Park Ji-young originally aspired to enter a college of music as she was already a good flute player, but her designation as 1st runner-up of Miss Chunhyang Beauty Pageant in 1988 propelled her to the show business. She passed an actor audition held by TV network MBC the following year, and so started in 1990 to appear in various TV series and soap operas. She accepted in 1991 an offer from competing network SBS, which led to legal complications with MBC, but it is her collaboration with the third major network, KBS, that ultimately got her noticed by the audience. After holding the lead role in the soap opera "When I Miss You" (1993-1994), one of the most popular shows of the time, she was given the title role in period drama TV series "Jang Nok-su"(1995). The series, which told the Shakespearian story of a real-life woman of humble descent during the Joseon dynasty who climbed the social ladder as female entertainer and ultimately joined the court of the king, established PARK as one of the finest actors on television. After this role, she received a lot of offers for historical court dramas but mainly appeared in romantic and family dramas. As she was paying the price of celebrity, she decided in 2005 to take some time away from the spotlights by moving to Vietnam, where her husband had been working for a while. She made a remarkable comeback in 2006 by debuting on the big screen with "The Show Must Go On", a gangster-action film with SONG Kang-ho as her co-star. After playing the lead in indie drama film "One Step More To The Sea" (2009) and appearing in IM Sang-soo's "The Housemaid" (2010), she made a strong impression as the Queen Mother in historical drama "The Concubine" (2012), for which she was named Best Supporting Actress at the Buil Film Awards. She made the news again in 2016 when she starred as a mother who acts as a detective in thriller, "The Queen of Crime", from the famous indie filmmakers collective KwangHwaMoon Cinema.