This series looks back at the works that shaped today’s top stars. “Lee Kun-hee’s Fame” highlights signature projects, scenes and lines that marked their careers. <Editor’s note>
Singer-actor Park Ji-hoon, known early on for a boyish charm as a member of Wanna One, is drawing attention for a darker, more intense screen presence. He reached a new turning point with the film “The Man Who Lives With the King,” released on Feb. 4, which he used to showcase his acting range.
As of the previous day, the film had drawn a cumulative 6,733,443 admissions, according to the Korean Film Council’s integrated ticketing network, raising expectations it could reach 10 million moviegoers.
Though his idol image remains strong, Park is a 21-year acting veteran. He debuted as a child actor in the 2006 MBC drama “Jumong” and has since built a steady résumé across television and film.
“Saved in my heart”
Park became widely known for the line “Saved in my heart.” On Mnet’s national audition show “Produce 101 Season 2” in 2017, he finished second at age 17 and went on to promote with Wanna One, a group that rose to nationwide popularity.
His “Saved in my heart” line, delivered with a cute gesture during the competition, became one of the program’s defining moments and helped make him instantly recognizable to the public.
“Don’t cross the line.”
Park’s breakthrough as an actor came with the webtoon-based Wavve original “Weak Hero Class 1.” He played Yeon Si-eun, a student consumed by studying but capable of striking back when provoked, and drew notice for a performance that shifted from vulnerability to a cold, controlled intensity.
In the Netflix release “Weak Hero Class 2,” Yeon continues as a character who misses his friend Ahn Su-ho (played by Choi Hyun-wook) and becomes entangled in new conflicts after a forced transfer, coming to understand what real friendship means.
A scene in Season 2 in which Yeon shouts, “Don’t cross the line,” echoing a Season 1 line — “You shouldn’t cross the line,” said by Ahn as he tried to stop Yeon — stood out to viewers for capturing both Yeon’s charisma and his longing for Ahn, who is in a coma.
The “Weak Hero” series not only helped establish Park as an actor but also influenced his casting in “The Man Who Lives With the King.” Director Jang Hang-jun said he wanted to cast Park after watching the series. “His eyes were different from those of an ordinary man in his 20s,” Jang said. “I liked that look — the anger and emotions sunk deep down, as if they could burst at any moment.”
“Is it not you?”
In “The Man Who Lives With the King,” Park plays the ill-fated King Danjong, who is forced to yield the throne to his uncle, King Sejo, after the Gyeyu Coup, then exiled and ultimately meets a tragic end.
For the role, Park lost 15 kilograms, a transformation that drew attention because he was reported to have relied on diet control rather than exercise. The reasoning, according to the report, was that Danjong’s portrayal — refusing food and drink and lacking the will to live — could not convincingly show a muscular physique.
Early in the film, Park’s gaze conveys a Danjong who has lost everything, making the character’s occasional flashes of royal authority stand out more sharply.
Danjong is not written as a character with many memorable lines, but one scene leaves a clear impression: after making a decision, he asks Eom Heung-do (played by Yoo Hae-jin), “Is it not you?” underscoring how deeply he cares for him. In another moment, when Eom’s son Taesan (played by Kim Min) is threatened, Danjong erupts at the villain Han Myeong-hoe (played by Yoo Ji-tae), saying, “You wretch — how dare you insult the royal family?”
Park, once best known for a cute image, has increasingly been recognized for intensity and charisma driven largely through his eyes. He is set to return in the first half of this year as Kang Seong-jae, the lead in the TVING original “Becoming a Legend as a Cook Soldier,” based on a webtoon of the same name. Kang is a private newly assigned to the Gangrim outpost who becomes a cook and accepts a “job-change quest” after following an unfamiliar voice. The role is expected to highlight a softer appeal rather than the forceful charisma seen in his recent work.
◇Park Ji-hoon filmography
△Debut: 2006 MBC drama “Jumong”
△Selected works
2017 Mnet audition program “Produce 101 Season 2”
2019 JTBC drama “Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency”
2020 KakaoTV drama “Love Revolution”
2022 Wavve original “Weak Hero Class 1”
2025 Netflix original “Weak Hero Class 2”
2026 film “The Man Who Lives With the King”