Park Bo-young is one of the best actors in the industry, but her K-drama career has its highs and lows. Her acting career kicked off with a 2005 short film, yet she quickly transitioned to major K-dramas as well. From scene-stealing side characters to iconic cameos to memorable K-drama female leads, Park Bo-young is as versatile as she is capable.
Aside from leading some of the best K-dramas on Netflix, Park Bo-young has branched out thanks to the recent surge in K-drama popularity. Her romantic comedies are still swoonworthy, but her masterclass K-drama acting now extends to other sub-genres, including horror, fantasy, and slice-of-life. While Park Bo-young always leaves an impression, however, some storylines are timeless, whereas others age questionably.
10
Secret Campus
2006
Secret Campus was Park Bo-young’s K-drama debut, airing when she was only 16 years old. In the melodrama, Park Bo-young plays Cha Ah-rang, a spirited young student who effuses immaturity. Many of her scenes are with the legendary K-drama actor Lee Min-ho, who played Park Doo-hyun in Secret Campus three years before his breakthrough role of Gu Jun-pyo in Boys Over Flowers.
Although it was a valuable project that launched multiple careers, Secret Campus is easily forgettable. Park Bo-young showed immense talent as a teen actor, but her character was one of the most shallow in the entire series. Plus, trends change, and Secret Campus sadly doesn’t appeal to modern audiences with its heavy-handed plots that feel akin to public service announcements.
9
Oh My Ghost
2015
Oh My Ghost is presented as a rom-com K-drama with supernatural elements, but there are some unsavory implications that put many viewers off. In the 2015 drama, Park Bo-young plays a shy chef named Na Bong-sun who harbors secret feelings for her boss, Kang Sun-woo (Jo Jung-suk). Unfortunately for Bong-sun, the titular ghost, Shin Soon-ae (Kim Seul-gi), notices.
Soon-ae possesses Bong-sun with a plan to seduce men, as she believes her virginity is the reason she can’t find peace in the afterlife. Using Bong-sun’s body, Soon-ae makes unwanted advances on men, including her boss. Oh My Ghost does confront its consent issues later in the series, but the premise is problematic enough for certain viewers to skip.
8
Jungle Fish
2008
Jungle Fish had all the makings of a coming-of-age K-drama, but it only aired one television special in 2008. The teen drama follows Park Bo-young’s Lee Eun-soo and Kim Soo-hyun’s Han Jae-ta as they spill their biggest secrets on an interactive blog. The students open up about the stress they face in school, especially as they approach graduation.
Many unique details make Jungle Fish stand out, from the script being inspired by a true story to the TV special winning a Peabody Award in 2009. Yet, the K-drama spinoff sequel, Jungle Fish 2, is far more popular and fondly remembered by mainstream audiences. Nevertheless, Park Bo-young makes an impact as a young but powerhouse performer.
7
Abyss
2019
Despite having a stellar cast and captivating premise, Abyss falls flat on most fronts. The sci-fi K-drama creates a fascinating afterlife mechanic wherein the titular “abyss” (a celestial machine) can resurrect anything that has died. As a result, two recently deceased friends— Go Se-yeon (Park Bo-young) and Cha Min (Ahn Hyo-seop)— are reincarnated together, in brand-new bodies.
The fantasy elements are quickly sidelined, however, for a run-of-the-mill serial killer plot that fails to offer anything new. Additionally, Park Bo-young is meant to be the “plain” and unattractive counterpart of Go Se-yeon’s original body. There was at least some intrigue to the romance, but Abyss seems to start as one drama and end as something else entirely.
6
Melo Movie
2025
With Park Bo-young as Kim Mu-bee and Choi Woo-shik as Ko Gyeom, the star-studded Melo Movie was a highly anticipated rom-com. Following a film critic and director who get a second chance at romance, Melo Movie seemed incredibly promising. As many disappointed viewers noted, however, the drama never lived up to its glowing potential.
While the ample film references will be diverting for movie buffs, most audiences will walk away from Melo Movie in want of a better romance. Of course, it didn’t help that there were so many incredible K-dramas in 2025 that left Melo Movie as an afterthought. Park Bo-young’s acting is infallible, but the meandering plot was a huge let-down.
5
Strong Girl Bong-soon
2017
Without question, Strong Girl Bong-soon is Park Bo-young’s most popular drama. The 2017 rom-com was so highly rated, it inspired a remake in 2023. Yet, the reboot couldn’t compare to the original, which saw Park Bo-young as the eponymous Do Bong-soon, an endearing young woman with superhuman strength and a complicated love life.
Though the series starts with Bong-soon pining for her childhood friend, workplace romance sparks start flying once she begins working as chaebol heir Ahn Min-hyuk’s (Park Hyung-sik) bodyguard. Min-hyuk and Bong-soon are still remembered as one of the best K-drama couples of all time, but Park Bo-young has had nearly a decade to hone her craft with more nuanced roles.
4
Light Shop
2024
Park Bo-young proved her mettle as a romantic lead time and time again, but Light Shop was a breath of fresh air that utilized her dramatic acting. The horror mystery K-drama follows an ensemble cast, led by Park’s Kwon Young-ji, that comes across a mystical light shop that reminds them of their traumatic pasts.
Park Bo-young brings incredible depth to Young-ji, an ICU nurse who helps steer her patients to the afterlife— or at least somewhere in between life and death, where they can “find” the light. As one of Disney+’s biggest Korean dramas, there’s no doubt that Light Shop is one of the best K-dramas to stream.
3
Doom at Your Service
2021
Few K-dramas can entertain the viewer while making them confront their own mortality, but Doom at Your Service is an equally thought-provoking and comforting drama. Park Bo-young plays Tak Dong-kyung, a web novel editor who discovers she has brain cancer and will die in three months. In a fit of drunken despair, Dong-kyung wishes for the world to end.
Her prayer catches the attention of a unique K-drama grim reaper: Myeolmang (Seo In-guk), the living embodiment of doom. As Dong-kyung grapples with her end-of-life regrets, she falls in love with a demon that was solely made for destruction. Their atypical love story is captivating, but the best part of Doom at Your Service is how it redefines humanity itself.
2
Our Unwritten Seoul
2025
There’s a stigma surrounding K-dramas about twins, especially when the basic plot of the series is simply identical characters swapping lives. Nonetheless, Our Unwritten Seoul takes a cliché concept and makes it feel completely novel. Park’s separate performances as Yoo Mi-ji and Yoo Mi-rae are an astounding feat of acting, but the K-drama’s message is even better.
Mi-rae seems like the more successful twin on paper, but her lucrative job makes her miserable. Similarly, though Mi-ji seems free-spirited and content, her failed dreams haunt her. The twins need to experience each other’s lives in order to better appreciate their own, making the poignant, introspective tale of sisterhood an emotional tour de force.
1
Daily Dose of Sunshine
2023
When taken at face level, Daily Dose of Sunshine may seem like an average medical K-drama. In reality, the 2023 drama is an awe-inspiring dissection of real-life mental health cases and the world of psychiatry. Park Bo-young’s Jung Da-eun has one of the most riveting character arcs in K-drama history, as she goes from a nurse to a patient herself.
Daily Dose of Sunshine doesn’t judge its characters— even the patients on the fringes who could have been denigrated for an easy laugh— for needing professional help. Furthermore, Da-eun’s depression doesn’t negate her capabilities, and her invaluable firsthand experience even improves her nursing. Overall, Daily Dose of Sunshine is a deeply important watch— and, irrefutably, Park Bo-young’s best K-drama yet.
