Parasite actress Park So-dam returns to work after 2 years, says having cancer made her reflect and learn how to rest , Entertainment News

Park So-dam has opened up about her battle with cancer.

The South Korean actress, who rose to fame after the hit movie Parasite (2019), had revealed in 2021 that she underwent an operation to treat papillary thyroid cancer.

While she briefly returned to the small screens in 2023 with the K-drama Death Game, she hasn’t released any shows until recently.

In an interview for her upcoming movie The Journey to Gyeongju published yesterday (Aug 20), So-dam, who turns 35 next month, revealed that she took a two-year hiatus to rest after wrapping the film in 2024.

She admitted that while she had told others after her surgery that she was alright, she later realised she “wasn’t truly okay”.

“There were moments when I felt slightly depressed and worried because I had never rested for two years before. However, time passed quickly. Whenever that happened, I sought comfort from the people around me,” she said, adding that she exercised almost every day then and feels healthier now.

The Journey to Gyeongju, which premieres in South Korean cinemas on Aug 26, is a family revenge drama set eight years after Gyeong-ju, the daughter of Ok-sil (Lee Jung-eun) was killed while on a school trip.

Ok-sil and her three remaining daughters Jang-ju (Gong Hyo-jin), Yeong-ju (So-dam) and Dong-ju (Lee Yeon) embark on a road trip to Gyeongju, a city in South Korea, to take revenge on the murderer.

Learning how to rest

See more

So-dam also appeared on the Aug 18 episode of the MBC talk show Playlist 109, where she shared about her struggles in the past few years in detail, including learning “how to rest”.

She revealed that when she was diagnosed with cancer, she had 13 lumps in her neck.

After the surgery, she said her stamina declined significantly and even a walk to a lake near her house was a struggle, adding she had cried many tears alone during these walks.

Because she had spent her 20s “working tirelessly”, that period gave her the opportunity to reflect on herself.

For the first time, So-dam said she asked herself: “What can I do besides acting?”

She recounted trying things she’d never done before, including a 34-day solo trip to Europe where she drove herself to see the Northern Lights.

“I wish I hadn’t been ill, but I think I needed to be,” she said, adding that had she not been sick, she would likely have continued living at the same pace without realising how exhausting it was.

In a 2023 interview with AsiaOne for Death Game, So-dam had told us she resonated with the story.

The series follows Choi Yee-jae (played by Seo In-guk) who takes his own life after failing to find a job for seven years.

He then meets Death (So-dam) who punishes him to a game where he is reincarnated 12 times. To win the game, he must stop his own death in each lifetime. If he succeeds, his prize is that he gets to live out those lives fully.

“This script came to me during a time in my life when I was really thinking a lot about the concepts of life and death. When I was reading the script, I deeply related to the story,” said So-dam then.

Adding that the story gave her a lot of “food for thought”, she continued: “I found myself just closely following the emotional arc of the main character and it was such a quick read. It brought me to tears.”

[[nid:743139]]

syarifahsn@asiaone.com