Park Yong-woo

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Park.
Park Yong-woo
Born (1971-03-16) March 16, 1971
Seoul, South Korea
Education Chung-Ang University - Theater and Film
Occupation Actor
Years active 1993-present
Korean name
Hangul 박용우
Hanja 朴埇佑
Revised Romanization Bak Yong-u
McCune–Reischauer Pak Yongu

Park Yong-woo (born March 16, 1971) is a South Korean actor.

Early life

Park Yong-woo's father was an engineering professor and his mother was a music teacher. As a child he was shy and expressed himself poorly. Instead, he nurtured his imagination. When he first chose to become an actor, Park felt hampered by the fact that he didn't have any childhood or family trauma to draw from, but later realized that a vivid imagination was the key to his acting process because it didn't require him to show his "naked face."[1]

Career

Supporting actor

Park failed the college entrance exams twice before he was accepted to the prestigious Theater and Film department at Chung-Ang University in 1991. He failed twice more when he joined MBC's actor's auditions, then finally passed in 1995. Park spent a decade playing minor and supporting roles on television and film, notably in Shiri (1999), Ditto (2000) and Age of Warriors (2003). He later said those ten years of experience enabled him to have greater freedom and control with his acting,[1] and that he believes a person is not just born a good actor, but rather good acting requires much preparation and work, with some luck thrown in. Park said, "I guess every actor dreams of playing a main character and I'm not an exception. But for me, it is more important to become a good actor regardless of how big my roles are."[2]

2005-2006: Career breakthrough

In 2005, Park drew critical notice with his much-praised role as the influential son of a paper mill owner in Kim Dae-seung's period thriller Blood Rain (2005). He won Best Supporting Actor honors at the Chunsa Film Art Awards and the Korean Film Awards, as well as nominations at the Grand Bell Awards and Blue Dragon Film Awards.[2][3]

But his career breakthrough would come in his first leading role, in dark romantic comedy My Scary Girl (2006) opposite Choi Kang-hee. Titled "Sweet, Bloodthirsty Lover" in Korean, Park played a timid college lecturer in his late 20s who finally finds his first girlfriend, only he begins to suspect that she may be a serial killer.[4] With a relatively low budget and lead actors who were not particularly famous at the time, Son Jae-gon's debut film was a sleeper hit and became the tenth top-selling domestic film of the year with 2,286,745 tickets sold.[5] After its release, witty dialogue from the film were continuously quoted and parodied, and their performances made Park and Choi stars.[6]

Leading roles

Park spent the next several years acting in various genres. He played a kindly handyman with a crush on a piano teacher in For Horowitz (2006), a world-weary cop investigating the murders of orphaned girls in The World of Silence (2006),[7] a detective who sacrifices his ethics to pay for his wife's medical bills in Beautiful Sunday (2007),[8] one husband of two partner-swapping married couples in Love Now (2007), and a suave con artist out to steal treasure in Once Upon a Time (2008).

At the press conference of Kim Han-min's 2009 thriller Handphone, Park said he hoped viewers wouldn't interpret the two characters as simply good and evil, but as real people with understandable motivations within the context of their situations.[9][10]

2010: Return to television

2010 marked Park's return to television for the first time in six years in the period medical drama Jejungwon, about the establishment of Gwanghyewon (later renamed Jejungwon) in 1885, the nation's first "modern" Western hospital which historical records show treated sick people regardless of their economic status despite the hierarchical society of the era.[11] Loosely based on a real-life person, the protagonist Park played is born a poor butcher's son and becomes Joseon's first surgeon and an independence fighter.

Park said he didn't hesitate to take the role, describing his character as someone who "doesn't stop trying to achieve his goals and starts thinking not only about saving people's lives but also his country. Although he seems somewhat unsophisticated, for ordinary people he is a humane and caring doctor, and I tried to portray those qualities so that viewers would empathize with him." He added that he liked the social message imparted by the drama which resonates in the present-day, and that he felt his character's story reflects his own journey toward becoming an actor.[12]

2011-present

In the mystery suspense film Children... (2011), Park played a documentary filmmaker who delves into the unsolved Frog Boys case. Initially driven by ambition and opportunism, he later becomes sincerely attached to it.[13][14]

Multicultural comedy Papa followed in 2012, in which his character is an entertainment manager who becomes an adoptive father to six children in the United States, and encourages the eldest daughter to join an audition program.[15][16]

