Park Sandara
Background information
Also known as	Dara, Sandy, Krung-Krung, Darong, SanTokki, DaRabbit, Butterfly
Born	(1984-11-12) November 12, 1984 (age 27) Busan, South Korea
Origin	Busan, South Korea
Genres	Pop music, K-pop, Electropop, House
Occupations	Singer, Rapper, Actress, Director of Communications, Dancer, Television Host, Model
Years active	2004–present
Labels	YG Entertainment (2009–Present)
Associated acts	2NE1, Big Bang, Gummy, G-Dragon
Website	Dara's Me2day

Park Sandara (Korean: 박산다라, born November 12, 1984), better known as Dara (Korean: 다라; Japanese: ダラ), is a South Korean idol singer, rapper, actress, television host and model. She is best known as being a member and the Director of Communications of the Korean girl group 2NE1. However, she first gained major popularity on ABS-CBN's Star Circle Quest during her stay in the Philippines. Her younger brother, Park Sang-Hyun (Thunder),^[1] is also in the entertainment industry as a member of a Korean boy band, MBLAQ in J. Tune Entertainment. Dara released her first digital single "Kiss" in 2009.

Early life[link]

Sandara Park was born in Busan, South Korea. When she was 10 years old, Park's family moved to the Philippines to start a trading business.^{[2][unreliable source?] [3]} Also the older sister of MBLAQ's member Thunder/Cheondoong(Park Sang Hyun)

2004 – 2007: Career beginnings[link]

In 2004, Park was involved in a talent survival show, known as Star Circle Quest of the ABS-CBN Network where she came in 2nd place behind Hero Angeles. She was only 19 years old at that time. During one of her school functions, Park met Pauleen Luna, who was then a talent of ABS-CBN Channel 2 Talent Center. Luna encouraged the shy Sandara to audition for Star Circle Quest, a then-up-and-coming reality talent search for ABS-CBN.

The show's judges called her in, and she was able to elude elimination several times, paving the way for her inclusion into the contestant-pool's top ten. Being a native Korean, she displayed some trouble with the daily exercises set by the panel of Filipino judges. During the last elimination round in which the final five contestants were chosen, Sandara made Philippine's history by garnering approximately 500,000 text votes, making her the first female to garner that much SMS support. Thus, she remained until the final night when she was announced as First Runner-up to Hero Angeles. It is estimated that she got at least 2,000,000 accumulated SMS votes from supporters during the entire run of the contest.

Park later became a member of ABS-CBN's elite circle of homegrown talents, properly named Star Magic. ABS-CBN showered Park with projects after her Star Circle Quest days. She had several local commercial endorsements ranging from personal care to food products. She also received several television show offers. She starred in a youth-oriented program SCQ Reload, OK Ako, and hosted Sandara's Romance, a show featuring Korean dramas and commentary. She also had a hosting stint on ASAP Fanatic, a Sunday noontime teen variety show. She also appeared in a local daily prime time superhero soap opera Krystala as Kim, who shared similarities with her real-life self, but her tight schedule limited her appearances.

In addition, Park has embarked on a musical career that eventually led to the release of her self-titled six-track album which spawned the novelty dance hit "In Or Out", a song that parodied her experiences on Star Circle Quest, and "Walang Sabit", the jingle for Rejoice Shampoo. As proof of Park's rapid rising-star status, the album was Certified Double Platinum (2× Platinum) selling more than 60,000 copies after six months.

Park has also appeared in four movies: "Bcuz of U", a three-storyline movie which co-starred other prominent local actors; "Can This Be Love", which grossed P 99,000,000 in the box office; "D' Lucky Ones"; and "Super Noypi", a Filipino fantasy film and an official entry to 32nd Metro Manila Film Festival.

On December 2004, Yang Hyun Suk of YG Entertainment offered Park workshop classes in Korea after seeing the KBS Documentary My Name Is Sandara Park. On March 2005, Park took a hiatus from the Philippines Entertainment Industry to take acting workshops in Korea. Six months later, she went back to the Philippines to continue her career.

