Actor Park Ji-hoon, a double winner at the Baeksang Arts Awards. Courtesy of YY Entertainment

Actor Park Ji-hoon became a double winner at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

On the 8th, at COEX D Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, at the ‘The 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards’, he received Best New Actor in Film and the Naver Popularity Award. The Popularity Award was selected through a fan vote held on Naver e-Enter from April 24 to May 5, and Park ranked first with 48.7% of the votes.

Park Ji-hoon made his first appearance in a commercial feature with the film ‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ (directed by Jang Hang-jun), playing Danjong Yi Hongwi. He portrayed the inner world of the character with a delicate emotional arc, and was credited with creating a wave dubbed ‘Danjong fever’.

‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ surpassed 16.81 million cumulative admissions as of the 8th, based on the integrated computer network for movie theater admissions, placing second all time among Korean films. No. 1 is the 2014 ‘Myeongnyang’ (17.61 million).

After receiving the Best New Actor award, he said, “I would like to thank director Jang Hang-jun for believing in me to the very end,” and added, “Thank you so much for believing with the conviction ‘It had to be you’ and for standing by me all the way.” Regarding his co-star Yoo Hae-jin, he said, “It was truly an honor to share this kind of energy with a senior,” and added, “I also really wanted to extend my thanks to May.”

‘The Man Who Lives With the King’ was also nominated in major categories including Best Film and Best Director in the film division.

Starting in Tokyo, Japan on the 23rd, Park Ji-hoon will hold the fan concert ‘Reflect’ (RE:FLECT) on the 30th and 31st at KINTEX Exhibition Hall 1 in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. He will then continue an Asia tour that includes Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, and Jakarta.