-won's second album project, singing the fifth track, "Because I Love You", a ballad about shy love feelings. The same year, she starred in Coupang Play's psychological thriller Anna, playing the title role of Lee Anna/Lee Yu-mi, and was praised for her acting skills and expression of Anna's emotions by audiences and critics alike. On October 6, Bae released the digital single "Cape" and its music video. On June 12, 2023, she released "R.U.N" as the theme song for the survival reality show R U Next?. In October 2023, Bae starred in the Netflix series Doona! as the titular character, who is a retired idol having a romantic relationship with a university student portrayed by Yang Se-jong. The series is a live-action adaptation of Naver Webtoon's The Girl Downstairs by Min Song-ah.