Park Shin-hye

Despite being constantly under the media scanner, Park Shin-hye has managed to maintain relative privacy in her personal life. Over the years, she has been linked with several of her co-stars and all of these reported “link-ups” turned out to be rumors.

Following the success of ‘The Heirs’, Chinese media claimed in January 2014, that Park was dating Lee Min-ho. The agencies representing both actors had to release separate statements to quash the rumours.

When her sizzling onscreen chemistry with Lee Jong-suk in ‘Pinocchio’ caught the fans’ imagination, speculations began on their possible off-screen romance. Again the agencies of both the actors had to come forward and explain that they are “just close friends”.

Park Shin-hye was born on February 18, 1990, in Gwangju, South Korea to parents Park Hyun-jong and Jo Mi-sook. Her older brother is K-pop guitarist and composer Park Shin-won. When she was 11 years old, her family moved to Seoul.

In Gwangju, she was educated at the Hak-Kang Elementary School. After relocating to Seoul, she started attending Youngpa Girls High School, where her sixth-grade English teacher encouraged her to audition for Lee’s ‘Dream Factory’.

Her admittance at the music company marked the beginning of a professional relationship that benefited her insurmountably, as it equipped her with the necessary tools for future pursuits in the entertainment industry.

In 2009, she enrolled at the Chung-Ang University, graduating on February 15, 2016, with a degree in theatre.

Park Shin-hye was chosen from 250 aspirants in 2003 to play the younger version of Choi Ji-woo’s character in the popular television series ‘Stairway to Heaven’. In 2006, she received critical praise for her performance in ‘Tree of Heaven’.

Following her film debut in ‘Love Phobia’ (2006), she landed her first starring role in the horror feature ‘Evil Twin’ (2007). Park gained international fame as a cross-dressing heroine in SBS’ romantic drama ‘You’re Beautiful’ (2009). For the low-budget romantic comedy ‘Cyrano Agency’ (2010), which became a sleeper hit, she received the Most Popular Actress Award in Film at the 47th Baeksang Arts Awards.

In 2011, she was cast in ‘Hayate the Combat Butler,’ a Taiwanese television project based on the Japanese shōnen manga of the same name. A year later, she appeared in the 3rd season of KBS2 one-act drama special ‘Don’t Worry, I’m a Ghost’. Aired on 15 July, the drama won her the Best One-Act Special Actress Award at the KBS Drama Awards.

Starring alongside Lee Jong-suk and Kim Young-kwang in the 2014-15 romantic comedy ‘Pinocchio’, Park portrayed a heroine who suffers from "Pinocchio complex", breaking into fits of violent hiccups whenever she tells a lie.

The popularity of the show made her one of the most bankable endorsers in South Korea. She has modelled for Median, skincare and cosmetics brand Mamonde, Filipino clothing brand Bench, and Austrian jewellery brand Swarovski. She is the first Korean to sign an endorsement deal with Visa.

In 2013, Park Shin-hye starred in ‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’, a poignant comedy-drama about friendships between a wrongfully imprisoned mentally challenged man and his criminal cellmates. Park played adult Ye-seung, the daughter of the innocent prisoner. The film got her the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 33rd Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.

She portrayed the main lead Cha Eun-sang in the teen drama ‘The Heirs’ (2013). Unlike most of the characters in the show, Park’s Cha is not set to inherit a fortune and attends high school as a welfare student. The series was an international hit, having sold broadcasting rights in 13 countries.