Sandara Park

This is a Korean name; the family name is Park.
Sandara Park

Dara cropped.jpg
Background information
Native name 박산다라
Birth name Park Sandara
Also known as Dara, Sandy
Born November 12, 1984
Busan, South Korea
Genres K-pop
Occupation(s) Singer, actress
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2004–present
Labels YG Entertainment
Associated acts 2NE1, Masta Wu, Thunder, YG Family, Big Bang
Korean name
Hangul 박산다라
Revised Romanization Bak Sandara
McCune–Reischauer Pak Sandara

Sandara Park (Korean: 박산다라; Hanja: 朴珊德拉, born November 12, 1984[1]), better known as Dara (Korean: 다라), is a South Korean idol singer, actress, and model. She is best known as being a member and the director of communications of the South Korean girl group 2NE1.[2][3] She first gained major popularity on ABS-CBN's Star Circle Quest during her stay in the Philippines. Her younger brother, Park Sang-Hyun, better known as Cheondung, is a former member of boy band MBLAQ under J. Tune Entertainment, a subsidiary of JYP Entertainment,[4] until the announcement of his departure on December 16, 2014 from the group.[5]

Dara is fluent in Korean, Tagalog, and English languages due to her stay in the Philippines.

She released her first digital single "Kiss" in South Korea in 2009 and it was included as the 9th track in 2NE1's first studio album To Anyone in 2010.

Biography

Early life and career

Dara was born in Busan, South Korea and grew up in the Philippines. When she was 10 years old, her family moved to the Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Philippines to start a trading business.[6][7]

In 2004, during one of her school activities, she met Pauleen Luna, a former talent of ABS-CBN Corporation Channel 2's Talent Center. Luna encouraged Park to audition for Star Circle Quest, a reality-based talent search television program.[8] Over the course of the season, she escaped elimination several times, and reached the final ten contestants.[8] Her Korean ethnicity resulted in some trouble with the daily exercises set by the panel of Filipino judges. During the last elimination round (in which only five people advanced), Park received approximately half a million text votes. She eventually finished in second place behind Hero Angeles.[9]

Park joined ABS-CBN's entertainment stable called Star Magic in the wake of her success in the show, with her projects ranging from commercial endorsements to television appearances. She starred in her first movie Bcuz Of U (2004), a three-story movie.[10][11] She acted alongside Hero Angeles, Kristine Hermosa and Heart Evangelista. Park won "Best New Actress", her first acting award, in the 21st Philippine Movie Press Club Star Awards.[12] Park and Angeles launched their first solo movie, Can This Be Love (2005) which reportedly grossed almost 100 million pesos.[12][13] Park was also nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy)" at the 2006 Golden Screen Awards.[14] Her third movie in the country was D' Lucky Ones (2006) wherein she was paired with co-SCQ alumnus, Joseph Bitangcol due to Angeles' decision to retire from show business.[12][15] In the same year, her fourth and last movie Super Noypi was shown in Christmas 2006 and was an official entry into the 32nd Metro Manila Film Festival.[16] The success of Park in the Philippines lead her to star in a drama series. One was Krystala, a fantasy series with Judy Ann Santos.[17] She also acted in various series Crazy For You (2006) and Abt Ur Luv (2006) and television specials My Name is Sandara Park (2004), SCQ Reload: OK Ako! (2004) and Nuts Entertainment (2006) of GMA Network.

Park also embarked on a musical career that led to the release of her self-titled six-track album that contained the novelty dance hit "In or Out", a song that parodied her experiences on Star Circle Quest.[18]

In December 2004, YG Entertainment's Yang Hyun Suk offered Park workshop classes in South Korea after seeing the KBS Documentary My Name Is Sandara Park.[19] In March 2005, Park went ahead with the workshops, putting her career in the Philippines on hold. After six months, she resumed work in the Philippines, starring in several movies. She left the Philippines show business industry and returned to South Korea with her family on August 1, 2007.[20] YG Entertainment announced the following day that Park had signed a contract with them.[21]

2NE1

Main article: 2NE1

The group's name was initially announced as "21"; however, due to the discovery of a singer with the same name, the group was renamed "2NE1", which "NE" is the abbreviation of "New Evolution". Sandara was placed in 2NE1, alongside Bom, Minzy and CL.[22]

The group collaborated with label-mate senior Big Bang for the song "Lollipop". The song gained immediate success, but questions were still raised as to whether the group could survive on its own.

