Park Seo Joon and the journey to become one of the most sought after Korean actors 

Park Seo Joon is mostly known for his roles in K-dramas, but he has also starred in successful theatrical films like The Perfect Game, The Chronicles of Evil and Midnight Runners. Before shooting to fame as an actor, he served as a fixed MC for KBS’s weekly music show Music Bank alongside Sistar’s Bora. 

He also acted in MVs of famous artists such as The One and Kim Ji Soo.

Throughout his career, the multi-talented actor has taken home many awards from famous drama awards ceremonies such as SBS Drama Awards, MBC Drama Awards and APAN Star Awards.

Park Seo Joon’s childhood 

Park Seo Joon’s real name is Park Yong Gyu. He was born in December, 1988 in Seoul, Korea and lived in Incheon with his parents and two younger brothers. His parents and two younger brothers all do business. 

His interest in the entertainment industry started when he was in middle school. By taking part in activities of the drama club at school, he discovered that he had a gift for entertainment and gained everyone’s attention for it.

His passion grew bigger when in high school, he and his friends started taking an acting class after school and in their spare time.

His highschool years inspired him to pursue the dream of having a professional acting career. He then decided to enter the Seoul University of the Arts to become an actor. 

During college, Park Seo Joon began to have doubts about his choice and repeatedly wondered if acting was really meant for him. Moreover, the fact that other actors of his generation were all young and talented made him more uncertain about his future in the competitive industry. 

To get out of such thoughts, he decided to enlist early, instead of waiting for the mandatory enlistment order as a way to seek the answer to the questions about what he wanted to do in the future.

And it actually worked because after completing his military service, Park Seo Joon’s career took a turn for the better. He started learning Hapkido and boxing to gain more experience that may serve his future roles. He wanted to show better and more versatile sides of himself as a professional actor.

The journey to become a “Rom-com King”

Park Seo Joon officially made his acting debut in 2011 by appearing in Bang Yong Guk’s music video for the song I remember.

In the same year, he played Chil Goo in The Perfect Game, which tells the story of Korea’s top baseball players in the 80s.

In the following year, he began to get cast in TV dramas, starting with KBS’s Dream High 2, a series about students who dream of becoming K-pop idols. Also in 2012, he joined the cast of the sitcom Family.

After the success of Dream High 2, Park Seo Joon starred in MBC’s Pots of Gold and SBS’s One Warm Word in 2013, playing a supporting character. 

His performance in these two dramas helped him win Best New Actor at both the MBC Drama Awards and SBS Drama Awards in 2013, marking the first acting awards of his career. 

From October 2013 to April 2015, he was selected as the MC for the popular music show Music Bank before he decided to focus entirely on acting.

The drama that marked a turning point in Park Seo Joon‘s career is tvN’s Witch’s Love in 2014, when he took on the male lead role for the first time alongside senior actress Uhm Jung Hwa.

Witch’s Love tells the story of a wealthy 39-year-old female journalist named Ban Ji Yeon, who is known as a workaholic and unpopular with her colleagues. Destiny arranges for her to meet and fall in love with Yoo Dong Ha, an unsuccessful business owner who is 14 years younger than her.

The following year was a big break for Park Seo Joon, as he continued to shine and leave a good impression in four new projects including movies and dramas. From 2015 until now, he has worked his way up to become one of the most sought after K-drama actors. 

At the beginning of 2015, he had an excellent supporting role in the hit TV series Kill Me Heal Me.

Kill Me Heal Me revolves around the story of a wealthy business heir Cha Do Hyun (Ji Sung) who has a dissociative identity disorder and is dealing with his trauma by meeting a psychiatric patient named Oh Ri Jin (Hwang Jung Eum). 

Park Seo Joon plays the twin brother of Oh Ri Jin, a novelist who decides to follow Cha Do Hyun in an attempt to uncover the truth about the lives of the rich.

2015 was a memorable year for Park Seo Joon as he was nominated for Excellence Award Actor in a Miniseries at APAN Star Awards and won 3 awards at the 34th MBC Drama Awards, including Top 10 Stars, Popularity Award and Best Couple with Ji Sung.

One of the most iconic and successful dramas in Park Seo Joon‘s career is She Was Pretty, which was also broadcast in 2015. He played the male lead and reunited with Kill Me Heal Me co-star Hwang Jung Eum.

The sizzling chemistry of the two leads helped She Was Pretty draw positive reviews from the first episodes. She Was Pretty is a feel-good rom-com series, depicting a romance between two childhood friends who reunite after growing up. 

Park Seo Joon plays Sung Joon, a successful editor of a famous fashion magazine, who does not recognize his childhood friend because she no longer looks as pretty as before because of difficulties in adulthood. 

The female lead Hye Jin asks her beautiful best friend to pretend to be her to meet Sung Joon again. Everything seems to be going well until unexpected situations occur and the two end up becoming colleagues.

