Daniel Dae Kim

Early life and education

Kim was born in Busan, South Korea, and moved to the United States at age one. He grew up in New York City and in Easton and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, graduating from Freedom High School in Bethlehem. He earned double bachelor's degrees in theater and political science from Haverford College in 1990, having studied at the National Theater Institute during a semester in 1989. He received a Master of Fine Arts from New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 1996.

Career

After graduate school, Kim appeared in numerous television programs and stage productions at venues including Pan Asian Repertory Theatre and The Public Theatre. He guest-starred on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, The Shield, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, and ER, and was a regular on the short-lived Crusade. He had recurring roles on Angel and 24, and portrayed Dr. Tsi Chou in a 2008 miniseries based on The Andromeda Strain.

His film credits include a Shaolin monk in American Shaolin (1992), a scientist in Spider-Man 2 (2004), and roles in Crash (2004), The Jackal (1997), For Love of the Game (1999), Hulk (2003), and The Cave (2005). From 2004 to 2010, he played Jin-Soo Kwon on Lost, a role requiring him to speak exclusively in Korean, which he relearned. He and the cast won a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble, and he received individual honors including an AZN Asian Excellence Award.

He voiced Johnny Gat in the Saints Row video game series starting in 2006 and Metron in Justice League Unlimited that same year. He played the King of Siam in The King and I at Royal Albert Hall in 2009 and made his Broadway debut in the same role at Lincoln Center Theatre in 2016.

Activism

Kim has spoken about Asian American discrimination, including after testing positive for COVID-19, when he urged an end to prejudice and violence against Asian people. In January 2017, he joined a government-sponsored trip to Israel with other actors to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. He attended the Anti-Defamation League's Never Is Now conference in 2021.

Did You Know?

• Kim is an avid collector of fine vintage watches, some of which have appeared in his films.
• He runs the production company 3AD, which produced The Good Doctor.
• He was named one of People Magazine's 'Sexiest Men Alive' in 2005.