In drama series My Lover, Madame Butterfly, Park played the white knight to a divorced, has-been actress.[17]

He next appeared in Song Il-gon's Forest of Time (2012), which blurs the boundary between documentary and narrative filmmaking, as Park and Japanese actress Rina Takagi spend ten days searching for the reportedly 7,200-year-old Jōmon Sugi, a cryptomeria tree in the renowned forest of Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that inspired the Hayao Miyazaki animated film Princess Mononoke.[18]

In a 2007 interview, Park said, "Although I am not completely devoted to acting, it may look that way because I am not lucky enough to be able to enjoy my life fully. Although I usually get bored doing something for a long time, acting makes me feel alive and changes me; even though it entails pain. I want to be an extraordinary actor while being an ordinary person."[8]

Personal life

Park dated actress Jo An from 2008 to 2010.[19][20]

Filmography

Television series

  • My Love, Madame Butterfly (SBS, 2012)
  • Jejungwon (SBS, 2010)
  • Best Mother (SBS, 2005)
  • Terms of Endearment (KBS2, 2004)
  • Age of Warriors (KBS1, 2003)
  • Sun-hee and Jin-hee (MBC, 2001)
  • Crystal (SBS, 1999)
  • Paper Crane (KBS2, 1998)
  • Barefoot Run (MBC, 1998)
  • Myth of a Hero (MBC, 1997)
  • A Bluebird Has It (KBS2, 1997)
  • Hometown Legends "검룡소애" (KBS2, 1997)
  • MBC Best Theater "My American-style Boyfriend" (MBC, 1997)
  • 간이역 (MBC, 1996)
  • Dangerous Love (MBC, 1996)
  • MBC Best Theater "당신의 편지를 냉동실에 보관하세요" (MBC, 1995)
  • Apartment (MBC, 1995)
  • The Fourth Republic (MBC, 1995)
  • Professor Oh's Family (SBS, 1993)

Theater

Awards

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Playing Monopoly With Park Yong-woo". The Chosun Ilbo. 6 January 2007. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kim, Tae-jong (4 May 2005). "Good Guy Actor Shows Different Side". The Korea Times via Hancinema. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  3. ↑ "K-FILM REVIEWS: 혈의 누 (Blood Rain)". Twitch Film. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  4. ↑ Paquet, Darcy. "My Scary Girl". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  5. ↑ "Korean Box Office Report - April 7/9". Twitch Film. 10 April 2006. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  6. ↑ "Son Jae-Gon Talks 달콤, 살벌한 연인 (My Scary Girl)". Twitch Film. 16 April 2006. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  7. ↑ Lee, Min-a (13 November 2006). "Smart girl chooses two silent types to go missing with". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Actor Park Yong-woo". The Dong-a Ilbo. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  9. ↑ Song, Woong-ki (15 January 2009). "Cell phone topic of new thriller". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  10. ↑ Lee, Eun-joo (4 February 2009). "Thriller Handphone rings true to reality". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  11. ↑ Kang, Myoung-seok (6 January 2010). "Actors save lives on set of TV series Jejungwon". 10Asia. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  12. ↑ Kang, Hye-ran (14 January 2010). "Historical drama concocts formula for success". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  13. ↑ Lee, Hyo-won (11 January 2011). "Will film do justice to missing children case?". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  14. ↑ Kim, In-koo (15 February 2011). "Veteran actor finds peace in life, career". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  15. ↑ "Papa (2012)". The Chosun Ilbo. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  16. ↑ Lee, Nancy (20 December 2011). "Go Ara and Park Yong Woo Charm in Cosmopolitan". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  17. ↑ Cho, Suyoun (10 June 2013). "Actor Park Yong-woo appeals charismatic image through pictorials". BNTNews. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  18. ↑ "Forest of Time (2012)". The Chosun Ilbo. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  19. ↑ "Jo Ahn Struggles to Gain Bulk for Weigh-Lifting Part". The Chosun Ilbo. 21 March 2009. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  20. ↑ "Park Yong Woo and Jo An end 2 year relationship". Allkpop. 22 February 2010. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 
  21. ↑ Kim, Gab-sik (2 March 2001). "Hollywood hit The Sting remade as musical". The Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved 2013-07-24. 

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