With his handsome, charming appearance, strong, assertive personality but equally sweet and lovable, Park Seo Joon succeeded in capturing the viewers’ hearts through the character Sung Joon. 

Park Seo Joon continued to challenge with movie acting through the 2015 film “The Chronicles of Evil”. This work brought him a nomination for the Best New Actor at 3 awards ceremonies, including Max Movie Awards, Chunsa Film Art Awards, and Baeksang Arts Awards. In the same year, Park Seo-joon also appeared in “The Beauty Inside” as a cameo.

In 2016, Park Seo Joon played his first lead role in the historical drama “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth”. He appeared as Kim Sun Woo, the best friend of Aro (Go A Ra)’s late brother. 

Sun Woo is a member of an elite group of young men called Hwarang, which is to break the power of the nobles by fighting against the existing powerful parties.

Through its story, “Hwarang” delivers messages about teamwork, passion, love, and friendship of young people. Although the drama didn’t make a bit hit, Park Seo Joon received many compliments for his excellent acting skills from the viewers, critics, and the media.

“Fight For My Way” is considered one of the most successful dramas in Park Seo Joon’s career until 2017. This series not only gained keen attention from audiences in Korea but also in foreign countries. Moreover, “Fight For My Way” also topped the viewership rankings, surpassing all dramas of the same broadcasting time.

This rom-com work tells realistic stories of the struggles and challenges that young people in different circumstances face in life.

Park Seo Joon played Go Dong Man, a taekwondo athlete who used to be famous during his school days but had to stop playing sports due to some accidents in the past. He now turns to play mixed martial arts. Go Dong Man later has a hilarious romantic relationship with his long-time best friend Choi Ae Ra (Kim Ji Won).

In the same year, Park Seo Joon was cast in the action-comedy movie “Midnight Runners”, playing his first on-screen lead role alongside Kang Ha Neul.

“Midnight Runners” centers around 2 police trainees who accidentally witness a kidnapping then decide to chase the kidnappers themselves. During the investigation, the two get into many troubles.

This film helped Park Seo Joon win various nominations and acting awards. He was awarded the Best New Actor at several prestigious movie awards in Korea, such as the Grand Bell Awards and the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.

Park Seo Joon also received several supporting awards, such as New Stars, Outstanding Korean Actor at the Drama Awards held by SBS and KBS as well as the Asia Artist Awards.

In 2018, Park Seo Joon made his comeback on the small screen with “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim”, a drama based on a novel of the same name. This series gained explosive reactions and broke several records in the history of Korean dramas on cable channels.

This drama boosted Park Seo Joon’s popularity to a brand new level. Park Seo Joon took on the role of the vice-president of Yumyeong Group – Lee Young Joon, who forms a sweet romance with his trustworthy and beautiful secretary Kim Mi So (Park Min Young). Through this character, Park Seo Joon has shown many cute sides of his personality and gained many praises for his handsome and manly appearance in suits.

This drama helped him get nominated for Top Excellent Actors at the 11th Korea Drama Awards. The actor also won Best Actor and Best Couple (together with Park Min Young) at the 6th APAN Star Awards.

In 2019, Park Seo Joon took on a new challenge with the main role in the action-horror film “The Divine Fury”. In the same year, he served as the special judge for the Asiana International Short Film Festival.

Apart from acting, Park Seo Joon also appeared in many music videos of artists, such as The One and Kim Ji Soo. He also sang the OST “Our Tears” for drama “Hwarang”.

In 2020, Park Seo Joon once again made a big hit with JTBC’s drama “Itaewon Class”. This drama not only gained huge interest from domestic drama fans but also global viewers. It got complimented for its interesting story and the great performances of the cast. Park Seo Joon played Park Saeroyi, who opens Danbam pub in Itaewon with an aim of becoming successful and taking revenge against Jangga Group, which caused the accident that killed his father. 

Park Seo Joon’s personal life and his famous group of celebrity best friends

Park Seo Joon’s friendship with other celebrities, including famous actors and singers, also received keen attention. He is known to be friends with Park Hyung Sik, BTS V, Lee Hyun Woo, Hyolyn, and Choi Woo Shik.

When asked about his love life, Park Seo Joon confessed, “Since I live alone, I often feel lonely. I always want to have a family. Many people told me that things would come when they are ready, but I don’t want to get married too late”.

At an award ceremony, Park Seo Joon said that he wanted to challenge many different kinds of characters in dramas and movies of various genres. He also expressed his desire to expand his career, not only limiting himself in Korean works but also hoping to appear in foreign projects. 

Park Seo Joon is set to appear in the sports movie “Dream” directed by Lee Byeong-heon as a football coach. He will work together with actress Lee Ji Eun (IU) in this work. Recently reported to join the big project “Concrete Utopia”, he is expected to show amazing performances alongside famous actors, such as Lee Byung-hun, Park Bo-young, etc. In the case of movie activities, Park Seo Joon has raised high expectations ever since he was confirmed to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a role in “The Marvels”.