2NE1 debuted in SBS's The Music Trend on May 17, 2009 where they performed their digital single "Fire" produced by Teddy Park of 1TYM. With the release of their self-titled mini-album, the group started the promotions of their title track "I Don’t Care". Their mini album hit the no. 3 spot at the Hanteo's "Best-selling Album of 2009" with over 100,000 copies sold.

After a short hiatus, the group released a surprise single "Follow Me"[23] that took number one for the week of February 13.[24] The single was used as a theme song for Samsung Corby Folder.[25]

In October of the same year, 2NE1 returned with their first full-length debut studio album To Anyone,[26] which was released on September 9, 2010. Promotions started with the simultaneous showcase of the three title tracks of the album, "Clap Your Hands", "Go Away" and "Can't Nobody". Following those promotions, another song "It Hurts (Slow)"[27][28] was released on October 31 for Halloween. The album garnered huge success and 2NE1 won an overall 11 times on various music shows from their promotions.[29] The album went on to sell over 150,000 copies.

Solo activities

Before her debut, she was featured in a TV drama The Return of Iljimae as Rie, and she also appeared as the lead actress in Gummy's music video for "I'm Sorry", together with labelmate T.O.P, one of the members of Big Bang.

In August 2009, Park was featured on G-Dragon's solo album Heartbreaker, with their song entitled "Hello". They performed together a couple of times on music events, shows, and also during G-Dragon's two-day solo concert entitled Shine A Light in December 2009.

On September 7, 2009, Park was the first among the members of 2NE1 to release a digital single. Entitled "Kiss", the song was produced by Teddy Park and was featured in Park's first commercial for Oriental Brewery's Cass Beer series alongside K-Drama actor Lee Min Ho. The song also featured fellow member CL as a rapper and peaked at #5 on the Gaon Chart.

In July 2010, Park was featured as the female lead in Taeyang's "I Need A Girl" music video. Two versions were made for the music video.

In April 18, 2011, Park announced that she has been officially promoted to the Communications Director of 2NE1. In order to officialize her promotion, YG Entertainment gave Park her own Certificate of Appointment.[2]

On June 27, 2012, Park's Philippine Movies were shown in Korea. The films "Bcuz of U", "The Lucky Ones", and "Can This Be Love" were shown on the said date on Korea's Home Choice and SK Broadband.

On May 14, 2014, Sandara Park entered the Big Brother house as a celebrity houseguest during the live episode of Pinoy Big Brother: All In Über.

On January 21, 2015, it was revealed that Sandara was casted as the lead in the web drama series tentatively titled "Dr. Mo Clinic". [30] This will be Sandara's re-entry to acting since debuting as a member of 2NE1. The drama premiered on March 28, 2015 and will consist of 9 episodes.

Discography

For the discography of 2NE1, see 2NE1 discography.

Extended plays

Year Title Label
2004 Sandara Star Records
Walang Sabit
2006 Ang Ganda Ko

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
Philippines
2004 "In Or Out" 1 Sandara
2005 "Walang Sabit" 1 Sandara: Walang Sabit
2006 "Ang Ganda Ko" 1 Sandara: Ang Ganda Ko
Year Title Peak chart positions Album
Korea
[31]
2009 "Kiss" (feat. CL) 5 To Anyone
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Featured singles

Year Title Peak positions Album
KOR
[31]
2009 "Hello" (G-Dragon feat. Sandara Park) 144 Heartbreaker
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Filmography

Films

Films
Year Title Role' Film Production
2004 Volta Herself/Cameo Star Cinema
Bcuz of U April
2005 Can This Be Love Daisy
2006 D' Lucky Ones Lucky Girl / Anna
Super Noypi Michie Rapisora

Dramas

Dramas
Year Title Role' Network Notes
2004 Krystala Kim ABS-CBN Supporting Role
SCQ Reload: Ok Ako! Sandara Soh Main Cast
Maalaala Mo Kaya: Scrapbook Herself Lead Role
2006 Your Song: Everything You Do Herself Lead Role
Komiks Presents: Machete Mara Lead Role
Crazy for You Ara Supporting Role
2020 Dalawang Tisoy Kim Chee RPN Supporting Role
2009 The Return of Iljimae Rie MBC Guest
Style Herself SBS Cameo (Episode 6)
2014 My Love from the Star Herself/Top Actress Cameo (Episode 21)
2015 Dr. Ian Lee So Dam Naver TV Cast/
Youku 		Lead Role
We Broke Up TBA Web Drama Lead Role-upcoming

