Goo Ha-ra was born on January 13, 1991, in Gwangju, South Korea. Before debuting, she participated in the SM's youth appearance tournament in 2005. In 2007, she auditioned for JYP, however, she lost the runoff.
She was also an online shopping mall model, having been scouted after her photos were uploaded onto DSP's homepage. Thus, Goo Hara became a member of Kara. Currently is attending at Sungshin Women's University but she postponed going to university in order to concentrate on her career. Recently on December 5th, 2010, Goo triumphed in a poll, whereby 599 women were surveyed to state which celebrity's waistline they would want. Goo Ha-ra came in first with 55.4% of the votes and as such was deemed as the "Queen of Ant Waists", referring to her tiny waist