- published: 18 Aug 2013
- views: 144227
Park Soo-ae (Hangul: 박수애; born July 25, 1980), known simply as Soo Ae, is a South Korean actress.
Soo Ae nearly became a member of a pop idol group. Fresh out of high school, a record agent approached the young stunner on the street in the trendy Apgujeong area. She spent six months in grueling practice, but in the end had no album to put out. She reminisced in an interview, "I didn't sing well, but the six months I spent with the team was so fun. I was lucky to get into acting."
She made her small screen debut in 2002 in a one-act drama on MBC, going on to star in Love Letter, Merry Go Round and April Kiss. Her hit historical drama Emperor of the Sea was exported to other Asian countries, South America and the Middle East, introducing Soo Ae to a wider international audience.
With her classical beauty and pure, graceful image, Soo Ae gained the moniker "queen of tears". But she revamped that image in the 2007 romantic comedy Two Outs in the Ninth Inning opposite Lee Jung-jin, playing a 30-year-old foul-mouthed, disheveled and jaded single woman struggling with life and love. Soo Ae in reality famously has a husky, neutral voice, which helped her tomboyish performance feel so natural. But her voice hasn't always been a plus. "I've been told many times that my voice would be a detriment to my career," she said. "When I first got started, a lot of viewers posted comments online that they changed the channel because of the way I talk. [...] It was odd because I thought of my husky voice as my biggest asset. So I would tell people, 'Keep on listening, you'll get to like it.'"