Cover Story: Park Bo-Young on her cinematic rise and playing against stereotype

This July, Park Bo-young made waves on social media with her acceptance speech for Best Actress. Her performance in Daily Dose of Sunshine touched many. The actress tells Zaneta Cheng about empathy, overcoming challenges and the ways she engages with her metier

You might have heard of her referred to as –“Nation’s Little Sister”, “romantic comedy queen”, and Best New Actress. 34 year-old Korean star Park Bo Young has been raking in accolades ever since she made her debut on the small screen in 2006. Since then, it’s almost as if anything Park touches turns to gold.

Just this summer, the diminutive actress won Best Actress at the 3rd Blue Dragon Series Awards for her performance on Daily Dose of Sunshine, a series based on a webtoon written by a former nurse on her own experience working in the psychiatric ward of a hospital and her interactions with the patients she was looking after. Park plays Jung Da-eun, a third year nurse who is transferred into the psychiatric department from internal medicine. The experience is a shock for her character and discussion forums online all commend Park on being able to convey the delicate and at times intimidating emotions that her character runs up against. While the actress is known for incredible prowess at creating fuzzy feelings in romantic comedies, the pace of this show is a notable departure from the easier, breezier stories that Park is so adept at telling. 

It's a deliberate decision, we learn from the actress. “For a while, I did a lot of romantic comedies and the image many audiences had of me was one that was cute and lovable. I had a desire to show a different side of myself,” Park says. “However, I thought that different aspects of me would naturally come out as I aged, so I try to show a slightly different side each year as I grow older. Fortunately, I believe I was able to come across really good projects that gave me the opportunity to show different and new sides of myself.”

At a time when the rat-race is more intense than ever, the show’s thought-provoking narrative, showing episode by episode the way normal people can be struggling with mental illness at any given moment, brought audiences closer than ever with the plot and its characters – particularly Park who felt a closeness to the script when she first picked it up. “At the time, I wanted to tell a story with warmth. After reading the script, I was convinced that it was a piece that could provide empathy and comfort to somebody. While there were many aspects of the storytelling that required a careful and nuanced approach, I also felt it was a project I wanted to tackle and to show to many people.” The feeling stayed with her even when she went on stage to give her acceptance speech for Best Actress, which went viral on social media with over 1.3 million views. In it, she says, “if there is anyone who is spending a really dark and long night, I hope that you don’t get too worn out. Hang in there to the end and see the morning.”

Of that moment, Park explains, “rather than intending to comfort with my acceptance speech, it was more about the mindset I had when I began this project. Even after finishing the project, I hoped that many people would be able to wake up to greet the morning, which is why those thoughts came to mind. It’s also a message in the title of the drama, which we wanted to convey through the series. (Directly translated, the Korean title reads “ Morning also Comes to the Psychiatric Hospital”) While this role helped me understand the pain of others a bit more, I don’t think I would dare to say that I can fully understand someone else’s pain.”

But the role did, at times, connect Park more fully to her own. When asked what the most memorable filming experience she had on this set, she recalls, “it was when I worked with actress Lee Jung-eun who played the head nurse. When I first read the script, I wasn’t sure if I would cry in a particular scene so I asked the director for permission in advance, just in case. During actual filming though, the energy that Lee gave me was so powerful that I found myself crying without even realising it. It was an experience that showed me how much impact the energy from another actor have.”

The show also gave Park new ways to cope with her own obstacles. “I always encounter new obstacles with each new project,” she says. “I can’t say that I’ve overcome them every time but I do feel that I’m gradually improving. Through this drama, I learned many ways to give myself strength and overcome mental obstacles. One method is to praise myself, even for small things. These small praises give me the courage to overcome obstacles.”

Park’s crying is specifically praised among her fans and supporters. It’s said to be changeable with whatever mood she is conveying in any particular scene – sometimes cute and adorable, sometimes so visceral that she tugs at the heartstrings and makes audiences feel the pain or desperation that she is portraying. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Park is motivated by her fans’ support. “Every time I see them cheering for and loving my projects, it makes me want to repay them with better acting and better work,” she says. “What I love about acting is that it allows me to experience many professions I could never live and it also gives me the opportunity to inspire many people through my work. When I get involved in a new project, I feel happy but also a strong sense of responsibility.”

It's likely this sense of responsibility that has seen Park rise and rise from her first teenage high school television series Secret Campus in 2006 filmed with Lee Min-ho to Scandal Makers, in which she stars opposite Korean acting veteran Cha Tae-hyun, a comedy which became the top grosser of 2008 and one of Korean cinema’s biggest hits. She’s starred opposite Korean entertainment’s biggest stars in 2012’s A Werewolf Boy to thriller The Silenced in 2015. With teen hits and a gothic thriller under her belt, Park went on to conquer romantic comedies on the small screen and romance films and the silver screen. The work keeps coming, likely because Park keeps drawing viewers in from her disaster thriller film Concrete Utopia and Disney+ web series Light Shop on the way. 

Twenty years into her career, Park isn’t interested in taking a breather. “There are still so many genres and roles I haven’t tried yet. My goal is to gradually explore all the different genres and roles. I want to become an actor who makes people curious about what my next project will be,” she says. And it’s clear that Park’s been able to live by that very rare adage where if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life because, she says, “after a project ends, I feel good for about a month. But after that, I start to feel like I need to start another project soon. During my breaks, I prefer to rest quietly at home rather than engage in active hobbies. I also enjoy watching League of Legends Champions Korea matches.”

It's not the only thing she does. These days, the once social media shy Park is now broadening her reach to engage with her fans more regularly. “I’m gradually expanding my social media presence. I’ve done V Live and started Instagram and now I’ve also started using Bubble,” she counts. “I enjoy communicating with my fans but when I’m working on a project, there’s not much content for them to see, so I’m trying to communicate as much as possible through various channels. I’ve also recently started a vlog where I try to show as much of my daily life during my break as possible.”

It's also during one of these breaks that we’ve managed to catch Park for a cover shoot. The star is famously relatable and admits to enjoying being able to dress down. “The style I feel most comfortable in is the one with the least styling. Minimal makeup, simple hair, and comfortable clothes,” she says. You can witness it all on her Instagram. Park’s famous wispy bangs and lightly tousled hair, wearing some combination of t-shirt, jeans and trainers draw crowds of fans who leave comments such as “wow, I thought it was a fairy on my page, and it was.” But when it comes to a shoot, the on-screen chameleon is in her element. “I find it really interesting and fun to try styles I wouldn’t usually do on photo shoots such as glamorous or bold makeup and completely different hair and styling.”

With so many accomplishments under her belt, and having worked with so many industry greats, we couldn’t leave without asking Park who her #legend is. The answer is actress Kim Hae-sook. “I love all of her acting,” Park says with no hesitation. “I aspire to be like her.”

CREDITS

Jewellery: Buccellati
Fashion: Sportsmax, Maxmara, Fayri
Production: Thiziscompany
Photographer: Yeongjun Kim
Videographer: TSG Shin Taeseok
Stylist: Hyun Kyoung Kim
Hair: Hongmoon Ahn
Makeup: Eun-Jeong Jo 
Set: Zeonsuin

Also see: Cover Story: Roh Jeong Eui on climbing up the showbiz hierarchy