Nancy

Nancy Jewel McDonie (born April 13, 2000), known professionally as Nancy , is a South Korean singer, actress, and host. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Momoland, which was formed on November 10, 2016, through the Mnet's reality survival show Finding Momoland.

Early life Nancy was born on April 13, 2000, in Nam District, Daegu, South Korea. In 2001, the family moved to her American father's hometown of Columbus, Ohio, where Nancy spent her early years and attended school. In an interview about her being of mixed origin and the product of two cultures Nancy said, "I have always been told by my parents that there are two cultures that I am in contact with ever since I was a child."

Education She graduated from Hanlim Multi Art School on February 9, 2018, where she was a student in the Musical Department.

Career Pre-debut Nancy auditioned in Korea's Got Talent as part of a hip-hop group called "Cutie Pies" in 2011. The group reached the semi-finals.

As a teenager, she appeared in several TV programs, including The Unlimited, and also participated in Mak Ee Rae Show: Just Do It Expedition in 2012, in which she traveled to the Philippines and Saipan with South Korean actress Kim You-jung.

2016: Finding Momoland, debut with Momoland, and Sunny Girls

In 2016, Nancy became a contestant on Mnet's reality survival show Finding Momoland to select the members of MLD Entertainment's new girl group Momoland. She finished the competition in first place, and had her debut with the group on November 10, 2016, with the mini-album Welcome to Momoland. Momoland made their debut stage performing at M Countdown.

On November 19, it was announced that she would join Inkigayo 's project girl group Sunny Girls along with GFriend's Eunha, WJSN's Cheng Xiao, Oh My Girl's YooA and Gugudan's Nayoung. They made their official debut at SBS's Inkigayo stage, on November 27, with the title track "Taxi". The group also performed at the 2016 SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 26.

2017–2024 In 2017, Nancy was cast in the lead role with boy band ZE:A member Ha Min-woo in Naver TV's web music drama series Some Light. Nancy and Ha Min-woo also collaborated for the theme song of the drama series.

Nancy was selected to host the music show The Power of K alongside U-Kwon and Shownu. The show began airing in Japan and Korea in January 2018.

On January 3, 2018, Momoland released their third mini-album, Great!. As a result, the lead single, "Bboom Bboom", was a huge commercial success, reaching number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. On June 26, 2018, Momoland released their fourth mini-album Fun to the World with the lead single "Baam" becoming the 15th best-selling song of July 2018 on Gaon Music Chart.

On January 27, 2023, it was announced that Nancy, along with the Momoland members, departed from MLD Entertainment following expiration of the contracts. Momoland officially announced their disbandment on February 14. On March 4, Nancy announced that she signed a contract with Aria Diamond, a newly established talent agency affiliated with Aria Group, through her personal Instagram account. On September 17, Nancy revealed via Instagram that she is no longer an artist under Aria Group. On September 21, it was confirmed that Nancy has signed an exclusive contract with ATOC.

2024–present On April 1, 2024, Nancy signed with GMA Network's talent agency Sparkle. In October 2025, Nancy was cast in a K-pop-inspired thriller film, Perfect Girl, which was directed by Hong Won-ki of Zanybros and co-stars Adeleine Rudolph, Arden Cho, and Jeon Somi, marking her film debut.

Other ventures Endorsements In January 2020, Nancy was chosen as the new endorsement model for the popular skincare brand Some By Mi.

Personal life In 2021, photos of Nancy undressing, which was secretly taken by a staff member backstage at the 2019 Asia Artist Awards in Vietnam, began circulating online. Nancy's then agency, MLD Entertainment, stated that the incident had left her "mentally distressed" and announced that they would file criminal and civil lawsuits against those who secretly filmed her and those who distributed the photos. The Asia Artist Awards Organizing Committee issued apology to Nancy and accepted responsibility for the incident, stating, "We will continue to cooperate with Nancy's agency, MLD Entertainment, and closely monitor the situation."

Filmography

Films

Year Title Role Notes Filming

Television series Year Title Role Notes 2018 Dae Jang Geum Is Watching Idol trainee Cameo (1 episode)

Web series Year Title Role Notes 2017 Some Light Nancy Music drama

Television shows Year Title Role Notes 2010 Hangul Train Chipo Herself As a kid 2011 Korea's Got Talent Contestant 2011–2013 The Unlimited Show Herself Season 2–5 2012 Mak Ee Rae Show: Just Do It Expedition Cast member 2014 Olala School 2 2016 Finding Momoland Contestant 2017 Idol Acting Competition Cast member 2017–2018 Pops in Seoul Co-host 2018–2020 Idol Star Athletics Championships Contestant 2020 King of Mask Singer As Jingle Bells 2021 Godiva Show

Hosting Year Title Notes 2019 4th Asia Artist Awards with Leeteuk, Ahn Hyo-seop and Lim Ji-yeon 8th Gaon Chart Music Awards with Kim Jong-kook 2022 Fly High K-Pop Concert with Arin

Discography

Soundtrack appearances Title Year Peak chartpositions Album KORGaon "Some Light" 2017 — Some Light OST "—" denotes a recording that did not chart