Sandara Park

Early life and career

Dara was born Sandara Park on November 12, 1984, in Busan, South Korea. Her unusual and rare three-syllable name stems from the childhood nickname of revolutionary war hero General Kim Yusin. He was a cousin to Queen Seondeok of Silla and is considered a national figurehead of Korean culture for having led the unification of the Korean peninsula. She is the daughter of Ik-Su Park, a trading businessman, and Kyung Ran-Kim. She is also the sister of Thunder, a former member of K-pop boy group MBLAQ, and has a younger sister named Durami. During the earliest years of her childhood, Sandara lived well due to her father running a successful business in trading, but following a strain incurred by relatives, the business went bankrupt and the family was sent into financial ruin. They then moved to Daegu in order to be closer to Park's grandmother. Despite efforts to revitalize his business, Park's father was unable to make ends meet, and he was eventually forced to leave his family in 1992 for the Philippines in hopes of rebuilding his career. Dara often stepped in and took care of her younger siblings in place of her mother since she worked long hours. Eventually, her father stabilized his career, and in 1995, was able to move the family to Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Philippines to begin a new life.

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. Over the course of the season, she escaped elimination several times, and reached the final ten contestants. 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.

Park joined ABS-CBN's entertainment stable, 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 film Bcuz of U (2004), a three-story movie, alongside Hero Angeles, Kristine Hermosa and Heart Evangelista. Park won "Best New Actress", her first acting award, at the 21st Philippine Movie Press Club Star Awards for her performance. Park and Angeles collaborated again for another movie, Can This Be Love (2005), which reportedly grossed close to 100 million pesos. Park was also nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy)" at the 2006 Golden Screen Awards. 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 showbizness. In the same year, her fourth and last movie Super Noypi was shown in December and was an official entry into the 32nd Metro Manila Film Festival.

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.

Park left the Philippines show business industry permanently and returned to South Korea with her family on August 1, 2007.

2004–2008: Pre-debut activities in South Korea

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. In March 2005, Park went ahead with the workshops, putting her career in the Philippines on hold. She later left the Philippines show business industry permanently and returned to South Korea with her family on August 1, 2007. YG Entertainment announced the following day that Park had signed a contract with them.

Before her debut with 2NE1, she was cast in a minor role for the TV drama, The Return of Iljimae as Rie in 2008. Later, she appeared as the love interest of label mate T.O.P in Gummy's music video for "I'm Sorry".

2009–2012: Debut with 2NE1 and solo activities

Park took on the stage name Dara, and together with Bom, CL and Minzy, debuted as 2NE1. The group collaborated with label-mates Big Bang for the song "Lollipop", before officially debuting on SBS's The Music Trend on May 17, 2009 where they performed "Fire". The group achieved significant success with the number-one single "I Don't Care" from their first extended play, 2NE1, which won them the "Song of the Year" award at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards, making them the first rookie group to win a daesang in the same year of debut.

Apart from her group activities, Park quickly reentered the music scene. In 2009, Park was featured on G-Dragon's debut solo album Heartbreaker, on the single "Hello". They performed the song on several music shows and also during G-Dragon's two-day solo concert Shine a Light later that year. During that same year, Park released the digital single titled "Kiss", becoming the first member of 2NE1 to do so. The song was produced by Teddy Park and featured fellow member CL as a rapper. It was used in Park's first endorsement commercial for Oriental Brewery's Cass Beer series alongside actor Lee Min-ho. The music video was very popular, with the kiss scene between the two deemed one of the most famous events of 2009. Propelled in part by the popularity of the music video, the single charted strongly on various music charts despite strong competition, managing to replace G-dragon's "Heartbreaker" to top "Bugs". The following year, Park made an appearance as the female lead in Taeyang's "I Need A Girl" music video. Due to the specific lyrics in the song, Yang felt that she was the only candidate for the role. Two versions were made for the music video.

Due to frequent updates on 2NE1's activities and her close relationship with the public, fans dubbed her as the groups PR manager and was consequently promoted to Communications Director on April 18, 2011. In order to make her promotion official, YG Entertainment gave Park her own Certificate of Appointment.

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.

2013–2014: Return to the Philippines and renewed acting

In May 2014, ABS-CBN announced that Park would be guesting on Pinoy Big Brother, which simultaneously set off a media frenzy where news of her return dominated both the Philippines and worldwide Twitter trending topics. Her arrival was also one of the trending terms on Twitter, which welcomed her "home". She guested on the show on the 15th, and later appeared as a celebrity house-guest in the telecast All In Über during its live episode. Park also appeared on Gandang Gabi, Vice!, one of the most popular talk shows in the Philippines hosted by Vice Ganda.

