Nancy Jewel McDonie known professionally as Nancy (Korean: 낸시), is a Korean-American singer, actress, and host. She is a former 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’s father, Richard Jowel McDonie is from Columbus, Ohio, and served in the United States Army for twenty years. In the 1990s he was promoted to Colonel and stationed in Korea. He went on a blind date with Lee Myeong-ju, a Korean woman, originally from Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, who was volunteering at the base, and they soon married. In November 1998 their first child, later to become a cellist, Brenda, was born, and on April
13, 2000 the second daughter, Nancy, was born in Daegu, South Korea. In 2001 the family moved to the father’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio, where Nancy spent her early years and attended school. in Nam-gu, Daegu, South Korea. 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.
On March 20, 2019, it was reported that Nancy changed her Korean legal name to Lee Geu-roo from Lee Seung-ri.
Education
She graduated from Hanlim Multi Art School on February 9, 2018, where she was a student in the Musical Department
Nancy Momoland Measurements Height Weight Bra Size Age
Some Lesser Known Facts About Nancy
- Nancy is a South Korean-American singer, actress, and TV host. She is widely known for being the Maknae (youngest member) of the popular South Korean girl group Momoland.
- Nancy’s parents met during her father’s military service in South Korea’s Daegu, where her mother served the unit at that time. Her parents married and moved out of South Korea after Nancy turned two.
- When Nancy was two years old, her family moved to Columbus, Ohio, US; in between, she stayed with her family in Dublin, Ireland, for a short time. After living almost six years in the United States, Nancy and her family returned to South Korea.A childhood picture of Nancy with her elder sister
- As a child, Nancy appeared in a variety of South Korean reality shows such as Hello Counselor: Season 1 (2010), The Unlimited Show (2011-13), Mak Ee Rae Show: Just Do It Expedition (2012), and Olala School 2 (2014).
- Nancy wanted to be a Kpop idol as a child. Her mother, who saw her passion for Kpop, enrolled her in a dance class, where Nancy instituted a hip-hop group with three other girls. The group was named ‘Cutie Pies.’Nancy (second from left) as a part of Cutie Pies
- Together with Cutie Pies, Nancy participated in the South Korean reality show Korea’s Got Talent, where the girls progressed to the semi-finals.Nancy in Korea’s Got Talent (2011)
- In 2016, Mnet, in collaboration with MLD Entertainment, launched ‘Finding Momoland,’ a reality survival show featuring ten MLD girl trainees competing to become a member of ‘Momoland.’ The show made a seven-member group, with Nancy being the second girl to finish the contest. Talking about her experience in the show, Nancy said,
It was tremendously trembling. It’s a regrettable part, but it’s an honor to be the 4th appearance after the members. Because I was working as a team called ‘Momoland’, I had a fright when I stood on the stage alone. I wanted to overcome the stage fright within this year.”Nancy with other participants of Finding Momoland (2016) - In Finding Momoland, the final lineup (of Momoland) was tasked with gathering 3000 people for their concert, a mission that the girls failed to complete, resulting in a delay in their debut. Momoland members continued to train at MLD and gave performances at music festivals and school concerts, which helped them crowdfund their debut album. On November 10, 2016, Momoland debuted with their extended play ‘Welcome to Momoland with the lead single ‘Jjan! Koong! Kwang!’ The same day, Momoland performed ‘Welcome to Momoland + Jjan! Koong! Kwang!’ in their debut stage in the music television program M Countdown.
- In 2016, before Momoland’s debut, Nancy was featured in the South Korean singer MC Gree’s music video and comeback stage of ‘Dangerous.’
- Momoland became a nine-member group soon and released their first single album with the title track ‘Wonderful Love’ (2016).
- On November 19, 2016, MLD Entertainment announced that Nancy would join Inkigayo’s project girl group ‘Sunny Girls.’ Sunny Girls was a five-member group that featured GFriend’s Eunha, WJSN’s Cheng Xiao, Oh My Girl’s YooA, and Gugudan, other than Nancy. Sunny Girls’ official stage debut happened on SBS’s Inkigayo stage with their title track ‘Taxi’ on November 27, 2016. Sunny Girls also performed on the annual televised end-of-the-year music festival SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 26, 2016.Nancy performing ‘Taxi’ with Sunny Girls
- In 2017, she sang the title song of “Some Light,’ Nancy’s debut Kdrama, with Ha Min-woo of the Kpop boyband ZE:A.
- In 2017, Nancy was seen in the acting reality show ‘Idol Acting Competition,’ where she competed with other Kpop idols to show her acting talent. The show aired on K Star, and Nancy was one of the finalists of the show.Nancy in Idol Acting Competition (2017)
- In June 2018, Momoland gained popularity after the release of their third mini-album ‘Great!.’ The EP featured the lead single ‘Bboom Bboom,’ which became a huge commercial success, charting at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart.
- In 2018, she appeared in the MBC Kdrama ‘Dae Jang Geum Is Watching’ in the cameo role of an idol trainee.
