Actor You Need to Know: Park Bo-young

Vivacious, vibrant, and versatile. That’s Park Bo-young for you. Like a morning shows the day, the rookie actor’s maiden project was a forecast of a promising future. While still in middle school, Park won a role in the acclaimed short film Equal (2005) before making her debut in Secret Campus (2006), a high-school drama. The series uncovered two talents in Park and Lee Min-ho, both of whom were newbies at the time.

Park’s acting genius came to the fore while featuring in the epic saga The King and I and the teen drama Jungle Fish. After more than a decade in business, Park is currently one of the most crucial players in the Korean entertainment industry. Her inherent luminous beauty and gleaming eyes account for her amazing screen presence, adding more to her natural and effortless performances.

The actress, I believe, recognized the importance of education and learning. As a result, her degree from Dankook University’s Department of Performing Arts with a major in Theater and Film paid dividends and aided her career. That, along with her go-getter attitude and grasp of acting, helped her ascend to fame when she co-starred with Cha Tae-hyun in the comedy Scandal Makers in 2008. Park’s flawless portrayal of a feisty teenage mom in the film won her the title of “Nation’s Little Sister,” making it one of the biggest hits in Korean cinema.

Steadily mounting the ladder of success, Park was taking one step higher with each initiative, when a sharp turn in the road brought things to a standstill. Following her role in Lee Hyun-seung’s anthological short film If You Were Me 4 in 2009, she became entangled in legal conflicts with her then-management agency and a film production firm, resulting in a four-year hiatus. Park made her long-awaited comeback in 2012’s horror movie Don’t Click, about an accursed “forbidden video.” An interesting tidbit here: according to insiders, the picture was the first in which Park went semi-nude. There’s also a scene in an abandoned factory that had to be shot on a smartphone held by the actress herself.

Among all her accomplishments, her role in the fantasy romance, A Werewolf Boy, with Song Joong-ki (which rocketed Park to popularity all over again), deserves special mention. Song appeared as a feral boy (Chul Soo) in the film, while Park played Sun Yi, a beautiful teenager. The picture, a poignant account of Sun Yi’s love for Chul Soo, premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and screened at the Busan International Film Festival, becoming the most popular Korean melodrama ever. It was a hot item in South Korea and a sleeper hit in Taiwan.

Park, along with a plethora of other renowned celebrities, appeared in the reality documentary Law of the Jungle in 2013. In Hot Young Bloods (2014), a teenage rom-com, she portrayed the aggressive leader of her high-school gang, swearing in the southern dialect, quite a contrast from her usual sweet and cute portrayals.

Her next series of works, released in 2015, marked her comeback to television and sustained success. With roles in the mystery thriller The Silenced, followed by a double role in the romantic comedy Oh My Ghost, she garnered a Best Actress award at the 4th APAN Star Awards and was nicknamed the “romantic comedy queen” by the Korean media. Following that, she appeared in the black comedy film Collective Invention and the office comedy flick You Call It Passion.

Park is unquestionably one of the most beloved leading ladies in the K-drama universe. She transcends comedy, tragedy, suspense and every other genre boasting undeniable star quality. She is, from my perspective, a synonym for her eponymous character, Strong Girl Bong-soon, which premiered in February 2017. The plot follows a super-powered girl who is employed as a bodyguard by the CEO (Park Hyung-sik as An Min-hyuk) of a gaming company. The series went on to become one of the most iconic K-dramas in cable television history and gained mass momentum internationally. Park’s brand value soared as a result of its success, placing her as one of the elites among Korean television stars.

The 32-year-old actress, whom I perceive as the ideal girl next door, has the most endearing smile that never leaves her face. Her charming grin and sparkling eyes steal the show every time I see her on screen. She is apparently loved because of her sweet temperament and upbeat personality. It is a factor that has consistently gotten her good offers. Park’s romantic film On Your Wedding Day was released in August 2018, gathering stellar reviews and a successful box office run.

Subsequently, Park appeared in the May 2019 premiere of the tvN series Abyss as Go Se-yeon, a stunning prosecution lawyer revived by an enigmatic orb —Abyss — altering her into a more ordinary version. In the fantasy romance series Doom at Your Service (2020), Park was paired opposite Seo In-guk as Tak Dong-kyung, a career woman stuck in routine life. A chance encounter with Myul Mang (Seo) one day spirals her existence out of control.

Next up, we’ll see the actress in Um Tae-hwa’s disaster thriller movie, Concrete Utopia, alongside Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon. Sources reveal that Concrete Utopia is based on the second instalment of the webtoon, Pleasant Bullying.