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| ▲ This profile photo of South Korean actress Park Bo-young is provided by BH Entertainment. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- For actors, playing dual roles is often described as a double-edged sword. Portraying two distinct characters with the same face demands subtle differences in expression and gaze—challenges that can elevate an actor’s career if done well.
Park Bo-young took that risk head-on in tvN’s "My Name is Mi-ji," currently wrapping up its run, by tackling the particularly tricky role of identical twins. And with her nuanced performance, she has once again proven her range and talent.
“I didn’t know any better, so I jumped in with courage,” Park said with a laugh during a recent interview at BH Entertainment’s office in Gangnam, Seoul. “But now that I know how tough the filming process was, I don’t think I’d easily try it again.”
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| ▲ This poster of tvN's Kdrama series "My Name is Mi-ji" is provided by the broadcaster. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Park recalled feeling burdened the moment she decided to take on the script. “The script was so compelling that I just went for it, but I think I was constantly weighed down by pressure. The night before the first shoot, I felt like running away. Even during filming, I hit countless walls and faced failure. I think I had question marks hanging over me until the very end.”
My Name is Mi-ji tells the story of twin sisters who are identical in appearance but live completely different lives—and who swap places in a bid to find real love and their true selves.
Park played the free-spirited younger sister Yu Mi-ji and the responsible, perfectionist older sister Yu Mi-rae. On top of that, she portrayed Mi-rae pretending to be Mi-ji and vice versa, effectively embodying four nuanced versions of the characters.
“When I spoke with the director, he said he didn’t want the two characters to feel too different,” Park explained. “So our goal was to distinguish them through detail.”
“I used my natural speaking voice—the one I use with family or when I’m alone—for Mi-rae,” she said. “For Mi-ji, I used a tone I often use when I’m working or interacting socially.”
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| ▲ This profile photo of South Korean actress Park Bo-young is provided by BH Entertainment. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
One of the most difficult scenes, she recalled, was a conversation between the sisters after Mi-rae jumps from an apartment ledge. “It was the first emotionally intense scene of the drama, so I felt a lot of pressure,” she said. “I wanted them to cry differently. Mi-rae tries to suppress her tears with sniffles, while Mi-ji cries more openly like a child.”
Of the two characters, Park said she felt especially drawn to Mi-ji. “Like her, I’ve experienced failure and discouragement in life. I’ve had thoughts like, ‘What if I’m good at nothing?’ so I could really relate to her.”
Having debuted as a child actor, Park recalled how difficult it was in her early years. “When I’d get scolded by directors and go home, I often felt like, ‘This path isn’t meant for me.’ There were times when it felt like the universe was trying to block every opportunity.”
She said many of the drama’s lines resonated with her personally. Taking out her phone, she shared some she had saved in her notes app.
“One line that hit me was, ‘Why do humans attack themselves in the moments they most need to protect themselves?’ Another was, ‘Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is far away, and today still feels distant.’”
“I especially related to the scene where Mi-ji tells her grandmother, ‘The days I have left feel so long that I can’t do anything.’ Watching the show, I kept thinking, ‘I’ve felt that way too.’”
Premiering with a viewership rating of 3.6%, My Name is Mi-ji steadily gained traction through word of mouth, peaking at 7.7% by episode 10.
Park said what drew her to the drama was its core message. “On the surface, someone else’s life may look better, but when you look closely, everyone has their own pain. That was what spoke to me.”
She added, “And beyond that, our drama suggests we should be kinder to ourselves. Even if we seem lacking, we’re all doing our best to live. Every act of trying to survive is a brave act—and that’s something I wanted viewers to take away.”
Park made her debut in the 2006 EBS drama The Secret Campus and is best known for her roles in dramas like Oh My Ghost and Strong Girl Bong-soon, and films such as Scandal Makers, A Werewolf Boy, and On Your Wedding Day. Her consistently charming and lovable screen presence has earned her the affectionate nickname “Pbo-bly,” a combination of her name and the word “lovely.”
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| ▲ This profile photo of South Korean actress Park Bo-young is provided by BH Entertainment. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
More recently, however, she has taken on darker and more serious roles—playing a disaster survivor in Concrete Utopia, a patient suffering from severe depression in Daily Dose of Sunshine, and a nurse who returns from the brink of death in Lighting Store—marking a notable shift from her earlier image.
“I started to feel like I was being boxed into a single image as an actor,” she said. “I had a desire to show more sides of myself. That’s why I chose heavier, more healing stories for a while.”
Her next project, Goldland, is another suspenseful genre piece. “It’s a bit scary again,” she said, laughing, “but I think I’ll go back to a more upbeat role after that. I’ve been too subdued these past two years—it’s been hard!”
“It’s already been 20 years since I debuted,” she said. “Looking back on my career so far, the process of growing hasn’t been so bad. There’s still a long way to go, but I finally feel like I’ve grown a little.” (laughs)
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