Park Hyung-sik on reuniting with Park Shin-hye in ‘Doctor Slump’
Park Hyung-sik in a scene with co-star Park Shin-hye in his ongoing series “Doctor Slump.” Image: Instagram/@jtbcdrama
Dealing with life’s worst challenges can drive a person to the edge — just like Park Hyung-sik as prolific plastic surgeon Yeo Jeong-woo in the South Korean slice-of-life series “Doctor Slump.”
The romantic-comedy marks the reunion of Park with Hallyu superstar Park Shin-hye — who stars as the burnt-out anesthesiologist Nam Ha-neul — after 11 years. Both actors worked together in the hit drama “The Heirs,” but the ongoing series shows how their characters will “develop [their] friendship into love.”
“I think this is the drama that I relate myself to the most, and laughed too much while filming it,” Park said in a virtual press conference. While the series revolves around the topic of coming to terms with pain, the actor’s character — who’s dealing with his share of struggles as well — acts as the light at the end of the tunnel.
“‘Doctor Slump’ carries a message regarding people in a slump. In this busy and modern society, there are a lot of points that people can actually be comforted. These points portrayed the word ‘slump’ funnily and deeply,” he said.
“The role that I played in this project has a very positive personality. He deals with how he handles and conquers the kind of hardships he faces,” added Park.
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Park, who’s set to meet his Filipino fans this month, took many roles throughout his career. He started as the main vocalist of the K-pop boy group ZE:A until he made a name for himself as an actor. Some of his biggest dramas include “Hwarang,” “Strong Girl Bong-Soon,” “Soundtrack #1,” and “Happiness,” just to name a few.
But if allowed to choose the character most similar to his real-life personality, he had to go with the cheeky and larger-than-life Ahn Min-hyuk in the 2017 drama “Strong Girl Bong-Soon.”
“Every character I acted in somehow portrays my character in parts,” he said. “But I guess the most relatable character that actually has my personality is Ahn Min-hyuk from ‘Strong Girl Bong-soon’ because the way he jokes around portrays me when I am with my friends.”
One of the highlights of the 2017 series was how Park pulled off Ahn’s extra personality — picture that scene where he dramatically spread his arms when he opens doors.
His pairing with Park Bo-young was such a huge hit that they reunited for a cameo appearance in its 2023 spinoff “Strong Girl Nam-soon.”
On making choices
The actor shared during the mediacon that he became a fan of the 2023 drama “Moving” and that he wondered what it would be like if he took on this kind of direction in the future.
“There are a lot of roles that I would like to try. But I recently watched a series called ‘Moving’ and while watching it, I thought it would be great if I could try to be a person with a superpower. I would like to try a different genre like noir as well,” he said.
Apart from acting, Park admitted that he has a “lot of [pieces of] advice” he kept to himself throughout his life. But the ones he holds close to his heart are the ones from his parents.
“I have a lot of [pieces of advice] that I am keeping to myself. I think the best one I can think of right now is the teachings from my parents. They are the largest influence [in] my values,” he said.
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But when asked if he would change anything from his past, Park said there won’t be much of a “specific difference” if certain elements of his life are altered for the better.
“Since the choices I made in the past made me who I am right now, what I am thinking is, if I go back to the past, will there be a specific difference in my life? I think that would not be the case. Also, I consider that because of the projects that I have been doing, those became good materials for me to be myself at this point,” he said.
