Actor You Need to Know: Park So-dam

Park So-dam most innately dominates the screen, as if she assumes control, leaving no room for anything less than extraordinary. Ever the sharpshooter, Park, 32, has been well on her way—her portrayals forge a bond with those watching her; that empathy comes from her acting. And she is routinely breaking stereotypes—in playing a role, in being someone—possibly breaching her own rules. That is what makes her so promising. Park is appropriately one of Korea’s most prolific performers—in indie films and elsewhere. She has a unique grasp of what acting entails, which is why her role-playing looks so creative.

Park must have found her voice in acting years ago when she turned to independent films like the Korean Academy of Film Arts feature Ingtoogi: Battle of the Internet Trolls and Steel Cold Winter (2013), the latter of which picked up the spotlight at the 18th Busan International Film Festival. It became apparent that she could beat one to the draw when performing. On the horizon, she had roles in hit 2014 films such as the thriller Scarlet Innocence and the period saga The Royal Tailor.

In a boarding school of secrets, the centerpiece of The Silenced (2015), students are abruptly disappearing, compelling Cha Ju-ran/Shizuko (Park Bo-young) to uncover the truth and the weird changes she is experiencing in her body and attitude. Joining in the attempt: fellow student-turned-friend Hong Yeon-deok/Kazue (Park So-dam). The mystery-thriller-horror flick nabbed multiple nods. Park So-dam’s Yeon-deok, sharp-as-a-tac, was an impressive display in laying bare the authenticity of her being, and the portrayal won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 16th Busan Film Critics Awards.

The event heralded her breakout season as a mainstream actor, with roles in blockbuster movies like the action-comedy Veteran, the historical drama The Throne, and the feted supernatural mystery thriller The Priests in 2015. Park’s minutely detailed interpretive strength—conspicuously in The Priests—brought her demon-possessed high school character, Young-shin, to life. She received Best New Actress at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards for picturing, down to a T, her wrestling with the pangs of fear and pain and her vulnerability in the throes of terror she gets subjected to.

Park should have had a busy time during this timeframe. She was frequenting the big and small screens and headlining in the process. As I mentioned before, she’s a rulebreaker, never adhering to a pattern, a formula, or a type of role, and hence every time she plays someone, she brings something different to the table, exemplified by her characters like Gye Jin-sung—a traffic policewoman of high morals from the television series A Beautiful Mind (2016)—about a decorated but heartless neurosurgeon linked to unexplained deaths in his hospital or Eun Ha-won—an athletic high schooler—weathering mistreatment at home from the popular romantic K-drama Cinderella and Four Knights (2016).

The 92nd Academy Awards had director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019) pick the top four categories for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film—making it the only film in a language other than English to do so. This was just one of several distinctions the movie won. The social satire’s shocking twist of events is reinforced by an unexpected influx of intense emotions that emerge in the finale. In the story, Park’s Kim Ki-jung gained rave reviews as a manipulative, sharp member of the struggling Kim family who schemes to work for a wealthy household.

The actor’s renditions are a coup de maître, increasingly upping her game. Every time I see her on screen, she’s a stunner with this amazing sense of authenticity she injects into whoever she’s playing. So, whether as Record of Youth‘s (2020) Ahn Jeong-ha, a makeup artist; Special Delivery‘s (2022) Jang Eun-ha, a North Korean defector turned special delivery driver; or Phantom‘s (2023) Yuriko, an influential player in the Joseon government-general in 1933—Park captures the mind in a flash.