Born March 14, 1974 in Los Angeles, CA, Park moved with her family to Vancouver, British Columbia when she was just 22 months old. Raised in the city’s large Korean community, Park graduated from Magee Secondary School in 1992 before attending the University of British Columbia, where she earned a degree in psychology. After graduation, she began modeling, but quickly segued into an acting career. She made quite an impression with a small, but memorable role as a stripper in “Romeo Must Die” (2000), Jet Li’s martial arts and hip-hop take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. After a guest spot on the short-lived spy thriller, “Secret Agent Man” (UPN, 1999-2000), Park landed her first regular series role, playing the shy, but opinionated Shannon Ng on the Canadian-made teen drama, “Edgemont,” which followed the lives of several high school students grappling with problems as they come of age. Park was a consistent presence on the show’s five season run on the CBC, seeing her character go through a myriad of emotional conflicts, including the realization that she is a lesbian and the subsequent fallout with her disapproving parents.
Despite not being the main focus on “Edgemont,” it was clear that Park stood apart from the rest of the cast. She made further inroads on American television with guest starring roles on “Dark Angel” (Fox, 2000-02),“Stargate SG-1” (Showtime/Sci Fi Channel, 1997-2007) and “Jake 2.0” (UPN, 2003-04), while continuing to appear on Canadian-based shows like “The Immortal” (Syndicated, 2000-01). In 2003, she took a giant leap forward in her career when she was cast as Lieutenant Sharon “Boomer” Valerii on the revamped version of “Battlestar Galactica” (Sci Fi Channel, 2003), a three-hour miniseries that launched the acclaimed sci-fi series that followed in 2004. The series focused on the last remaining humans after a catastrophic war with the man-made Cylons, who relentlessly pursue the survivors as they search desperately for Earth. Though in the original 1978 series, Boomer was played by an African-American man (Herb Jefferson, Jr.) and was generally seen as a minor supporting player, Park’s Boomer became a catalyst for much of the action, especially when it was revealed that she was a Cylon sleeper agent programmed to think she’s human, complete with memories of a childhood on another planet.