Back in Korea, Park shortly replaced close friend Yoo In-na as a DJ for her Let's Crank Up the Volume radio program from May to June due to scheduling clashes. Later in the year, Park made a surprise cameo appearance as a top actress in the last episode of the highly rated Korean drama My Love from the Star.

On November 12, BeFunny Studios made an unannounced release of a 3-part mini web series starring The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun and Park titled What's eating Steven Yeun. Park played the role of Steven Yeun's American girlfriend who is left behind as her boyfriend pursues a career in "Mokbang", a popular Korean internet broadcast where generally attractive people eat in front of a webcam and get paid for it. The comedy sketch went viral and reached over a million views in the few days after release.

2015: Web drama success and Sugar Man

In 2015, seven years after her last acting role, Park returned to the small screen through the web-drama Dr. Ian, starring alongside Kim Young-kwang. Expectations were high as the series featured Park in her first leading role since moving back to South Korea, coupled with the involvement of director Kwon Hyeok-chan (Secret Garden, Master's Sun). The series enjoyed global popularity, not only in Korea but also in the United States, Taiwan, and Thailand, surpassing 500,000 views within three days of its broadcasting. Park became the first actress to win the "Best Actress" award at the K-web festival for her performance.

The same month, Park featured in label-mate Jinusean's stage for their single "Tell Me" on You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook. Her natural performance impressed the group which led to a second collaboration, where Park featured on their "Tell Me One More Time" comeback stage in place of the original singer, Jang Hana, on KBS2's Music Bank on May 1.

Park then took on her second leading role in We Broke Up, a web-drama based upon a web-toon of the same name. She played the role of Noh Woori, an optimistic and bright girl preparing to get a job. Premiering in June, the series was a success, becoming the fourth most watched web-drama on Naver with 16 million views. Due to the positive reception, the cast held a personal 'mini concert' on August 17. Park also made cameo appearances in the television series The Producers, playing a fictional 2 Days & 1 Night variety program cast member alongside her We Broke Up co-star Kang Seung-yoon.

On September 15, Park was cast opposite Goong star Kim Jeong-hoon in Missing Korea, a romantic-comedy set in the fictional year of 2020, in which the North and South are working towards unification through non-governmental exchanges and economic cooperation, leading to the first-ever 'North-South Joint Miss Korea Pageant'. Though not as successful on the global market as her previous web-dramas, Park received acting recognition and earned her another nomination for "Best Actress" in the 2016 K-web festival, making her the first idol-turned-actress to be nominated for the award in succeeding years.

Park later joined JTBC variety show Sugar Man from 2015 to 2016, alongside Yoo Jae-suk, You Hee-yeol, and Kim Eana as a co-host. The first episode was officially broadcast on October 20. The production team stated, "We think that Sandara Park has a unique strength that encompasses the emotions of the younger generation and the memories of the older generation. We predict she will actively radiate new, never-before-seen charms." Through her involvement as YG Entertainment's public relations director, artists such as Akmu, Winner, iKON, and Lee Hi were able to perform on the show, and during an episode for which she wasn't present, friend and fellow actress Yoo In-na replaced her.

2016–present: Judging, 2NE1's disbandment and domestic film debut

Park started the year 2016 with a special appearance in the MBC drama One More Happy Ending. as a beloved but spoilt star of a popular girl group. The producer of the drama expressed the difficulty of casting an actress who could play the role, as the character's beauty was meant to overshadow characters played by actresses like Yoo In-na, Jang Na-ra, Yoo Da-in, and Seo In-young. It was because of In-na, who was close friends with Park, that they came in contact and the matter was resolved. Park also participated in the promotional single "Loving U" as part of the drama's soundtrack. Park was officially promoted from being YG Entertainment's public relations head to director.

Park then joined the judging panel of ABS-CBN's reality singing competition show Pinoy Boyband Superstar, alongside Filipino top stars Yeng Constantino, Vice Ganda, and Aga Muhlach. The show is based on the format created by Simon Cowell and was first shown in United States through La Banda. The show premiered on September 10, and became the most watched weekend program, and the second highest program in television viewership nationwide. As the show was still filming on the day after 2NE1 announced the official disbandment, Park became the first former member to respond after the event by way of handing a handwritten letter in English to fans on November 26, 2016, and allowed them to upload the contents on her behalf. YG also revealed that Park and CL has signed a solo contract, hinting at the departure of Park Bom from the company.

