It is hard to imagine who could have played Woo Young-woo, the main character in the TV drama, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which ended on August 18, if it weren’t for the actor, Park Eun-bin (30). Park Eun-bin perfectly pronounced and recited the long lines without a single comma. Since the character had autism spectrum disorder (ASD), naturally, she was not good at emotional exchanges. Yet through her relationships with the people around her, she slowly developed empathy skills, and the actor tactfully expressed this. Park Eun-bin played a major part in persuasively bringing a “strange” yet adorable character, uncommon in existing dramas, to life.

The director and the writer both thought Park Eun-bin was the perfect Woo Young-woo, but Park refused to play the part at first. When the Kyunghyang Shinmun met Park Eun-bin in a café in Gangnam, Seoul on August 22, she said, “I declined because, although everyone trusted me, I wasn’t sure I could do that well.” She explained, “When I come across a role, I have to be able to picture that character playing in my mind without any prejudice. But when I first received the offer, I couldn’t picture anything, and it was so hard because I had no idea where to start and how to approach the character.” She was able to build up the courage and accept the role only after she was offered the part a second time, and in the end, Park Eun-bin splendidly portrayed a world known as Woo Young-woo.

Park said, “I had thought that this was a good drama, but I was surprised at the viewer rating, which far exceeded our expectations from the second episode.” Extraordinary Attorney Woo emerged as the hottest drama this year. The viewer rating, which recorded 0.9% for the first episode, soared to 17.5% in the last episode (Nielsen Korea, based on households subscribing to non-terrestrial channels). Even overseas viewers are enjoying the drama, which ranked first among the non-English TV dramas on Netflix for three consecutive weeks. When asked what the secret to the popularity was, Park said, “I usually think fun and laughter exist in the cultural code, but I think the drama had something that went beyond those--viewer sensitivity.”

“I don’t think we’ve seen a woman with autism as a woman who personally communicates with others, and not as an observer, in Korean dramas. How that person is thrown into a major law firm and how she blends into that world, what kind of challenges she experiences in the course of forming relationships and how she grows--I think perhaps many people wanted to witness that process. I am grateful that the viewers watched the process with curiosity and explored the unfamiliar and raw world of Young-woo together,” said Park

Autism spectrum disorder has a wide variety of conditions. Just because a person is autistic does not mean that she shows common symptoms like echolalia and obsessive-compulsive behavior. The ability to communicate can be different from one person to another. This was why Park Eun-bin did not refer to any autistic characters in previous works and focused on expressing a fresh character. She said, “The professor I consulted told me that Woo Young-woo was a character that did not actually exist, so I thought about what kind of character I should portray to deliver the message that this drama wanted to deliver to the viewers.” She stressed, “I wanted to make sure I never mimicked real autistic people with my accent and behavior.”

“Actors have their own methodology, but my thought was that I shouldn’t simply observe real autistic people and use their image as a tool or device. If there was a story that needed to be conveyed through Extraordinary Attorney Woo, then I thought I should find a uniqueness by building Woo Young-woo’s individual character.... So I ruled out references. After listening to the lecture by my advising professor, I searched for the criteria when diagnosing a person with autistic spectrum disorder and that helped a lot in interpreting the character. I looked up the four criteria for diagnosing Asperger’s syndrome from before and studied reference books for specific characteristics of Woo Young-woo,” said Park.

There was criticism that the drama failed to properly portray the actual autistic spectrum disorder, but the drama’s popularity triggered social interest and discussions on the disorder. Park said that she even received a handwritten letter from a person with autistic spectrum disorder thanking her. The actor said, “The person mentioned that the media tended to emphasize only the dark side of autism and thanked me for expressing the adorable image of an autistic person as well.” Park continued and said, “I hoped that the way I tried to portray the character would not hurt anyone, and I thought it was a relief that there was a person who was telling me that it was the right way.”

Extraordinary Attorney Woo conveyed social messages through the different trials in each episode. When asked what her favorite episodes were, Park Eun-bin chose episodes three and four. Episode three portrayed the hardships of a family living with a member with severe autistic spectrum disorder through an autistic boy whom people believed had fatally assaulted his big brother. Episode four showed Woo Young-woo solving a lawsuit between her best friend (portrayed by Joo Hyun-young) Dong Geurami’s family and her relatives. She said the line that touched her the most was, “My life may be strange and unusual, but it is valuable and beautiful.”

“I believe that line tells everything that this drama wanted to convey through Young-woo. Like the lines in the drama, there are countless narwhals living among beluga whales in this world, aren’t there? The line was very moving for she sees herself as a narwhal and lives acknowledging the difference,” said the actor.

Park Eun-bin, who debuted as a child actor, is a veteran actor with 27 years of experience. She already received a lot of love with dramas like Age of Youth and Stove League, but it was nothing like the attention that poured on her with Extraordinary Attorney Woo. When asked if this drama was a special turning point in her life as an actor, Park said, “It will be remembered as a work that received a lot of love, but for me, all the works and characters I acted are special and lovable.” She added, “I think I’ll go on without any significant changes from before.”

However, Extraordinary Attorney Woo did give Park a chance to recall her thoughts on the responsibility of an actor. She said, “I’m not a person with a grand dream to improve someone else’s awareness, but I am constantly aware of the influence an actor has.” She further said, “Receiving more attention than expected from everyone gives me a sense of moral responsibility.” She also said, “If Extraordinary Attorney Woo can evoke social problems and have a positive influence, I think the change from this moment, when the drama has ended, and onwards will be important.”