Sandara Park was born on November 12, 1984 in Busan, South Korea is a Korean who once starred in movies and television shows in the Philippines. Her unusual three-syllable Korean name, which she has mentioned numerous times in interviews, comes from that of a Korean general, Kim Yushin whose childhood name was Sandara.
Sandara was born to affluent Korean parents. However, by the time Sandara was 8-years-old, her father's relatives placed him in a financially tight spot which then crippled his business. In hope of recovering from this business strain, Sandara's father tried his luck in the Philippines, settling in a small apartment in Pasay City and starting a business. Sandara and her family remained in her grandmother's house in South Korea for some time until her father finally had enough money to relocate his family to the Philippines.
During one of her school functions, Sandara met Pauleen Luna who was then a talent of ABS-CBN Channel 2. Luna encouraged the shy Sandara to audition for Star Circle Quest, a then-upcoming talent search for ABS-CBN. Park tried her luck and was in the same batch with fellow questors, Hero Angeles and Joseph Bitangcol.
The show's judges called her in and was able to elude elimination several times, paving way for inclusion into the contestant pool's top ten. Being a native Korean, she displayed some trouble with the daily exercises set by the panel of Filipino judges. Though she had some comedic ability, she remained monotonous, dull or lacking in timing. What she lacked in talent however, she made up with charisma. She proved this during the whole run of the show in which she consistently garnered the Texter's Choice Award, an award given weekly for the contestant who got the most text votes from the viewers. During the last elimination round in which the final five contestants were chosen, Sandara made Philippine history by garnering approximately 500,000 text votes, making her the first female to garner that much SMS support. And so she was in until the final night where she was announced runner-up to Hero Angeles. It is estimated that she got at least 2,000,000 accumulated SMS votes from supporters during the entire run of the contest.
After a tumultuous partnership with Hero Angeles, Sandara Park opted to pursue college and workshop lessons in Seoul, South Korea. There were rumors and statements in the Korean press that Sandara had tried to become a singer and actress in South Korea, but due to a series of setbacks, it never materialized.
Soon, local media, playing along the controversy, voiced their unhealthy indifference with Angeles and his brother-turned-manager, Henry. This even led to the Angeles brothers suing writer, columnist, and showbiz aficionado, Cristy Fermin. Nonetheless, Sandara left for Korea still, leaving her troubles unresolved and for the public to decide.
During her stay in Korea, her rumored boyfriend, Joseph Bitangcol, openly admitted their relationship on national TV via the showbiz talk show, The Buzz, shocking Hero-Sandara fans.
