Ryu was born on 22 April 1993 in Gwangju, South Korea. She has an identical twin sister, Ryu Hwa-young, who is a former member of the girl group T-ara. Hyoyoung is the older of the two. Ryu was scouted after she and her sister made an appearance on SBS' variety showStar King by Core Contents Media. Ryu and her sister were both originally slated to debut in T-ara, however, Ryu was cut from the group's line-up before their debut. A year later, she debuted with Coed School.
Career
2010–15: Coed School, F-ve Dolls and solo activities
Ryu made her debut as a member of Coed School in 2010. The group debuted on September 30, 2010. The group was later separated into a female unit and a male unit. In that same year, Ryu was cast in KBS' teen drama Jungle Fish 2. She also took part in the 80th Miss Chunhyang pageant and subsequently won it. In 2011, Ryu joined Coed School's female unit, F-ve Dolls. The unit made their debut on February 17. The unit later became an independent group after her agency decided not to reform Coed School. The same year, she starred in MBC's romantic comedy drama The Greatest Love playing a popular singer. In October 2012, Ryu was cast in KBS' teen drama School 2013. She next starred in weekend drama 12 Years Promise, and the 100-episode daily drama Family Secret. On March 10, 2015 MBK Entertainment confirmed that F-ve Dolls had decided to disband. In August 2015, following F-ve Dolls' disbandment, it was reported that Ryu had requested to terminate her contract with MBK Entertainment.
2016–present: Solo career
In March 2016, it was confirmed that her request to terminate her contract with MBK Entertainment was accepted. Ryu later signed an exclusive contract with Y Team Company in August 2017. The same year, she was cast as the lead role in MBC's daily drama Golden Pouch. In 2018, Ryu was cast in the historical TV seriesGrand Prince. The series achieved a rating of 5.6% for its finale, becoming the highest rated TV Chosun series since the network's establishment in 2011.
Controversy
In 2017, a former T-ara staff member stated that Ryu and her sister were the bullies in the scandal that plagued T-ara in 2012. The reports featured a picture of an alleged text conversation between Ryu and Areum, T-ara's member at the time, in which Ryu threatened Areum with comments such as "I'll scratch up your face so you can't be on TV" and "Stupid bitch. Show up in front of me, we'll see what happens." Following this, viewers demanded that Ryu step down from her TV series Golden Pouch.
