The queen of rom-coms, Park Min-young , has built a filmography playing women with agency over her two-decade-long career. However, she reveals that this was not always the case.
An adaptation of the 2021 Chinese hit The Rational Life, the series sees her play Kang Yi-ji, a workaholic deputy manager who has carved out a space for herself in a male-dominated world, choosing to put her love life on the back burner. When I finally got to play a role like that, it felt like a sense of responsibility to make sure that it would be a success, so that other similar shows and parts could follow. “When I first debuted, it was quite hard to find roles where the female characters were driven and had that much agency. I was quite hungry for those parts and roles. I think I chose roles a couple of times in the beginning and then ended up getting more offers for those roles. So I guess that just naturally happened,” she tells HT City in an exclusive interview. Forty-year-old Park Min-young , whose acting credits span genres, with hits such as What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, Marry My Husband , and Siren’s Kiss, is a familiar face in workplace dramas. The actor returns to screens with the office romance Nine to Six, which premieres on Prime Video. Even as her on-screen character exudes cynicism about love, the actor reflects on changing attitudes towards relationships, ambition and marriage.
“Whenever I talk to my friends of the same age Generation M as we are called, they are very different from Generation Z. We are very focused on our careers, and if we get married, there are a lot of opportunities we could get, but seriously, you can just leave it there. For a woman, having a child is a whole new stage. So I think everyone has a different perspective, and we have to respect their thoughts. As for me, I chose the other way. I really love my acting career, and I chose this path.
Nine to Six premieres on Prime Video on November 25.
But I think everyone’s choices should be respected for whatever they are ,” she says in fluent English.
