Kang Eun-bi (born Joo Mi-jin on April 15, 1986) is a South Korean actress and online streamer.[1][2] In 2012, she changed her stage name to Song Eun-chae.[3] In 2016, she went back to using the name Kang Eun-bi.[4]
Career
Kang was inspired to become an actress in elementary school after seeing Jung Sun-kyung play the titular character of the 1995 drama Jang Hui-bin.[5] In middle school, she was cast by SM Entertainment, but her mother called the deal off after seeing their contract. Kang instead became a magazine model, drawn in by the prospect of earning money.[6] Kang was also active as an internet ulzzang, having been a famous figure on the Daum "Five Big Ulzzangs" community, and was named the best ulzzang on a program aired by cable TV channel Qwiny.[7][8]
Her first acting role was in the 2005 movie Wet Dreams 2, where she was picked out of 3,500 auditionees.[9] The same year, she appeared in the Drama City episode "Pokhara", her debut TV role.[10] She was also cast in the series Golden Apple, but she left during production as she was set to appear in Special of My Life, a show planned to share its time slot.[11] In the sitcom Rainbow Romance, the sixth installment of the Nonstop series, she played an immature college student majoring in dance, a subject which she had previous experience in. She had minored in ballet until her junior year of high school.[5]
In 2006, Special of My Life aired, in which Kang starred as the younger sister of Myung Se-bin's character, though she did not appear in the first few episodes.[12] Following Special of My Life, she starred alongside Yoon Eun-hye and Oh Man-seok as a country girl in the drama The Vineyard Man; for her part, she studied the Chungcheong dialect of Korean.[13] In 2007, she starred in the cable drama Sexi Mong as detective Kang Han-na.[14] The role, described as strong and sexy, was a departure from the cute characters she had played up to that point.[15] Her next role was in My Too Perfect Sons, where she played a single mother.[16]
In 2009, she made her debut as a singer with the single "Makin' Love", which she had prepared for 6 months.[17]
Kang started internet broadcasting on Avatar TV in 2016.[18] In November 2017, Kang opened an account on the South Korean streaming platform AfreecaTV.[19] She was awarded the Best Female Variety Streamer and the Best New Streamer award at the 2018 Afreeca TV BJ Awards.[2]
