Female lead cast for Park Jae-beom film

Singer T-ae has been cast as the female lead for Hollywood film "Hype Nation" starring former boy band 2PM member Park Jae-beom.

DrMusic, in charge of managing T-ae's girl group RaNia, said Tuesday that T-ae will play the role of Park's younger sister in the b-boy film about a dance contest between an American dance crew and South Korean dancers.

T-ae was recommended for the role by famed hip-hop producer Teddy Riley who has collaborated with Park on tracks for Snoop Dogg, Daz and T-Pain.

The entire RaNia team, composed of seven members, will also perform in the movie by producer Young Lee.

"I'm extremely happy to appear in a Hollywood even before my debut...... I know what a great opportunity this will be for me. I will do my best," T-ae was quoted as saying.

RaNia is said to be preparing for a debut in July and are planning on expanding their singing career into the U.S. shortly after.

Meanwhile, Park is the ex-leader of the now six-man band 2PM who quit his band last September after comments he made on his MySpace account before his debut surfaced and stirred nationwide controversy.

He was expected to rejoin the group earlier this year but officially parted with JYPE for good in February over "a huge personal wrongdoing."

Park had been staying in the U.S. since, dancing with his b-boy crew Art of Movement and preparing for a debut in the U.S. music scene through collaborations with Dumbfoundead and Riley.

Most recently, he signed with U.S. online media company Digital Media Wire (DMW) to manage his career in the entertainment business.

Park, 23, is expected to return to Korea soon to shoot "Hype Nation" which will be shot 70 percent in the country.

Reporter : Park Kun-ouc kun1112@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@