Victoria Song

Song Qian (Chinese: 宋茜; pinyin: Sòng Qiàn; Korean: 빅토리아, 송천; Japanese: ビクトリア, 宋茜; born February 2, 1987), better known as Victoria Song or Victoria, is a Chinese singer, dancer, actress and model based in South Korea and China. She debuted in 2009 as a member of South Korean girl group f(x).
In 2010, Victoria gained fame as part of We Got Married Season 2, as well as being a cast member of KBS's Invincible Youth. That year, she won the Popularity Award at the MBC Entertainment Awards. She also began to take up acting in China, playing lead roles in dramas such as When Love Walked In, Beautiful Secret, Ice Fantasy and the film My New Sassy Girl and in 2012, won the Best New Actress Award at the China National Drama Awards.
Victoria is very popular in China, with over 20 million followers on Weibo, ranking fourth most followed K-pop celebrity as of April 2015. She was ranked No. 80 on The 2013 Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Faces and first on Sohu's 2011 Entertainment World's 50 Most Beautiful People. In 2014, she won the "2014 Goddess of Asia" poll with 579,298 votes. She was also named one of the top ten most popular celebrities on Baidu, ranking at No. 7.

Song Qian was born in Qingdao, China. She left her hometown at a young age to study Chinese traditional dance at the Beijing Dance Academy. After her high school graduation, she was accepted to the Beijing Dance Academy and majored in Chinese ethnic dance. In September 2007, Victoria was scouted by an SM employee at a Beijing dance competition and later joined the company. She passed her audition for SM Entertainment and began preparing for her acting and modeling career in South Korea. She trained for two years at SM before her debut, from 2007 to 2009. Victoria's first media appearance was for a Spris commercial in early 2008 with South Korean singer-actor Lee Joon-gi. In April 2008, she modeled for Samsung Anycall in a music video with Korean actor-singer Rain.

She had also filmed a tourism commercial "Hi, Seoul" with TVXQ and Super Junior. In May 2008, she appeared in Shinee's music video for the song Replay.

2009–11: f(x) and solo activities

Victoria at the MTV Daum Music Fest

Victoria debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group f(x) in September 2009.

In June 2010, Victoria became a cast member for the first season of the variety show Invincible Youth in which she was a part of G7, consisting of 7 female idols from various groups. She was also cast on the reality show We Got Married with Nichkhun of 2PM. The couple was collectively known as Khuntoria in the variety show. Nichkhun and Victoria both gained entertainment-wide popularity as a result of the show's success. At the end of the year, Victoria won the 'Popularity Award' at the MBC Entertainment Awards for her stint in We Got Married.

In 2011, Victoria became an endorsement model for several brands, including Estee Lauder's lipstick, LG with f(x) and Girls' Generation, Smoothie King with Sulli, and Samsonite Red for Vogue Girl. On December 31, 2011 Victoria and Nichkhun were chosen to host the 2011 MBC Gayo Daejun Festival.

2012–present: Acting activities and Variety

Victoria performing in 2012

In January 2012, Victoria was cast to play the lead role in the Chinese-Taiwanese co-production When Love Walked In, alongside label-mate Zhou Mi, and Calvin Chen of the group Fahrenheit. The drama reached the number one spot in viewership ratings. She won the 'Best New Actress' award at the China National Drama Awards for her performance. In December 2012, Victoria released a photo-essay book titled Victoria's Hong-Ma, which included her travel experiences in Hong Kong and Macao. The Chinese version of the book was subsequently released in 2013.

Victoria at KCON 2013 in Los Angeles, California

In 2013, Victoria was invited by director Li Shao in Cocoon Town Romance, a drama based on the "Tarot Goddess Sleuths" series. Filming began in December 2013, and the drama has yet to be released. In June, Victoria became the MC for KBS's program Glitter alongside actress Kim So-eun.

In 2014, Victoria was chosen to host the Korean-Chinese variety show titled Strongest Group together with Zhou Mi. She was also featured in his solo album single, titled "Loving You". Victoria then starred in Zhang Liyin's music videos "Agape" and "Not Alone" as the lead female character alongside former EXO member Tao.

In May 2015, rumors of Victoria's contract termination with S.M. Entertainment started to spread on Weibo. The label stated that rumors of Victoria leaving the company were untrue and that they were currently in the process of establishing a personal studio for Victoria for her Chinese activities. Victoria later confirmed SM's stance, stating that she has never had any intention of terminating her contract with SM Entertainment. It was also revealed that she would team up with Chinese manager Jia Shikai for her local activities. In the same year, Victoria starred in Hunan TV's Beautiful Secret. She released a solo single titled "Star Tears" for the drama's soundtrack. The drama eventually went on to record the highest average viewership ratings for the first half of 2016 in China. Aside from her acting activities, Victoria also collaborated with Adidas for an endorsement project and was featured as a photo-shoot model in the June issue of Cosmo Body.

In 2016, Victoria starred in My New Sassy Girl with Cha Tae-hyun. The film, a sequel to My Sassy Girl (2001), was released simultaneously in South Korea and China. She then appeared in the Chinese remake film of My Best Friend's Wedding, playing the role of Kimberly Wallace in the original film. On July 24, Victoria's first costume drama, Ice Fantasy premiered on Hunan TV. She also sang an OST for Ice Fantasy, titled "Li Luo", which is also her character's name in the drama.

Victoria was later cast in the upcoming adaption of famous writer Tong Hua's novel, Once Promised opposite actor Huang Xiaoming. The drama will be titled Ancient Love Song and premieres in 2017. In May 2016, Victoria was announced to be starring in the drama Endless August alongside Rain. She has also been cast in the film Reversal Life. In December 2016, Victoria was announced to star in Renny Harlin's upcoming fantasy film Legend of the Ancient Sword, based on the video game Gu Jian Qi Tan 2.

In January 2017, Victoria became a permanent guest on the variety program Ace vs Ace.

In 2008, Victoria and Super Junior-M participated in a campaign for Chinese athletes during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. In 2010, she and fellow f(x) members were appointed ambassadors for a blood donation campaign for "World Blood Donor Day". The following year, she participated in the press conference to promote awareness for a fundraising campaign to help children in Africa, which was jointly organized by the Red Cross and UNICEF.

In November 2012, she and Kangta also attended a cultural charity event in China, where they gave music and dance lessons to children in need. The event was organized by SM Entertainment and CJ E&M to celebrate 20 years of China and South Korea's diplomatic ties.

Towards the end of 2014, Victoria opened a flea market where she sold her personal items for charity. She donated all proceeds to UNICEF on December 31. In April 2015, she and other Beautiful Secret cast members launched "Beautiful Childhood Secret" to promote awareness for children with hearing disabilities. The members and crew ordered customized picture books for the disabled children. In the same month, Victoria also auctioned off a handmade doll, named "Song Song", on the UNICEF charity auction site and in June, she participated in UNICEF's "Help Nepal Children" charity bracelet project.

Collaborations

Soundtracks

Films

Television dramas

Television shows

Music video appearances