In 2017, Park became the host of OnStyle's beauty program Get It Beauty, alongside Honey Lee and Gugudan's Kim Se-jeong. Park then starred alongside Han Jae-suk in her domestic debut film One Step. Billed as the Korean remake of Begin Again, she portrayed Si-hyun, a convenience store part-timer who seeks out a mysterious melody she hears every night in her dreams, and meets the producer of an Internet broadcasting program who tries to help her find out the music. The film premiered in South Korea on April 6, 2017, and opened on May 10 in the Philippines. She received acting praise from its director, Jeon Jae Hong, who noted that she only had one retake during the filming process due to her professionalism. Following an announcement that she was cast in the film adaptation of the popular webtoon Cheese in the Trap as the heroine's best friend Jang Bo-ra, it was also revealed that Park would star in OnStyle's new television program titled Relationship Appeal where she will review trending topics and travel to popular tourist spots. In June, it was reported and then confirmed by director Lee Won Jun, that Park was cast in a Vampire action film called 107th Year of Night.

Controversy arose when rude remarks directed at Park was made during MBC's SeMoBang: All Broadcasting in the World collaboration segment with Piki Pictures mobile variety team 'This is Real'. The concept was for the MCs to 'overhear' the constructive criticism of everyday netizens (picked by the 'This is Real' team) by separating the two groups with a thin wall. Viewers who watched the program criticized the teams selection and expressed discomfort with the remarks as they were believed to be personal attacks made in a subjective way. Piki Pictures issued an apology soon after and MBC deleted the video featuring the incident.

Public image and legacy

Sandara Park is credited as one of the leading figures in the 'Reverse-Hallyu' Wave. She is dubbed the 'BoA of the Philippines' by Korean fans due to the similar success between the two, as BoA was the first Korean artist to break through the Japanese market. She holds the national title of 'Pambansang Krung Krung ng Pilipinas' (The Philippines' national crazy or unique personality) given to her by her Filipino fans, and her popularity in the region is likened to comedian Yoo Jae-suk's fame in South Korea.

Face

In popular culture, Sandara is the icon of 'baby-face' amongst celebrities and the public, which is a term used to describe an individual who looks younger than their years. Despite being born in the early 80s, Sandara is known to top and beat other competitors in surveys, often with a large gap between their ages, thus earning herself the nickname 'Vampire' for her youthful skin and look. She is noted for having the ideal facial proportions, called 'the golden ratio', which is a 1:1:0.8 measurement of the face by plastic surgeons. Attesting to the quality of her skin, she was described to be a popular choice for both advertisers and consumers, who would be drawn to her clear and seemingly poreless face. In 2012, she was announced to be one of the most beautiful women of her time (80s).

Fashion

Park features some of the most iconic and memorable styles in the Korean Industry, ranging from her signature tail lilt eye make-up, to her bold hair styles and clothing. Labeled a pioneer of unconventional trends, her first appearance in Lollipop sporting her 'palm-tree' hairstyle became the most famous and widely parodied style in 2009 and remains an iconic piece in K-pop. In particular, her 2012 look, for which she had shaved a portion of her trademark locks for the promotional single "I Love You", attracted massive media attention and initially garnered mixed reactions, but was nonetheless praised for its shock factor and contradictory styling to the typical girl-group 'look'. The style is considered to be her most noteworthy transformation.

Endorsements

Park is one of the most in-demand faces in both the Philippines and South Korea, having appeared in many TV commercials and print ads over the course of her career. Park's huge popularity led to her instantly signing many Philippine and foreign endorsement deals ranging from personal care and food products to everyday items at the end of the competition. Her first endorsement was for Dong-A pens. Along with other Star Circle Quest finalists, Park modeled for and endorsed BNY Jeans in 2004. She served as the face for Tekki Asian Classic Noodles, and helped promote Canon, a Japanese camera brand looking to solidify their power in the Philippines. She endorsed Confident feminine napkins, and Rejoice shampoo as well. In addition to the shampoo's advertisements, Park also contributed a single to go along with the brand. Park also campaigned for Maxi-Peel with Kristine Hermosa. Following the revival of her career as a member of 2NE1, Sandara endorsed high-profile local brands without the group. In 2009, she became the endorsement model for Oriental Brewery's Cass beer series, one of Korea's most famous alcoholic beverages, alongside actor Lee Min-ho. To help promote the beer, an accompanying music video and song was released to nationwide attention.

While promoting alongside 2NE1 for an endorsement deal with Mitsubishi's subsidiary Nikon Corporation, Park was solely chosen to become their main model for their new product Nikon Coolpix p300 camera. Dongkook Kim, brand manager of Nikon Korea, stated that signing her would increase their products "attractiveness", and motivate buyers to purchase their items. After her campaign debuted, the company reported a massive increase in sales that put them only behind Samsung, the largest business conglomerate in South Korea, for the year of 2012. The company named the camera after her, going by the official name of "Sandara Digicam". Park is also well known for endorsing makeup brands. Despite having already worked with Etude House in 2010 alongside her group, the makeup brand sought to continue with her for an additional two years with the belief that her image would be a "good influence" to potential buyers. Over the course of her endorsement with Etude, the brand was able to compete with popular local makeup companies and were launched to international success. An umbrella called Sweet Bunny was made available online and in stores to be given to buyers who paid for a certain amount of items. The limited special not only increased Etude House's sales, but also attracted a foreign consumer base who, moments after Park was seen holding the item, visited the South Korean stores specifically to purchase the umbrella, where it was bought in every color. In a week, Etude House sold over 40,000 of the umbrellas, ultimately selling out the product. A representative described the reactions of the public as "surprising". The makeup brand won several web awards for their achievements in marketing, services and makeup as well.

In 2013, Sandara became the new makeup model for Clio, a well-established makeup company founded in 1993. Immediately after, sites recorded increased sales and her 'bloody series' makeup became a top-seller. The following year, the company's new mascara, Salon de Cara, was launched with Park as its model and sold out 130,000 units of its initial stock nationwide in only three weeks. The mascara went on to sell a record-breaking 300,000 units in the months following. A fansigning event was held on the 14 of November as a thank you to the buyers. Clio then closed the year with four awards, three of which were modeled by Park.

In 2015, Park joined the likes of supermodels Cara Delevingne, Sean O'Pry, and fashion model/TV personality Kendall Jenner as Penshoppe's ambassador. The following year, Park and G-Dragon was chosen as exclusive models for the cosmetic brand Moonshot launched previously by YG Plus in 2014, a subsidiary company of YG Entertainment. Days after launching products released in their namesake, the product was sold out and required immediate restocking. A representative of Moonshot noted that it was the first time their products left stores at such a high rate and that the overall reservations had gone up substantially. In June, Park became the new endorser for American shampoo brand Head & Shoulders.

Aside from her solo endorsements, Park has endorsed Adidas, 11st, Intel, Baskin Robbins, Italian sports brand Fila, Samsung, Yamaha, Bean Pole, and Nintendo Wii with her group.

Philanthropy

Park regularly volunteers for label-mate Sean's annual briquette charity event every New Year's Eve.

In November 2013, Dara and her brother lent their support for the campaign effort "WEGENERATION" to help the devastated survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda. Having long considered the Philippines their second home after spending their childhood there, the Park siblings responded to the desperate situation by collaborating with both "WEGENERATION" and charity organization "World Share" to launch an online emergency aid fundraising system. By January, they raised 3 million won (₱116,721) for the survivors. In order to repay contributors, they exchanged their personal items as thanks for the donations.

In 2016, she provided her services to Purme Foundation Children's Rehabilitation Hospital and donated gifts given to her by fans over the years to the children.

Personal life

Park is trilingual. Aside from speaking native Korean, she is also fluent in Filipino and English languages due to her residency in the Philippines.

During a promotional visit with 2NE1, Park was caught in the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011. Feeling unwell, Park had remained on the 34th floor of the hotel she and her members were staying in when the earthquake hit. Members Bom and Minzy (who had moved to the 31st floor along with CL to prepare for their debut that was set to take place the next day) were quickly evacuated to ground-level. She experienced severe shaking and said that the building walls cracked and she felt her body would fly out of the building at several points. Fearing for her life, she contacted CL, prompting the leader to walk up several flights of stairs to rescue Park. Assisted by a staff member, they walked down 34 flights and were relocated to a safer location. They were included in Fuse's list of '14 Female Friendships In Music' because of the story.

Park attended the wedding of former S.E.S. member Bada in March 2017.