Jo Yuri finally showing up in Squid Game: Season 2 promotional material has created more discussion about the former IZ*ONE members’ acting careers. Though not every member has branched out into acting, many do so as their primary career or alongside their own musical endeavors. Kang Hyewon, Kim Minju, and Yabuki Nako have transitioned from the idol life to the world of acting within the last few years. Kwon Eunbi, Choi Yena, Honda Hitomi, and Jo Yuri have juggled their idol activities with some acting roles in the meantime.

Kang Hyewon

After IZ*ONE’s disbandment, Hyewon has remained under her original company, 8D Entertainment. Though she released some music in 2021 and 2022—her winter EP W and “Like a Diamond” featuring Stella Jang—Hyewon primarily works as an influencer, model, and actress these days. Hyewon’s first acting role came in 2021, when she portrayed Jin Sehee in Best Mistake 3. She recently won “Rookie of the Year” at the 2024 Korea Drama Awards for the role of Kang Seonhwa in 2023’s Boyhood, which also stars fellow idol-turned-actor Im Siwan. Next year, Hyewon will play a main role in the drama Friendly Competition.

Kim Minju

Minju also returned to her original company, Urban Works. For the next few years, she continued hosting Show! Music Core, a position she gained during her time in IZ*ONE. She stopped in January 2023, a little over two years into the role. She firmly decided to pursue acting full time when she joined acting agency Management Soop in 2022. Minju’s latest endeavor sees her in a main role on the big screen in Hear Me: Our Summer as Gaeul, a hearing-impaired swimmer. She learned sign language and how to swim for the film, which comes out on November 6, 2024. Hyewon, Yena, Chaeyeon, and Yuri attended the movie’s VIP premiere to support her.

Yabuki Nako

Nako went back to promoting with HKT48 for two more years after IZ*ONE’s disbandment. Before leaving HKT48, she acted in a few smaller roles for Japanese dramas. She played a supporting role as Sanjo Aika for her acting debut in the school drama Kao Dake Sensei (顔だけ先生). She remained in HKT48 until her graduation in April 2023, and switched over to the Japanese talent agency TWIN PLANET. She received her first main role in 2024 as Kira Moeko in another school drama, Subarashiki Kana, Koukousei! (素晴らしき哉、高校生!).

Honda Hitomi

Hitomi continued to promote with AKB48 until her graduation in January 2023. In 2021, she made an acting cameo—albeit portraying herself—in Kao Dake Sensei (顔だけ先生), the same drama Nako also acted in. Her first main role came the following year as Ootori Shimako, an office worker, in Hokuo Kojirase Nikki (北欧こじらせ日記). In 2024, she had a supporting role in Patisserie MON (パティスリーMON), a drama about a romance between pastry chefs. Considering Hitomi just made her redebut in the K-Pop group SAY MY NAME, only time will tell if she decides to take on another acting job.

Choi Yena

Currently promoting as a soloist under Yuehua Entertainment, Yena has only acted in one drama thus far. She portrays Oh Nari in the 2021 school drama The World of My 17 Season 2. Oh My Girl’s Arin played Nari in the show’s first season.

Kwon Eunbi

Though Eunbi has performed as a solo artist under Woolim Entertainment since August 2021, she just made her acting debut this year. She plays Choi Sumin in the Japanese thriller Stolen Identity: The Last Hacker, which launched in local theaters on November 1. Some of her former members, including Sakura, Chaewon, Chaeyeon, and Yuri, attended the film’s premiere in Seoul on October 18.

Jo Yuri

While many anticipate Yuri’s upcoming appearance in Netflix’s Squid Game: Season 2, she did not start her acting career this way. The 2022 drama Mimicus featured her in a main role as Oh Rosi, the center and maknae of the fictional girl group ICE. Yuri also played a small role in Work Later, Drink Now2 as the delinquent Sieun. Although the extent of her role is unknown, Yuri returns to acting when Squid Game: Season 2 airs on December 26, 2024. Netflix has confirmed Squid Game will air its third and final season in 2025.

Edited by Clark Royandoyan

The Acting Careers of Ex-IZ*ONE Members