Once again, the 30th of May marks a special day in the life of our dear Yoong…

Born on May 30th, 1990 in Seoul, South Korea, from the start, Im Yoona (임윤아) was destined for greatness in the entertainment circle. At a young age, she auditioned at the SM Saturday Open Casting Audition and joined the company in 2002.

While there, she trained in the areas of  acting, singing and dancing, together with other SME trainees.

Her potential for acting was noted early on and she debuted as an actress in 2007 with the drama 9 Ends, 2 Outs. In 2008, she acted in the drama Woman of Matchless Beauty before her first leading role in the daily drama You Are My Destiny which won her important recognition in acting circles. Yoona filmed her 2009 drama Cinderella Man (신데렐라맨) alongside well-known actor Kwon Sang-woo.

Pre-Debut Photos of Our Dear Yoona 

A 2009 graduate of Daeyoung High School, she is currently attending Dongguk University, majoring in theater and music,along with her fellow SNSD member, Seohyun.

In addition to acting, Yoona is also a familiar face on television, being an invited guest on SBS TV Family Outing and progressing to a permanent spot in Season 2 of the same show.

Of course, this thumbnail rendition of our dear Yoong’s entertainment career to date would not be complete without giving a run-down of some of the commercial shoots that she has been involved in so far. Im Yoona is effectively the CF Queen of SNSD 😉 !

From selling sanitary pads (YejiminPads), to sweets (e-ma), to clothes (SPAO/Elite Student Uniforms), to mobile phones (Samsung Haptic), cosmetics (Clean and Clear/Innisfree), batteries (Sanyo Eneloop), fruit juices (Sunkist Grapefruit/Lemonade), computer core processors (Intel) and even water purifiers (Woongjin Coway), Yoona has done it all and more ! You could effectively dub her “the face that sells a thousand products” (with apologies to Homer).

Finally, in the fateful year of 2007, Im Yoona was placed together with 8 other earthly angels as a lead dancer and sub-vocalist and the K-Pop girl group known as Girls Generation was born.

Being a well-known face in the Korean entertainment circles, she immediately given the unenviable task of being the centre-face of the group, a task which she has upheld most admirably to date; so much so that any mention of SNSD immediately brings to mind the mental image of Yoong in the picture of the group :D.

Inspite of the fact that she is effectively the trademark image of SNSD to SME and the rest of the world, Yoona has not lost the fun-loving and prankster-side of her inherent nature. She not called Im Choding for nothing, many are the jokes and pranks that she has played on her fellow group members (many a time in collaboration with the other pranksters of the group, Yuri and Hyoyeon 😉 !)

Although being at the receiving end of “pranks” is not something that one enjoys, I personally feel that this aspect of her character actually endears her to the rest of the group. Why do I say that ? Well, by doing so, she telling the rest that it is OK to loosen up once in awhile, and to take life with a pinch of salt.

After all, if she, the de facto image of SNSD can take herself less seriously once in a while, it’s alright for the rest to do so. In this lies part of the charm of our dear Yoong.

What else ? Well, her never-say-never attitude towards all the responsibilities that she has been given in the course of her entertainment, acting and advertising career has certainly endeared her to both fans and corporate sponsors. This is evidenced by the fact that product endorsements by her seem to increase by leaps and bounds as the years go by, rather than the opposite.

Her latest, an eco-campaign by Innisfree cosmetics (of which she is the face of) for Jeju Island is evidence enough that whatever Yoona endorses will see very good results in the short and, dare I say it, long term lifespan of the advertising campaign.

Finally, Yoona is blessed with such a flawless complexion that she does not need any artificial enhancements to bring out the true beauty in her, a fact that is the envy of many: fans, non-fans, male, female, young and old alike :).

Yet, I personally feel that her humble, hard-working, fun-loving nature is what makes her attractive to all and sundry. Many a harsh comment has been made about why she and not the other 8 has been chosen to be the central focus of the group during promotions and performances. Things like: “so-and-so is much prettier, taller, thinner, funnier, cuter, etc., etc….” have been bandied about and debated ad nauseum, both on the Web, on TV and in the press.

I understand that we all have biases ( I know I do ;)) and that our favourite is the best person for the job/promotion/ advertisement at hand. Well, let me put this point across to you: personally, I believe Yoona is the epitome of a classical Korean beauty, one that best describes the long and honourable tradition and culture of this beautiful group of people, a fact not lost on the ones who made the decision to choose her and not someone else to bear the burden of the job.

Yet, inspite of being so blessed, she is still the girl-next-door that everyone loves. So, Yoona, on this 22nd (21st) birthday of yours, it is really great to see that you have proven your detractors wrong and grown to be the lovable, yet humble personality that Our God intended you to be when he created you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOONA (IM CHODING )!!!

by: Kenneth@snsdkorean

sources: http://soshified.com/forums,http://fanwonder.com/,http://www.soompi.com/forums,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoona