Park Shin Hye fought back tears as she spoke candidly about her family and her father’s health on tvN’s You Quiz on the Block.
Appearing on the January 21st episode, the actress traced her path into the entertainment industry, which began in sixth grade after a church teacher encouraged her to audition for a Lee Seung Hwan music video. “I was a quiet kid who didn’t like being in front of people,” she said. “My teacher was a fan of Lee Seung Hwan and signed me up.”
Park Shin Hye passed three rounds of auditions and met Lee Seung Hwan in 2001, officially starting out as a trainee. That same year, she appeared in his music videos “Do You Love Me” and “Flower.” At the time, her family was living in Gwangju and struggling financially. Though her parents initially opposed her career, they eventually moved the entire family to Seoul for her dream, living in a semi-basement apartment.
“My dad drove a taxi, and my mom worked multiple jobs,” Park said. “Even after I debuted, they kept working. I felt pressure to succeed fast so I could take care of them. I kept thinking, ‘I need to make money quickly.’”
She later pivoted from singing to acting at her instructor’s suggestion. Her first audition was for “Stairway to Heaven,” which she landed while in middle school. “It was my first audition ever, and I got cast,” she recalled.
Starting young also brought doubts. “I kept wondering, ‘If I quit acting, what would I do?’ I worried about that for years. I also thought about my family and felt like I couldn’t stop,” she said.
The actress also recalled a moment when her mother finally expressed how exhausted she was. “One day she said, ‘I’m done working. You go make the money.’ But a year later, she said, ‘What if I open a tripe restaurant?’ She’s still running that restaurant now.”
The conversation turned emotional when Park Shin Hye spoke about her father’s health. “My dad has always been like Superman to me,” she said before tearing up. “But recently, he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, and doctors also found a heart condition. It made me realize that even my Superman isn’t invincible.”
Holding back tears, she added, “With a brain aneurysm, you never know when it could rupture, and that’s scary. As I get older and attend more funerals, I realize life isn’t as long as we think. It’s made me cherish my family even more.”
>> Park Shin Hye Says ‘The Heirs’ Defined Her Career and Shares a Lee Min Ho Story
In the meantime, watch Park Shin Hye in Flower Boys Next Door on Amasian TV for free.
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