Park Ji-hyun, who rose to fame on TVING’s hit dating reality show Transit Love 4, is returning to acting. The former reality star announced the news herself on November 7, unveiling plans for a one-person stage play at the end of the year and a small drama role airing this month.
The announcement came in a video titled “Returning as an actress after a long time.. Acting Vlog | Preparing to meet the Songi,” posted to her personal YouTube channel “I’m Ji-hyun” on November 7. In the video, Park sits down with a classmate from the Korea National University of Arts and looks back on the winding road that took her away from acting — and eventually brought her back.
Park revealed that she quit acting at the age of 26, after years of training and early roles, to pursue a career as a television announcer. The decision, she said, terrified her. “It was scary to give up something I had spent so long on,” she said in the video, recalling that she even visited a shaman for guidance at the time. She asked whether she could pass the announcer exam — and was told, in her retelling, “Try it. You will come back anyway. You will return to the entertainment industry in three years.”
Park admitted she did not believe the prediction. At 26, with her acting career stalled, she doubted she could succeed as an actress if she returned in her late twenties. But the forecast proved oddly accurate: Transit Love 4, she said, brought her into the entertainment world again. “Suddenly I came to a place like the entertainment industry through Transit Love,” she said.
Now Park is mapping out what comes next. She said she is preparing a one-person play of around 30 minutes, created together with an installation artist, and hopes to stage it around the end of the year. The project doubles as a chance to meet her fans, whom she calls Songi, in person. “I really wanted to meet my fans, and a good opportunity arose at the end of the year,” she said. She added that she is considering donating all of the proceeds from the performance in her fans’ name, saying it would make the project even more meaningful.
Park was candid about her nerves. She has never performed in a paid theater production before — her stage experience is limited to school productions — and she admitted she is unsure whether she can still pull it off after so long away. “I have never done theater for money. I have only done it at school,” she said. “If I just do my best with all my heart, I think it will be okay.”
Alongside the play, Park shared a second piece of news: a drama she filmed in a small role before appearing on Transit Love 4 is scheduled to air in November. She said she shot the part about a year and a half ago, while she was studying for the announcer exam, and only recently discovered it had been scheduled. “I searched for the title of that drama after a long time, and it was scheduled for November,” she said. “It comes out in a small role. I had so much fun filming it.”
Park also spoke about the kinds of roles she wants to take on. Romance is her first choice, she said, followed by office dramas. But she stressed that she is not approaching the comeback with grand ambitions. “Rather than wanting to do acting well again, I have the mindset of trying things that look fun,” she said.
Her classmate offered encouragement in the video and in a comment afterward, writing that Park should “walk only on a flower path” in acting for a long time, and that knowing how passionate she was in her student days made the return worth celebrating.
Park’s acting roots predate her reality television fame. Before Transit Love 4, she appeared in dramas including VIP, Show Window: The Queen’s House, and Oh! Young-shim-i, building a modest resume before stepping away from the profession at 26 to chase the announcer’s exam.
Her profile changed dramatically through Transit Love 4, TVING’s dating show in which former couples live together and navigate new romances. Park appeared on the fourth season alongside her ex-boyfriend Jung Won-gyu, and the two reunited on the show before going public with their relationship. The couple announced their breakup last month, and Park has since spoken openly on her channel about how the split changed her outlook.
The November drama appearance and the year-end play mark her first acting steps since that chapter closed. No official statement was available from an agency, and Park has not yet shared a title or broadcast details for the November drama, or a date and venue for the play. She closed the video by promising to return with good news once the plans are finalized, telling fans she hopes to spend a warm year-end with them.
