Park Eun Bin shares lessons from portrayal of Woo Young Woo in Daesang Award acceptance speech
Apart from fulfilling her dream of receiving a "grand prize" as an actor, Park Eun Bin is grateful for receiving this year's Daesang Award as it marks her success in encouraging the world to be kinder to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The recently concluded 59th Baeksang Arts Awards, held on Friday, April 28, has awarded actors who gave exemplary performances for their roles in films, television, and theater.
Eun Bin was awarded the Daesang Award—the highest award in the prestigious award-giving body in the Korean entertainment industry—for her portrayal of a rookie attorney with autism in the drama series Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
The actress received the grand prize with an emotional speech, expressing her immense gratitude to everyone who supported the show.
“I think I received the award thanks to the many people who loved the drama. First of all, I sincerely thank everyone who watched Woo Young Woo,” said Eun Bin, as translated by Koreaboo.
“I received a lot of love and attention beyond everyone’s expectations. In fact, I don’t think I would be where I am today without your love.”
The 30-year-old actress also shared that her feat fulfills her childhood dream of achieving a grand prize.
“When I was young, I thought that if I didn’t give up on my dream of being an actor, it would be nice to become an adult who could win the grand prize someday. Thank you for making my dream come true today,” she continued.
But apart from earning the privilege to tick that dream off her bucket list, Eun Bin is grateful that her portrayal of Woo Young Woo has been promoting kindness, especially for people in the same spectrum who are "diverse, not different."
“I hope that the attempt to understand Young Woo was a good experience to learn a bit about the autism spectrum,” she said.
“In fact, I didn’t have a grandiose dream that I would play a part in changing the world, but while working on this, I acted in hopes that at least we could have a kinder heart than before and that we could recognize the unique character of each person as diverse rather than being different. Thank you very much for taking an interest in each step I take,” she continued.
She furthered her speech, opening up about the struggles she faced while playing the role.
“Actually, it took me quite a while before I decided to face Woo Young Woo. Because depending on how I express Woo Young Woo as an actor and how I approach you as a person, I was afraid that it might hurt someone,” she said.
“So, it was absolutely necessary to verify every moment to see if the thoughts that passed through me about autistic people and lawyers were not caused by prejudices I had unknowingly,” she continued.
“There was a time when I faced my own limits for the first time, so I was really fortunate to be able to finish it after overcoming those frustrations.”
Eun Bin concluded her speech by sharing her favorite line from the series.
“My favorite line from the drama is, ‘My life is strange and eccentric, but it is valuable and beautiful.’ I was really happy to be able to tell this story through Young Woo. I learned a lot because Young Woo seemed to be telling me to think of the strange and eccentric parts that I know, but others don’t, and that others know but I don’t, and to think of them as valuable and beautiful,” she explained.
“I want to cherish for a long time the steps of Young Woo, who took strong steps while acknowledging, accepting, and embracing her life, even though it was difficult.”
Aside from Eun Bin’s Daesang, Extraordinary Attorney Woo also bagged the Best Director award.
Eun Bin is also known for her roles in The King’s Affection, Do You Like Brahms?, Hello, My Twenties!, and Hot Stove League, among others.