MV Appearances

Awards and Nominations

Awards and Nominations
Year Award Category' Nominated Work Result
2005 21st PMPC Star Awards for Movies Best New Actress N/A Won
PARI Double Platinum Award N/A Won
Golden Screen TV Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) N/A Nominated
2006 Best Actress N/A Nominated
2013 Arirang: Showbiz Korea No. 1 Most Beautiful Idol Girl Group Member N/A Won

References

  1. ↑ Mark Russell (29 April 2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Dara becomes 2NE1’s official communications director". en.korea.com. April 18, 2011.
  3. ↑ "산다라, 2NE1 공식홍보부장 위촉..YG, 임명장수여". News.Nate.com (in Korean). April 18, 2011.
  4. ↑ (English) Kim, Jessica. 2NE1 Sandara poses with brother Cheon Dung Asiae. February 11, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
  5. ↑ Ock, Hyun-ju. "Lee Joon, Cheondung to leave MBLAQ". KPOP Herald. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  6. ↑ (English) "Sandara Park – Biography". CelebrityRing. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
  7. ↑ "'Sandara on strong Heart, see around 4:25'".
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Star Circle Quest Season One holds a rare reunion ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  9. ↑ Sandara Park on new found fame in Korea: ‘Parang dream lang, parang hindi ako makapaniwala’ ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  10. ↑ Francisco, Butch (3 March 2007). "Not just another light comedy". The Philippine Star (Philippines: PhilStar Daily, Inc.). Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "About the film: Bcuz of You". Star Cinema. ABS-CBN. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Sandara Park movies to be shown in Korea Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  13. ↑ Can This Be Love (2005) by Jose Javier Reyes IMDb. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  14. ↑ Sandara, nominated at Golden Screen Awards IMDb. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  15. ↑ D' Lucky Ones! (2006) Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  16. ↑ Super Noypi vs. Enteng Kabisote 3 as MMFF top grosser? Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  17. ↑ New Addition to 'Krystala' cast Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  18. ↑ Sandara Park performs ‘In or Out’ in Korea ABS-CBN. Retrieved 08-23-2012
  19. ↑ (English) Kbs Global KBS Global. December 23, 2004. Retrieved February 22, 2014
  20. ↑ (English) Bonifacio, Julie. Sandara Park quits showbiz, goes back to Korea. Philippine Entertainment Portal. August 1, 2007. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
  21. ↑ (English) Kbs Global KBS Global. October 13, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2010
  22. ↑ (Korean) Lee, Hyae-rin. YG "원조 21에게 미안, '여자빅뱅' 이름 2NE1로 교체" (YG "We apologize to original '21' and Have Changed the Name to 2NE1!! Please forgive us!"). Asia Economy. March 30, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  23. ↑ Park Se-yeon (February 9, 2010). "2NE1 오늘(9일) 게릴라 신곡 깜짝공개 ‘날 따라 해봐요’" [2NE1 releases geurilla surprise single today, 'Follow Me']. Joongang News (in Korean). Jcube Interactive Inc. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Gaon Chart Search: 2NE1". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
  25. ↑ (Korean) Park, Se-yeon. 2NE1 오늘(9일) 게릴라 신곡 깜짝공개 ‘날 따라 해봐요’ (2NE1 Releases "Guerilla" Surprise Single "Please Follow Me" Today (the 9th)). JoongAng Ilbo/Newsen. February 9, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  26. ↑ "2NE1 9월9일 ‘트리플타이틀’로 출격" (in Korean). Newsen. August 17, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
  27. ↑ (Korean) Park, Mi Yae (October 23, 2010). "양현석 "2NE1 후속곡..할로윈 공개" 호기심" [Yang Hyun Suk: "2NE1 follow up song on Halloween," sparks public curiosity]. SPN (in Korean). eDaily. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  28. ↑ "2NE1 후속곡 아파" [2NE1 Follow Up Song It Hurts]. YG Life (in Korean). YG Entertainment. October 30, 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  29. ↑ Gil, Hye-seong (October 17, 2010). "2NE1, '인기가요' 초유 4주연속 1위" [2NE1, 4 unprecedented first place titles on Inkigayo]. Star News (in Korean). MoneyToday. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  30. ↑ http://www.allkpop.com/article/2015/01/2ne1s-dara-and-kim-young-kwang-cast-as-leads-in-upcoming-drama-dr-mo-clinic
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "Gaon Chart Search: 다라". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association.

External links