Ren (singer)

Choi Min-gi (born November 3, 1995), known professionally as Ren, is a South Korean singer, actor and television personality. He began his professional career in 2012 as a vocalist of the South Korean boy group NU'EST. Following his contract's expiration in Pledis Entertainment in March 2022, Choi established his career as a solo artist signed under BPM Entertainment.

Pre-debut
Ren was accepted into Pledis Entertainment after auditioning in 2010. Prior to debuting, Ren appeared as a back-up dancer in After School Blue's "Wonder Boy" in 2011. He participated in Pledis Entertainment's Christmas single "Love Letter" and was also featured in an alternate music video for the song as a member of Pledis Boys. He performed with After School with the rest of Pledis male trainees, dubbed "After School Boys", at the SBS Gayo Daejeon.

2012–2022: NU'EST
Ren debuted as a sub-vocalist of NU'EST in 2012. Within a month of debuting, he modelled for Park Yoon-so during the Fall/Winter Seoul Fashion Week, and his androgynous styling drew attention for breaking gender norms.

In 2013, Ren appeared Jeon Woo-chi in a minor role. In 2015, he starred in the main role of Japanese film Their Distance alongside NU'EST members. In 2016, Ren appeared in the NAVER TV web-series I'm Not a Girl Anymore in a guest role.

In 2017, alongside bandmates JR, Baekho and Minhyun, Ren competed on Produce 101 Season 2 under his birth name for a chance to debut in project group Wanna One. He was eliminated in the finale with a final rank of #20. Following the show's conclusion, he and the remaining NU'EST members promoted as the sub-group NU'EST W from 2017 to 2018. During the group's activity, he wrote the lyrics for his solo songs, "Paradise" and "You & I." At the same time, Ren became a fixed panellist on the talk show Learning the Hard Way. He was also cast in a starring role on the drama Four Sons, but the show's production was briefly suspended in 2018 with only four of sixteen episodes filmed.

In 2018, Ren became a regular cast member on The Kkondae Live. In 2019, he became a regular cast member on Hogu Chart.

From 2020 to 2021, Ren hosted the radio show "To.Night" on Naver NOW with bandmate Aron.

Ren began his musical theatre career in 2020, starring in the lead role of Everybody's Talking About Jamie as Jamie, a schoolboy aspiring to be a drag queen. Following on exceptional reception and praise for his 'overflowing talent' and 'unrivalled stage presence' in his debut work that 'heralded the birth of a new musical star',  Ren was cast the next year in rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch as titular genderqueer singer Hedwig. He remains the only active idol to have been cast as Hedwig over all Korean renditions of the musical, and have spoken on his 'raw yet youthful' charm in his approach to the character. Ren has been critically acclaimed for these two characters, and has been lauded as the one 'at the forefront of third-generation idol musicals', with emphasis on his choices to portray unconventional and high-skill level roles.

NU'EST's exclusive contract with Pledis Entertainment expired on March 14, 2022, and Ren (alongside members Aron and JR) left the agency, therefore concluding their 10-year career as a group.

2022–present: Launch of solo career
In May 2022, Ren signed with BPM Entertainment as a solo artist. In the same month, Ren also joined the platform Universe. Upon moving agencies, he was immediately cast in the musical Bungee Jumping Of Their Own as second male lead Lim Hyun-bin.

In September 2022, it was confirmed by his agency that Ren would hold fan-concerts "The Day After" in Korea and Japan in early November.

In November 2022, Ren was cast as murder suspect Oh Jin-woo in ENA mystery-thriller drama Longing for You, his first recurring role in a TV drama. In addition, Ren continued his musical theatre career by appearing in The Three Musketeers musical as D'artagnan for two consecutive seasons (2022 to 2023 )

From November 2022 to February 2023, Ren held his first solo fan-concerts since 2019, bringing "The Day After" to Seoul, Japan and Hong Kong. In March 2023, Ren competed in King of Mask Singer as 'Disco Pang Pang', reaching the second round.

On June 15, 2023, Ren made his solo debut with the EP Ren'dezvous, headed by its lead single "Ready to Move". Following music show promotions, he embarked on a mini fan-concert tour with "Ren'dezvous" in Seoul, Japan and Hong Kong.

Ren turned his focus on acting in the latter half of the year. He was cast in November as the male lead in musical Winter Wanderer. Ren also took part in his first Joseon-era drama special in Shadow Confession. His portrayal of sickly noble son Yunho earned him his first acting award nomination at the 2023 KBS Drama Awards.

Philanthropy
On April 18, 2018, Ren hand-delivered two piggy banks to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation to support the latter's "Creating My Own Angel Contest" campaign. The following year, he and bandmate Minhyun brought the children of the foundation to NU'EST's 2019 LOVE Page Fan Meeting in Seoul. In December of the same year, Ren donated all the proceeds of his self-published fairy tale book 함께라서 행복한 우리들 (lit. We're Happy Because We're Together) to the foundation.