- In 2018, Momoland’s first reality show titled ‘Momoland’s Saipan Land’ was released on MBC Network. In the show, Momoland members are given the opportunity to travel to Saipan, where they can do whatever they want for 48 hours.
- Momoland has often involved itself in philanthropic activities, organizing charity concerns in South Korea. Once, they donated their ticket sales collections to children victims of car accidents in school zones. Momoland performed in a charity concert to help the victims of violence and abuse in April 2018.
- In February 2018, Momoland was selected to be the ambassador of the Korean Red Cross Blood Service.
- In October 2018, Momoland performed in their first Phillippines charity concert. The amount collected from the concert was given to the children of Barangay San Jose and Barangay Calawis in Antipolo City. Momoland also gave clothes and other necessities to the children after the concert was over.
- Some of the hit singles from Momoland’s debut Japanese full-length album ‘Chiri Chiri’ (2019) are Boom Boom, Baam, I’m So Hot, Freeze, and Wonderful Love (EDM). On Oricon Singles Chart, the album’s singles Boom Boom, Baam, and I’m So Hot charted at number four, number eight, and number eight, respectively.
- Momoland has other EPs to their name; some of their EPs are Freeze! (2017), Fun to the World (2018), Show Me (2019), and Starry Night (2020). Baam, I’m So Hot, and Starry Night are some of the popular lead singles from the EPs.
- Apart from EPs, Momoland released two more single albums Thumbs Up (2019) and Ready or Not (2020).
- Momoland is famous from South Korea to the Philippines, with their concerts in countries like Japan, the United States, Vietnam, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Mexico. The official name for Momoland’s fandom is Merry-Go-Rounds.
- Momoland participated in 2018, 2019, and 2020 edition of Idol Star Athletics Championships, an annual sports events that feature male and female Kpop idols competing in various sports competitions. In the 2018 edition of the event (which took place at Goyang Gymnasium in Goyang, South Korea on August 20 and 27, 2018), Momoland came second in the 4 × 100 m relay and won a silver medal. In the 2019 edition, Momoland failed to win in any competition. In the 2020 edition, Momoland came second in the Ssireum/Korean wrestling and received silver medals.Momoland during Idol Star Athletics Championship
- Filipino Merry-Go-Rounds have often addressed Nancy and Filipina-American actress Liza Soberano as each other’s doppelgangers. In an April 2018 Facebook Live session with Ahin and Daisy (from Momoland), Nancy was awestruck after she searched the pictures of Liza at the request of her fans. Nancy even matched Liza’s likeness to Ariana Grande. In 2019, after Nancy and Liza finally met, they posed for a photograph, which was posted in Nancy’s Instagram account with the caption,
Nice meeting you Liza.”Nancy with Liza Soberano - In 2020, she was one of the participants in the 143rd Generation of the singing reality show ‘King of Mask Singer.’Nancy in King of Mask Singer (2020)
- In January 2020, Nancy was appointed as the brand ambassador of the popular skincare brand Some By Mi. Talking about Nancy, a Some By Mi representative stated,
We chose Nancy because of her healthy and pure image fit well with the direction that we pursue, of our clean, natural skincare products.”Nancy in an advertisement for Some By Mi - Nancy likes elephants and unicorns and often buys stuff toys, items, or figurines of elephants and unicorns.
- Nancy is multilingual and fluent in Korean and English. She can also talk a little in Japanese.
- If not a performer, Nancy would have turned cellist like her sister, who went to a music school as a child. Nancy followed her sister and began playing the instrument. However, Nancy, who had a strong will of becoming a Kpop idol and liked singing and dancing, stopped learning piano to learn singing and dancing. According to Nancy
If I didn’t, I would probably be doing the same thing.”
Acting career
Upcoming projects
In the Philippines, ABS-CBN and Dreamscape Entertainment announced on October 4, 2019, that Nancy was to star in an upcoming new Filipino miniseries titled The Soulmate Project. Nancy will play her character Binna, a “Korean-American who lives in the Philippines.” In an interview with ABS-CBN News in 2019, director and writer Antoinette Jadaone said that series will consist of 13 episodes and it will be “more akin to a Korean
drama.” she said, “It’s not like how we do teleseryes [in the Philippines] where you do it per script every day, with a weekly script,” Nancy revealed that filming will also take part in her home country South Korea. Production for the project was slated to begin in 2020, but was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ABS-CBN shutdown and subsequent denial of its bid for a new legislative broadcast franchise. An omnibus trailer for the series was unveiled at the network’s Christmas special on December 20, 2020, while new filming dates are yet to be released.
Filmography
Television series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Dae Jang Geum Is Watching | Idol trainee | Cameo (Episode 1) | |
| TBA | The Soulmate Project | Binna |
Web series
| Year | Title | Role | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Some Light | Nancy |
Television shows
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Ahin |
Discography
For Nancy works with Momoland, see Momoland discography.
Soundtrack appearances
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOR Gaon | |||
| “Some Light”[28] (with Ha Min-woo of ZE:A) | 2017 | — | Some Light OST |
| “—” denotes a recording that did not chart |