Korean television just made history. Park Ji-hyun has become the first Korean actress ever nominated for an International Emmy Award, earning a Best Performance by an Actress nomination at the 54th International Emmy Awards for her starring role in Netflix's You and Everything Else. Here is how she went from a horror-movie rookie to a record-breaker.
The drama, released in September 2025, follows two longtime friends, Eun-jung (played by Kim Go-eun) and Sang-yeon (played by Park), as their relationship becomes strained from their teens through their 40s. Park showcased her incredible range by portraying her character from a vibrant college student in her 20s to a woman facing a terminal illness in her 40s.
The series had already picked up serious critical acclaim at home before this nomination. It won Television Drama of the Year and Best Screenplay at the 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards in 2026, while Kim Go-eun won the Grand Prize at the 5th Blue Dragon Series Awards.
Park Ji-hyun was born on November 26, 1994, in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea. She went on to study in the Spanish Language Department at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Acting had interested her since middle and high school, but her parents encouraged her to finish her education first. Consequently, she enrolled in university and, once accepted, started attending an acting academy on the side to train formally.
Park's debut year included small parts in the film Control and dramas like Saimdang, Memoir of Colors, and The King in Love. Her breakthrough came with the 2018 South Korean horror film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, in which she played a programmer entangled in a love triangle. The film became the third most-watched horror movie in South Korean history and earned Park Rookie of the Year nominations at both the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Chunsa Film Art Awards.
In 2020, she joined the cast of SBS's Do You Like Brahms?, picking up a Best New Actress nomination at the SBS Drama Awards. Her most significant breakout came in 2022 with JTBC's hit drama Reborn Rich. She played Mo Hyun-min, the sharp-elbowed daughter-in-law of a chaebol family—a role she has said allowed her to express raw ambition without holding back for the first time in her career. The show became one of the highest-rated Korean cable dramas ever and significantly raised her profile after years of supporting parts.
Park landed her first leading role in 2024 with SBS's Flex X Cop, playing the first female team leader in a violent crimes unit. It was a physically demanding part that won her an Excellence Award at the SBS Drama Awards. That same year, she starred in the erotic thriller Hidden Face, which became the first R-rated Korean film to top 1 million admissions since 2019. The role brought her a Best New Actress nomination at the Baeksang Arts Awards and a Best Supporting Actress win at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
In 2025, she starred in Forbidden Fairytale and then reunited with Kim Go-eun once more for Netflix's You and Everything Else, the role now carrying her into International Emmy history. She is currently working on the film Wild Sing and taking on the lead role in tvN's romantic comedy See You at Work Tomorrow!, with a KBS series called Love Cloud set to air in 2027.
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(By Pratyusha Pan)