From GOT7's Junior to Actor: Park Jinyoung Hits No. 1 in Buzz Ranking

Park Jinyoung started out as "Junior," rose to stardom as "Jinyoung" of boy group GOT7, and is now making his name konwn as an actor. His role in the tvN drama "100 Days of Deception" (Baegirui Geojitmal) has propelled him to the No. 1 spot on a weekly buzz ranking of TV and streaming cast members, covering the fifth week of October.

The ranking comes from FUNdex, a service run by Good Data Corporation that tracks online buzz around TV and streaming shows and their casts. According to its combined TV and OTT cast rankings for the fifth week of October, Park took the top spot with a 4.12% share. He climbed two spots from No. 3 the previous week.

His co-star Kim You-jung came in at No. 2 with 4.10%. Kim Ji-won of "Doctor X: Mafia in White" (Dakteo X: Hayan Mapiaui Sidae) followed at No. 3 with 3.41%.

In the tvN weekend drama, Park plays Sato Hideo, an elite interpreter. Hideo is the adopted son of Sato Shinichi (played by Jin Seon-kyu), the administrative superintendent of the Government-General of Korea, the Japanese colonial administration that governed Korea. Hideo has Korean roots but is forced to live as a Japanese man. His birth name is Kim Tae-woong.

Park moves between warmth and coldness to show the character's complex inner life. Hideo looks out for Lee Ga-kyung (Kim Yoo-jung) with great care, only to deliberately push her away moments later. He is visibly shaken when his adoptive father shows him approval, but he quickly hides his emotions.

Through restrained acting, Park brings out the conflict between Hideo's Korean heritage and the Japanese identity he has been forced to assume. The role has made him one of the show's central figures.

Many viewers now know him as actor Park Jin-young, but he has gone by different stage names throughout his career. His real name is the same as that of JYP Entertainment founder J.Y. Park. To avoid confusion early in his career, he went by the stage name "Junior." In 2016, while active as a member of GOT7, he changed it to "Jinyoung."

Acting was also part of his career from the beginning. Park made his acting debut in 2012 on the KBS2 drama "Dream High 2." That same year, he launched his music career as one half of JJ Project.

After debuting with GOT7 in 2014, he kept acting alongside his activities as an idol. He has since built his acting résumé with projects such as "He Is Psychometric," "The Devil Judge," "Yumi's Cells" and "Our Unwritten Seoul."

The path from "Junior" to GOT7's Jinyoung has now led to an established identity as an actor in his own right. By reaching the top of the buzz ranking with a multidimensional character like Sato Hideo, Park has turned "100 Days of Lies" into another clear showcase of what he can brings as an actor.