Mina

Mina: The “Juice Girl” Who Became a Full-Time Actress

Kang Mi-na, promoted simply as Mina, is one of the clearest cases of a K-pop idol who successfully rebuilt her career around acting once her group era ended. Born December 4, 1999, on Jeju Island, she’s spent nearly a decade moving between idol stages and television sets, and these days she’s known just as much for her drama roles as for her Produce 101 past.

Mina’s idol career began the same way as so many of her generation’s: through Produce 101. Representing Jellyfish Entertainment, she finished 9th and earned a spot in I.O.I, debuting in May 2016 as a lead dancer, vocalist, and rapper. While I.O.I was still promoting, Jellyfish Entertainment introduced their own new girl group, gugudan, and Mina joined as its maknae, debuting with the eight-member group in June 2016 on the mini-album “Act.1 The Little Mermaid.” She stuck with gugudan through several eras, including sub-unit work with OGUOGU and SeMiNa, until the group officially disbanded at the end of 2020.

Even while she was still promoting as an idol, Mina was already carving out an acting path on the side. She landed small and supporting roles early on, but her profile grew significantly with “Hotel Del Luna” in 2019, and she’s kept building from there with dramas like “Moonshine” (2021–2022), “Café Minamdang” (2022), and “Welcome to Samdal-ri” (2024–2025). It’s a filmography that’s grown steadily rather than all at once, which fits her reputation as someone who prefers to let her work speak for itself.

Unlike several of her former I.O.I groupmates, Mina did not take part in the group’s 10th-anniversary reunion mini album “I.O.I: LOOP” in 2026, choosing instead to keep her focus on acting under her current agency, Story J Company. Fans still fondly remember her “Juice Girl” nickname from her I.O.I days, along with her famously fast ability to fall asleep and her love of the Harry Potter series — small details that made her stand out even in an eleven-member lineup.

Mina’s story is a reminder that not every idol’s “second act” has to involve a comeback stage. For her, the shift from gugudan’s maknae to a steadily working actress has been the whole point — and it’s a path that’s clearly working out.