Hong Sung-mi (born 17 July 1986), known professionally as Dana, is a South Korean singer, musical actress[2] and vocal coach.[1] Dana first made her public appearance with acts on the boy group H.O.T's sci-fi movieAge of Peace in 2000. Dana later made her official debut as a solo singer, with released full-album DANA (2001) and Maybe (2003). Concurrently with her music career in 2002, Dana made her acting debut with cast in the third season of MBC sitcom Nonstop and also made her musical theatre debut with cast as Wendy in Peterpan.
After she took a break for almost two-years, Dana returned with debuting as a member of girl group The Grace in April 2005. Through the group's career, they releases and performs music in Korean and Japanese with a total of three studio albums. In mid 2010, the group's halted all their activities and focusing their own activities. In July 2011, the groups returned with formed duo sub-unit Dana & Sunday with only released single "One More Chance" before also took a break.
Dana returned in musical theatre with cast in Daejanggeum Season Three, Rock of Ages, The Three Musketeers in 2010. Following this, she earned a number of roles, appearing in the notably musical Catch Me If You Can (2012), Bonnie and Clyde (2013), The Great Gatsby Re:Boot (2016). In 2016, Dana later returned to the music industry with promoting her single "Touch You" through released under SM Station.
Career
2001–2003: Career beginnings
Prior to debuting in a girl group, she promoted as an actress in popular boyband H.O.T's Age of Peace movie[3] and in Kangta's "Polaris" music video.[4]
In 2001, she released her fairly successful debut single "Sesang kkeut kkaji" (Until The end of The World), which was an adapted song of "Tell Me No More Lies" composed by European songwriter Stefan Aberg.[3] She followed up with "Diamond", a pop/dance track featuring Jung Yunho (U-Know, who eventually became a member of TVXQ in 2003).[7]
Her career blossomed and was furthered through appearances on variety shows, such as X-Man, as well as playing a main role in the sitcom Nonstop. Her second album "Maybe" was released in 2003; however, it sold poorly.[6] From that point on, she disappeared from the music industry (aside from SMTOWN collaborations) until the debut of The Grace.
Dana redebuted as a member of South Korea girl group The Grace in 2005.[4] The group debuted on 29 April 2005 in China and 1 May 2005 in South Korea. For the group's fourth Japanese single, she composed the music to her own solo song "Sayonara No Mukou Ni".[citation needed]As of 2010, the group was indefinite hiatus.
Starting in May 2010, Dana started her musical acting career with played role on Daejanggeum Season Three.[8] Later the same year, she starred in Rock of Ages as Sherrie.[9]
In late 2010 and early 2011, she starred as Constance in The Three Musketeers.[10] She commented in an interview about being nervous about having to kiss Super Junior Kyuhyun.[11]
In June 2011, an image was leaked of SM Entertainment's itinerary for 2011 which included a release for a new single by CSJH. SM later confirmed that CSJH would be making a comeback with a new image.[12] On 8 July 2011, CSJH's Dana & Sunday made a comeback as a sub-unit with a digital single titled 'One More Chance'; the single was released on 11 July.[13]
2012–present: Solo activities
From March 2012 to June 2012, she was cast as Brenda Strong for the re-run of the musical Catch Me If You Can. In September 2013, she starred as Bonnie for the musical Bonnie and Clyde.[14][15] In February 2014, she returned to cast as Constance in The Three Musketeers. In early 2015, she was cast as Joy for the musical Robin Hood.[16][17]
In December 2018, Dana starred her first reality show Danalda aired on Lifetime cable channel. The reality show containing Dana's diet challenge after break-up and losing her close brother.[25]
On June 24, 2020, it was reported that Dana would be leaving SM Entertainment after 19 years. SM Entertainment confirmed the news and added, “Our exclusive contract with Dana ended recently. We hope people will continue to support her in her future activities.”[26]
Personal life
On 4 May 2016, during MBC's Radio Star, Dana revealed that she had been in a relationship for three years.[27] It was later revealed that Dana's boyfriend is Lee Ho-jae, who is a film/music video director.[28][29] On 6 November 2018, SM Entertainment announced that the couple broke up.[30]
^Han, Hyeok-seung (한혁승) (22 May 2007). 다나, "앳된 이미지 벗으려 무대서 안 웃었다" [Dana, "To get over the young image, I did not smile on stage"] (in Korean). MyDaily. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
^ abJeon, Ye-jin (전예진) (11 January 2009). 여중생 연예계 데뷔 붐 [Booming of school girls' debuts as entertainers] (in Korean). MT News. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
^Nam, An-u (남안우) (7 January 2010). 유노윤호·신동·가희, 백댄서에서 앞으로 나온 춤꾼 가수들 [Yuno Yunho, Sin Dong, Ga Hui, dance music singers coming forward from backstage dancers] (in Korean). MyDaily. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
^"2001.10월 - 가요 음반 판매량" [October 2001 K-Pop Album Sales]. Music Industry Association of Korea (in Korean). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
^"2003.10월 - 가요 음반 판매량" [October 2003 K-Pop Album Sales]. Music Industry Association of Korea (in Korean). Archived from the original on 23 April 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
