Actress Park Shin Hye is hard at work. Not only is she preparing for her role in the upcoming film "The Tailors" but she's also back at school and hitting the books.
"The weather is so good," she recently wrote on Twitter. "This is a great day for hiking but I can only be there in spirit. The reality is that I am at school and I am experiencing the life of a university student who has back-to-back classes."
Park Shin Hye has been studying acting at the Chung-Ang University Department of Theater and Play since 2008. While that might seem like a long time to get a degree, she has more than once taken a leave of absence to participate in acting projects and fan events. She took a leave of absence in 2009 to film "You're Beautiful." She also left school in late 2010 to mid-year 2011 for the film, "Cyrano Agency" and the drama "Heartstrings."
Some have described the actress as a "ghost student," one who is barely there. It's a criticism leveled at actors who only attend a minimum of classes. But that's one of the reasons she more than once took a leave of absence. When she is attending school, she wants the full school experience.
And she works hard when she is there. Despite the interruptions she has managed to keep a 3.0 grade point average. She wanted to have the full experience, even if it meant she could not graduate on time.
The actress, who was recently seen playing a high school student in "The Heirs" with Lee Min Ho, says that her commitment to school has at times concerned her agency. She is so sought after that they naturally want to her to focus on her career when she is at the height of her popularity.
Working and going to school at the same time is not easy and the actress has confessed to being tired, especially when she was both attending school and working on last year's comedy "Flower Boys Next Door." To juggle both work and school she sometimes only gets a few hours of sleep a night.
"For Flower Boys Next Door, I started filming right after my midterm exams, so it was quite hard for me," she said.
Last year, besides her appearing with Yoon Si Yoon in "Flower Boys Next Door," she also appeared in the film "Miracle of Cell # 7."
Next, she plays a Joseon-era queen in the film "The Tailors." That queen's fashion choices will wind up influencing court politics. And, with any luck, the next year might also be the year in which her hard work finally pays off in a degree.
