Childhood & Early Life
Park Bo-young was born on February 12, 1990, in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea as the second daughter of her parents among three. Her father was a soldier who served the Special Forces for over three decades.
She stepped into the world of acting while in middle school featuring as Kim Da-mi in a 2005 short film ‘Equal’. It went on to bag the ‘Challenging Reality Award’ that year at the 7th Seoul International Youth Film Festival.
Park attended ‘Jeungpyeong Elementary School’ for her primary education. She completed her studies in Theater and Film from the Dankook University.
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Career
Her official debut in acting happened in 2006 when she played Cha Ah-rang in ‘Secret Campus’, a high school TV series that aired on the EBS network.
She then went on to feature in three SBS series in 2007 namely ‘Witch Yoo Hee’, ‘Mackerel Run’ and ‘The King and I’.
One of her early notable works includes essaying the character of Lee Eun-soo in the teen drama ‘Jungle Fish’ that originally aired on KBS2 on May 5, 2008. It went on to earn several accolades including Peabody Award in 2009.
She was among the extended cast of the 2008 South Korean historical drama ‘Strongest Chil Woo’ that aired on KBS2 and in the supporting cast of the SBS TV series ‘Star's Lover’.
Meanwhile she forayed into films with South Korean comedy-drama ‘Our School's E.T.’ that released on September 11, 2008. Her next flick released that year on November 27 was a South Korean supernatural romance ‘The ESP Couple’.
Although a couple of films old, Bo-young grabbed the spotlight with the blockbuster hit South Korean film ‘Scandal Makers’ that released on December 3, 2008. The film emerged as the top grosser of that year and is counted among the all-time biggest hits in the history of Korean cinema.
Her remarkable performance as Hwang Jeong-nam/Hwang Jae- starring opposite Cha Tae-hyun in ‘Scandal Makers’ earned her kudos from both critics and audience apart from fetching several awards and nominations. Her role was acclaimed as “excellent” by ‘Variety’ while she received the informal title of "Nation's Little Sister" in South Korean entertainment industry.
Her next project was the Lee Hyun-seung directed short film If You Were Me 4 (2009), a live-action sequel of the 2003 South Korean omnibus film ‘If You Were Me’.
Her thriving career in the world of entertainment took a back foot in 2010 when she got tied up with a number of disputes resulting in law suits with her the then management agency and a film production house. This disturbed her work for some time.
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In 2011, she became the promotional ambassador of ‘Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival’. Following this she made her come back to the big screen with the lead role of Se-hee in the South Korean horror film ‘Don't Click’. It released on May 31, 2012 and grossed US$5.29 million at the box office.
Her next film ‘A Werewolf Boy’ where she played Sun-yi / Eun-joo became a blockbuster hit upping her fame to new heights. The film was released theatrically on October 31, 2012 after being premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2012, in its "Contemporary World Cinema" section and screened at the 17th Busan International Film Festival.
‘A Werewolf Boy’ emerged as one of the most thriving melodramas in the history of Korean cinema. It garnered a whooping US$41.5 million at the box office bringing Bo-young back to the limelight with a bang. She won the Best Actress award from 4th Pierson Movie Festival in 2012 and 20's Movie Star – Female from 7th Mnet 20's Choice Awards in 2013.
She remained a cast member of the South Korean reality-documentary show on SBS ‘Law of the Jungle’ in its episode ‘Law of the Jungle in New Zealand’ that aired from March 8, 2013 – May 10, 2013. In the show she featured with celebrities like Kim Byung-man and Jung Suk-won in exploring and surviving in the forests of New Zealand.
Over the years she featured in many other reality and variety shows often in guest appearances. Some of them were ‘Gag Concert’ (2008), 2 Days & 1 Night Season 3 (2014) and ‘Let's Eat Dinner Together’ (2017).
South Korean teen romantic comedy film ‘Hot Young Bloods’ that released on January 23, 2014 saw her playing the starring role of Young-sook, a tough and foul mouthed leader of a female high school gang, way different from the sweet and bubbly characters she portrayed earlier.
Her next notable film was the South Korean mystery-thriller ‘The Silenced’ released on June 18, 2015 that fetched her several awards and nominations. This was followed by black comedy ‘Collective Invention’ and workplace comedy ‘You Call It Passion’ both of which released in 2015.
Meanwhile she made her come back in television after seven years with the critically acclaimed and commercially hit romantic comedy series ‘Oh My Ghostess’. It aired for 16 episodes on tvN from July 3, 2015 to August 22, 2015.
Her role of Na Bong-sun in ‘Oh My Ghostess’ fetched her a whooping salary of ₩30 million (US$27,000) marking her as the highest paid actress to feature on tvN. She received several awards for the series while the Korean press tagged her as the "romantic comedy queen”.
She then featured in the title character of TV series ‘Strong Woman Do Bong-soon’ that aired on JTBC from February 24, 2017 to April 15, 2017.
According to her agency she would start shooting for her upcoming film ‘Your Wedding’ from October 2017. The film is planned for a 2018 release.
