Park Ju Hyun turned down a casting offer from SM Entertainment as a teenager.
The actress revealed the surprise on July 19 on MBC’s variety show Omniscient Interfering View.
Before debuting as an actress, Park was street-casted by SM while visiting Lotte World.
“I’m from Busan, and one day while I was visiting Lotte World, I was street-casted.”
— Park Ju Hyun
Despite loving music and singing, she felt the pressure was too much to become a trainee.
“It was too much pressure.”
— Park Ju Hyun
Instead of joining SM’s trainee system, she formed a high-school band.
Park’s first acting role was in Netflix’s Extracurricular while she was still in college. Since then, she’s built a solid acting career with hits like Love All Play and Perfect Family.
Rejecting SM wasn’t the end—it was a pivot that led Park Ju Hyun to her real potential in acting.
