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Biography |
Sandara Park born November 12, 1984 in Busan, South Korea)
is a Korean actress who stars in movies and television shows
in the Philippines. Her unusual three-syllable Korean name,
as she has said numerous times in interviews, comes from
that of a Korean general, Kim Yushin whose childhood name
was Sandara.
Sandara was born to affluent Korean parents. However, by the
time Sandara was 8-years-old, her father's relatives placed
him in a financially tight spot which then crippled his
business. In hopes of recovering from this business strain,
Sandara's father tried his luck in the Philippines, settling
in a small apartment in Pasay City and started a business.
Sandara and her family remained in her grandmother's house
in South Korea for some time until her father finally had
enough money to relocate his family to the Philippines.
Initially, no one in their family were fluent in English or
Tagalog. Sandara eventually enrolled in voice lessons at the
Center for Pop Music in the early 2000s.
During one of her school functions, Sandara met Pauleen Luna
who was then a talent of ABS-CBN Channel 2. Luna encouraged
the shy Sandara to audition for Star Circle Quest, a
then-upcoming talent search for ABS-CBN. Park tried her luck
and was in the same batch with fellow questors, Hero Angeles
and Joseph Bitangcol.
The show's judges called her in and was able to elude
elimination several times, paving way for 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. Though she had some comedic
ability, she remained monotonous, dull or lacking in timing.
But what she lacked in talent, she made up in charisma. A
proof of this was that during the whole run of the show she
consistently garnered the Texter's Choice Award, an award
given weekly for the contestant who got the most text votes
from the viewers. During the last elimination round where
the final five contestants were chosen, Sandara made
Philippine history by garnering approximately 500,000 text
votes, making her the first female to garner that much SMS
support. And so she was in until the final night where she
was announced 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.
Also during the run of the contest she was paired with Hero
Angeles but their relationship became increasingly
estranged. This later ended up in a real fight that broke up
their partnership.
ABS-CBN showered Park with projects after her Star Circle
Quest days. She had six local commercial endorsements for
personal care and stationary products. She also received
several television show offers. She starred as Sandara Soh
in a Star Circle Quest spin-off SCQ Reload, OK Ako (SCQ
Reload, I'm OK), and hosted Sandara's Romance, a show
featuring Korean dramas and commentary, and had a hosting
stint on ASAP Fanatic, a Sunday noontime teen variety show.
She also appeared in a local daily primetime superhero soap
opera, Krystala, as Kim, who shares similar personalities
with her real-life self, but her tight schedule limited her
appearances.
In addition, Sandara also embarked on a musical career that
eventually led to the release of her self-titled 6-track
album which spawned the novelty dance hits "In Or Out", a
song that parodied her experiences on Star Circle Quest, and
"Walang Sabit", the jingle for Rejoice Shampoo. In proof of
Sandara's rapidly rising star status, the album was
certified double platinum after 6 months, selling 60,000
copies.
Sandara also appeared in two movies within separate years.
First was a storyline in the three-storied movie Bcuz of U
where she co-starred with other prominent young local
actors. Second was her own movie with her loveteam partner,
Hero Angeles, Can This Be Love, which grossed P90,090,000.
After a tumultuous partnership with Hero Angeles, Sandara
Park opted to pursue college and workshop lessons in Seoul,
South Korea. There were rumors and statements in the Korean
press that Sandara had tried to become a singer/actress in
South Korea, but due to some series of setbacks, it somehow
never materialized.
Soon, local media, playing along the controversy, voiced
their unhealthy indifference with Angeles and his
brother-turned-manager, Henry. This even lead to the Angeles
brothers suing writer, columnist, and showbiz aficionado,
Cristy Fermin. Nonetheless, Sandara left for Korea still,
leaving her troubles unfixed and for the public to decide.
During her stay in Korea, her rumored boyfriend, Joseph
Bitangcol, openly admitted their relationship on national TV
via the showbiz talk show, The Buzz, shocking Hero-Sandara
fans.
Six months after she first announced her plans of studying
in Korea, Sandara came back to the Philippines to continue
her career. ABS-CBN had already released Angeles, and with
no one currently paired with her, Joseph Bitangcol took the
spot Angeles left.
When Sandara came back in December 2005, she found that her
schedule was less tight than before. She had very little TV
guestings and only had one regular Sunday show. Crowd
reception also seemed cold for her comeback. This is partly
because of the success and attention the Pinoy Big Brother
Season One housemates were having.
In early March 2006, Sandara voiced out on national
television her feelings for the cold reception she has
received on her comeback, as well as her envy towards the
Pinoy Big Brother housemates, commenting on them as
colorful, while she is black and white.
But the real surprise was when she revealed that her father
abandoned them and that he has another family which he
resides with. Tears flowing, Sandara revealed that her
father is a wife-beater and has taken all her savings,
leaving them hard-put once again.
About a week after Sandara did the aforementioned interview,
Star Cinema studios revealed its intent on casting Sandara
and her boyfriend Joseph in D'Lucky Ones, coupled with her
latest single, Ang Ganda Ko, the movie's official theme
song. The movie opened in theaters on April 16, 2006 and
grossed only P71, 180, 000.
Very recently, Park signed up with Regal Films as an actress
for its movies. Dondon Monteverde, Regal's talent manager
for Aubrey Miles, is in charge of Park's projects in the
film outfit. She will make her "Regal baby debut" in the
upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival entry Super Noypi
working aside the actors from GMA Network. Park is a member
of ABS-CBN's elite circle of homegrown talents, properly
named Star Magic.
Despite being a contract star of ABS-CBN, Park appeared as a
guest on the December 31, 2006 edition of GMA Network's Mel
& Joey. This appearance sparked rumors that Park is
exploring the opportunity of transferring to the rival
network.
Despite being enormously popular with the teen/young-adult
market, critics had panned Park for being "all hype, and no
substance."
Enthusiasm for Sandara has died down since her and Hero
Angeles's breakup. The latter eventually faded out of memory
due to further controversies with ABS-CBN and a couple of
reporters. When the HeroSan mania that prevented other
loveteams from gaining recognition had fizzled out, so did
the career of Sandara whose reel and real partnership with
fellow Star Circle Questor Joseph Bitangol could hardly take
off as a loveteam.
It is said that Sandara's popularity will further drop with
the entry of newer, fresher and younger Pinoy Big Brother
Teen celebrities. |
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i hope we can be friend..
friendster Mhiss.Supladita@yahoo.com.ph
more power dara..