[Interview] Park Boyoung on Playing Four Roles: "Enough of Lovely Characters, I Want Dark and Intense Ones"

A Recluse and a Young Adult: Twin Sisters in "Mijiui Seoul"
"I Even Wanted to Run Away the Day Before Filming"

Actor Park Boyoung, who played the roles of Miji and Mirae in the drama "Mijiui Seoul". tvN

Actor Park Boyoung (35) has taken on a variety of genres and roles, from a girl who befriends a mute wolf boy, to a woman with superhuman strength, a character who falls in love with a mutant, and a citizen surviving a disaster. She has never settled for a safe choice. The tvN drama "Mijiui Seoul" was also a challenge for her.

Meeting with Park Boyoung at the BH Entertainment headquarters in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 26th, she said, "It's been a while since I did a TV drama, so it felt new to see the audience's reactions every week. I was grateful that people enjoyed the drama."

"Mijiui Seoul" tells the story of twin sisters, Miji and Mirae, who swap lives and experience each other's worlds. In the drama, Park Boyoung essentially played four different roles. Portraying characters with different appearances, personalities, and attitudes toward life was not easy, even for an experienced actor. She confessed, "At first, I loved the script so much that I wanted to do it no matter what. But up until the day before filming, I felt so much pressure that I even thought about running away."

The details of each character were reflected in makeup and styling. For Miji, only the outer corners of her eyes were lined with eyeliner, while for Mirae, the waterline was filled in to create a sharper impression. The hairstyles were also different. When tying her hair, Miji would leave some strands loose for a natural look, while Mirae would tie her hair neatly. Park Boyoung explained, "Mirae is someone who doesn't express her emotions outwardly, while Miji is very expressive. I wanted to show these differences in their personalities through their appearances as well."

Park Boyoung especially focused on conveying subtle emotional differences as the twins swapped lives. Scenes like phone calls, where she had to switch between characters without a co-actor, were even more challenging. "If Mirae is someone who suppresses her emotions and swallows them inside, Miji is the type to cry openly. I wanted to clearly show that difference in the crying scenes."

In the drama, Miji and Mirae live contrasting lives as a recluse and a young adult just starting out in society. Park Boyoung expressed deep empathy for the characters, saying, "I also sometimes wonder what I truly like if it weren't for this job." She added, "Whenever I read letters from fans and question whether I'm in the right place, I find comfort. For me, those letters are like Miji or Mirae."

Actor Park Boyoung, who played the roles of Miji and Mirae in the drama "Mijiui Seoul". tvN

This project also gave her a chance to reflect on the rawness of youth. Park Boyoung said, "Mirae was a newcomer, so she was afraid of quitting or changing jobs, and Miji didn't even know what her dream was. I think everyone goes through that kind of wandering. I liked that the drama portrayed this not as simple failure, but as a process of growth."

She also took a step forward in her acting. She had to film each scene twice with a stand-in actor, carefully matching camera movements and eye lines. "I feel like I've grown technically through this project. In the past, I mostly relied on spontaneous emotional acting, but now I can also handle performances that require calculation," she said.

She relieves her worries about acting through reading. Park Boyoung described herself as "not someone who reads a huge amount, but someone who loves the written word." She continued, "I'm not very good at imagining things, which is why I like novels. I enjoy the feeling of supplementing my imagination through reading. Lately, I've been reading a lot of short stories. Sometimes I imagine how they would look as films, and I've been proud when a few were actually adapted into movies," she said with a smile.

This project made her reflect once again on the essence of acting. She said, "There is a scene in the drama where the grandmother tells Miji, 'Every choice you made was the best one.' I liked that scene the most. As an actor, I've had regrets at every turning point, but I feel that all those choices have made me who I am today."

When asked about her goals for the future, Park Boyoung answered without hesitation. "I've played enough lovely and bright characters. Now, I want to take on darker roles or intense characters. I want to keep working on projects that I find interesting and that can tell good stories."