She is best known for her leading roles in the television series Please Come Back, Soon-ae (2006), War of Money (2007), and Giant (2010), as well as for the film Shadows in the Palace (2007).

Park made her acting debut in 1996 teen drama Start, and rose to stardom in the 1998 horror film Whispering Corridors.

She was praised for her emotional performance as a single mother in the KBS television series Stock Flower in 2001, but her other TV dramas were deemed forgettable.

Playing a court medic who investigates a murder within the ranks of the royal harem and household (the film's Korean title translates to gungnyeo, or "palace women"), Park received critical acclaim for her performance, with one review calling it "the peak of her 10-year acting career.

And Park's portrayal of a vengeance-driven, ambitious woman who finds success as a loan shark[13] was again lauded at the SBS Drama Awards.

She and Kim Hae-sook played mother and daughter in the melodrama A Long Visit (also known as My Mom),[14][15] followed by Park's cameo appearance in war film 71: Into the Fire.

Part-mystery, part-coming-of-age film, Grape Candy explored the nostalgia and tension at the reunion of two old high school friends who share a painful past.

[24] Park replaced Go Hyun-jung as the lead actress in SBS thriller Return, after the latter quit due to conflicts with the production team.

She came as part of the volunteer group Information Network Village (of which she was spokesperson), which aims to reduce the digital gap between rural and urban areas.