Park Si-hoo South Korean Actor Known for The Princess' Man

Early life

Park Si-hoo was born Park Pyeong-ho on 15 February 1977 in Buyeo County, South Korea. He studied at Hanyang University. His father, Park Yong-hoon, worked as a fashion and commercial model in the 1960s and 1970s, and his younger brother, Park Wu-ho, is a former baseball player who played for the Hyundai Unicorns.

Career

Park began working in the theatre in 1997. His early duties were modest: he put up posters, handed out flyers and took small parts or walk-on roles on stage, which led to his acting debut in the play The Twelve Nyang Life. During these years he also worked as an underwear model. His first television appearance was a small part in the first two episodes of the 2005 series Sassy Girl Chun-hyang.

Using the stage name Park Si-hoo, he took supporting roles in the MBC series Let's Get Married and Which Star Are You From?. He gained wider recognition in 2007 with How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor, which earned him the New Star Award at that year's SBS Drama Awards. In 2008 he appeared in the action adventure series Iljimae and in the weekend drama Family's Honor, the latter being his first lead role.

His breakthrough arrived in 2010. Playing the lawyer Seo In-woo in Prosecutor Princess, he attracted a devoted following, and the phrase "Seo Byun syndrome" was coined to describe his fans. In Queen of Reversals he played the businessman Gu Yong-shik; when the series was extended, its screenwriter, Park Ji-eun, rewrote the script so that his character ended up with the heroine. He later received an Excellence Award at the MBC Drama Awards for that role.

In 2011 he starred in the Joseon-era drama The Princess' Man as Kim Seung-yu, a man torn between revenge and love for the daughter of his enemy. The series was a critical and ratings success, and the performance brought him a Top Excellence Award at the KBS Drama Awards. Fan meetings in Japan, China and Taiwan followed, and he recorded the Christmas single "Winter Story" with other performers from his agency at the time, Eyagi Entertainment.

In 2012 he took his first leading role in a feature film, Confession of Murder, playing a serial killer who becomes a bestselling author. He then shot an 80-minute music video titled "Boy" in Thailand, released on DVD, and returned to television the same year in the romance drama Cheongdam-dong Alice.

For a period afterwards he concentrated on work abroad. He held a photo exhibition in Japan called The Man Who Was There, starred in the 2014 Chinese film Scent, directed by Jessey Tsang Tsui-Shan, and filmed the Korean-Chinese co-production After Love opposite Yoon Eun-hye. In 2015 he returned to Korean television in the cable series Local Hero, playing a former undercover agent who mentors a young police officer.

My Golden Life, a KBS2 weekend drama he joined in 2017, became a major hit in South Korea, with ratings above 40 percent. He then starred in the romance horror series Lovely Horribly with Song Ji-hyo in 2018, the mystery melodrama Babel in 2019, and the TV Chosun historical drama Kingmaker: The Change of Destiny in 2020. In 2021 he took a leading part in the Korean adaptation of the American series The Mentalist, alongside Lee Si-young.

In January 2024 he appeared with his father in the TV Chosun programme Dad & Me. That year he was also cast as Park Gyo-sun, a North Korean officer, in Choir of God, billed as the first musical film set in North Korea, with Jung Jin-woon of the group 2AM. In March 2025 he confirmed that he would play his first villain, Kim Moo-young, in the thriller Karma. Choir of God drew more than one million viewers in Korea by February 2026.