Born in 1988, Park Jin-ju had her breakout role in her very first screen appearance, in Kang Hyoungchul’s <Sunny> (2011), standing out as a foul-mouthed teenager who would engage in cursing battles. However, while the film launched the career of several members of its young cast, (like Shim Eunkyung, Kang Sora and Chun Woohee), Park got the short end of the stick, struggling to bank on this early success to find roles that would exhibit her acting range. In the follo...More

Born in 1988, Park Jin-ju had her breakout role in her very first screen appearance, in Kang Hyoungchul’s <Sunny> (2011), standing out as a foul-mouthed teenager who would engage in cursing battles. However, while the film launched the career of several members of its young cast, (like Shim Eunkyung, Kang Sora and Chun Woohee), Park got the short end of the stick, struggling to bank on this early success to find roles that would exhibit her acting range. In the following years, she was mostly limited to supporting roles in TV series, exception made of a few lead roles on the big screen in <The Sleepless> (2012) and <Koala> (2013). Against all odds, it is her singing skills that would allow her to turn her career around. Her performance as one of the secret singers in the popular show <King of Mask Singer> fooled many into assuming she was a professional singer. This, along with a supporting role in the hit romcom series <Don’t Dare to Dream> (2016), led her to be invited as guest to many variety TV shows in the following months. After a supporting role in the historical financial crisis drama <Default> (2018), Park joined hands with Kang again in the Korean War-set musical drama <Swing Kids> (2018). In 2020, she landed a starring role in <Hero> (2020), the musical film adaption of the hit live musical based on the final year of Korean independence hero Ah Jung-geun. The film eventually released in December 2022. Meanwhile. Park starred alongside Ra Mi-ran in the political comedy <Honest Candidate 2> and she landed a permanent role in the hit variety show <Hangout with Yoo>. In the latter, she first passed a blind audition to join the K-pop supergroup that the showrunners were trying to form, WSG Wannabe, which would take center stage in the show for several months, culminating in the release of a few singles. Her fun personality was so well received by the viewers that Park remained a regular cast member of the show even after that music group project was completed.Less