Kim Min-ju

Kim Min-ju (김민주, born February 5, 2001, Seoul, South Korea) arrived via IZ*ONE's final lineup and spent the years since dismantling any ceiling on what a former idol can accomplish as a dramatic actor. Under Management Soop, she has built a filmography prioritizing range over comfort: The Forbidden Marriage (2022), D.P. Season 2 (2023), Connection (2024), and now the lead role in Still Shining (2026) as Mo Eun-ah, a woman navigating grief and second chances opposite Park Jinyoung. Her path to acting began earlier than the drama credits suggest. During her time in IZ*ONE, the twelve-member project group that ran from October 2018 to April 2021 following Produce 48 selection, she was among the members with the most conventional idol presentation — visually prominent, fan-favored — in ways that created expectations she has since systematically exceeded. The pivot to serious dramatic work was not inevitable from that starting point, which makes its consistency more notable. Management Soop, which also represents Gong Yoo and Park Bo-gum among others, was a deliberate choice: an agency whose roster signals intention rather than exposure-chasing. The Still Shining role in 2026 represents the clearest evidence yet of where her trajectory is heading. A lead drama role on JTBC, produced by STUDIO329, opposite a co-star of Park Jinyoung's standing is not a supporting turn or a proving-ground showcase — it is the industry's recognition that she can carry a production. At 24, she is one of Korean drama's most watched rising leads, bringing a naturalism to her performances that reads as earned rather than trained.