From Busan on Korea’s south coast, Park showed an interest in the arts from a young age.
Initially, she thought her calling was music. In high school, she was a vocalist in a band; she was convinced to take up acting classes in order to improve the emotional range of her singing.
Although we now know her as an actress, Park almost did become a professional singer.
However, owing to logistical issues, in the end she was unable to take up the position.
It was after Park saw a production of the stage musical Cats that she chose to pursue acting as a career. She majored in drama at the Korea National University of Arts, during which time she appeared in several plays and student short films.
Why we love her
Park’s energetic screen presence makes her stand out from many of her peers. She often plays feisty characters who have no trouble going toe to toe with male protagonists.
Part of this may be down to her naturally athletic demeanour.
The actress regularly shares updates on social media, her posts showing her playing tennis and practising mixed martial arts. She is also a keen runner and cyclist, both of which she likes to do along the banks of Seoul’s Han River, and also enjoys bowling.
Park is known to interact a lot with her fans on Instagram, where she makes an effort to like and reply to comments.
While Park may not be a professional singer, she has kept up her passion for music. She is a poly-instrumentalist capable of playing drums, flute, violin and piano.
The star-making roles
After a successful audition, Park was cast as fan favourite Bae Gyu-ri in Extracurricular.
The series follows a high-schooler who secretly runs security for an illegal prostitution ring. Gyu-ri is the classmate the character has a crush on who eventually becomes involved in his business. Her performance earned her the prize for best new actress at the BaekSang Arts Awards in South Korea in 2021.
Park raised her profile further with a role in the horror fantasy comedy Zombie Detective. She plays a former investigative journalist who teams up with Choi Jin-hyuk’s detective, who is hiding the fact that he is a zombie.
The iconic parts
She plays tough high-school student Oh Bong-yi, who lives with her grandmother. She has a crush on Lee’s police officer and soon gets swept up in a giant serial-killer case taking the nation by storm.
Another major drama sortie for the actress was in The Forbidden Marriage, in which she plays a scammer in the Joseon era of imperial rule in Korea who claims to be possessed by the spirit of the late crown princess.
For her work on the show, she earned the Excellent Actress Award at the 2022 MBC Drama Awards.
The unheralded performances
In the film, several characters are stranded on a bridge following a structural collapse, and things get a whole lot worse when genetically engineered super dogs escape an armed truck. Park gets to show off her sporty side as archer Yoo-ra.
Other films Park has appeared in this year include the thriller Drive, in which she plays a popular live-streamer who is kidnapped and locked in the boot of a car, where she must earn 650 million won (US$480,000) in an hour during a live stream in order to survive.
She also features in You Will Die in 6 Hours, playing a young woman who is approached by a mysterious man who claims to have seen her death, which will take place in six hours.
The film debuted in competition in the Korean section of this summer’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in South Korea.
Tomorrow’s turns
Park is currently not officially linked to any upcoming productions, but given the year she has had, perhaps she has earned herself a short break.