Return to Korea[link]

Park returned to South Korea on August 1, 2007^[4] with her mother and siblings. The next day, August 2, 2007, YG Entertainment reported that they had signed a contract with Sandara Park.^[5]

2009–present: Debut with 2NE1[link]

YG Entertainment announced that the new group would consist of four members and debut sometime in May 2009.^[6] The company stated that the group had trained for four years, and that their debut album would contain songs produced by 1TYM's leader, Teddy Park and G-Dragon of Big Bang.^[6][7][8] The group's name was initially announced as "21"; however, due to the discovery of a singer with the same name, the group was renamed "2NE1", which "NE" is the abbreviation of "New Evolution". Sandara was placed in 2NE1, alongside Bom, Minzy and CL.^[9]

The group collaborated with label-mate senior Big Bang for the song "Lollipop". The song gained immediate success, but questions were still raised as to whether the group could survive on its own.

2NE1 debuted in SBS's The Music Trend on May 17, 2009 where they performed their digital single Fire produced by Teddy Park of 1TYM. With the release of their self-titled mini-album, the group started the promotions of their title track I Don’t Care. Their mini album hit the no. 3 spot at the Hanteo's "Best-selling Album of 2009" with over 100,000 copies sold.

After a short hiatus, the group released a surprise single "Follow Me" ^[10] that took number one for the week of February 13.^[11] The single was used as a theme song for Samsung Corby Folder.^[12]

In October of the same year, 2NE1 returned with their first full-length studio album To Anyone.,^[13] which was released on September 9, 2010. Promotions started with the simultaneous showcase of the three title tracks of the album, "Clap Your Hands", "Go Away" and "Can't Nobody". Following those promotions, another song "It Hurts (Slow)" ^[14][15] was released on October 31 for Halloween. The album garnered huge success and 2NE1 won an overall 11 times on various music shows from their promotions.^[16] The album went on to sell over 150,000 copies.

Solo activities[link]

Before her debut, she was featured in a TV drama The Return of Iljimae as Rie, and she also appeared as the lead actress in Gummy's music video for "I'm Sorry", together with labelmate T.O.P, one of the members of Big Bang.

In August 2009, Park was featured on G-Dragon's solo album Heartbreaker, with their song entitled "Hello". They performed together a couple of times on music events, shows, and also during G-Dragon's two-day solo concert entitled Shine A Light in December 2009.

On September 7, 2009, Park was the first among the members of 2NE1 to release a digital single. Entitled "Kiss", the song was produced by Teddy Park and was featured in Park's first commercial for Cass Beer along side K-Drama actor Lee Min Ho. The song also featured fellow member CL as a rapper and peaked at #5 on the Gaon Chart.

In July 2010, Park was featured as the female lead in Taeyang's "I Need A Girl" music video. They made two versions of the music video.

In April 18, 2011, Park announced that she has been officially promoted the Communications Director of 2NE1. In order to officialize her promotion, YG Entertainment gave Park her own Certificate of Appointment.

Sandara was selected to become the Etude House's endorsement model for 2012, along with SHINee. Previously, Dara has already been working as an endorsement model for the cosmetic brand. The two would participate in the "Kiss Note" campaign, and would film a series of dramatic CFs together.

Discography[link]

Extended Plays[link]

Singles[link]

Featured singles[link]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

• 2004: Volta (cameo)
• 2004: Bcuz of U
• 2005: Can This Be Love
• 2006: D' Lucky Ones
• 2007: Super Noypi
• 2009: Girlfriends (Korean: 걸프렌즈) (cameo)

Television[link]

MV appearances[link]

• 2008: I'm Sorry (Gummy Ft. T.O.P & Sandara Park)
• 2010: I Need A Girl (Taeyang Ft. G-Dragon & Sandara Park)

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Park Dara at the Internet Movie Database
• YGfamily.com

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