Daniel Dae Kim

Actor

Birthday August 4, 1968

Birth Sign Leo

Birthplace Busan, South Korea

Age 55 years old

Nationality South Korea

Height 175 cm

#3771 Most Popular

1968

Daniel Dae Kim (born August 4, 1968) is an American actor.

He is known for his roles as Jin-Soo Kwon in Lost, Chin Ho Kelly in Hawaii Five-0, Gavin Park in Angel, and Johnny Gat in the Saints Row video game series.

He also runs a production company, 3AD, which is currently producing the television series The Good Doctor.

1990

In 1990, Kim graduated from Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania with double bachelor's degrees in theater and political science.

1992

Kim's film credits include a Shaolin monk in American Shaolin (1992), which enabled him to showcase his skills in Tae Kwon Do.

1996

He went on to earn an MFA from New York University's Graduate Acting Program in 1996.

After graduation, Kim made a name for himself playing numerous roles in a wide variety of television programs.

He appeared in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as a treasury agent as well as episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, The Shield, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, and ER.

He was a regular on the short-lived Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade and had recurring roles on Angel and 24.

1997

He also had minor roles in films such as The Jackal (1997), For Love of the Game (1999), Hulk (2003), and The Cave (2005).

2004

Then came a small part in Spider-Man 2 (2004) as a scientist working in Doctor Octavius' laboratory, and the drama Crash (2004).

From 2004 to 2010, Kim served as a regular cast member on the ABC series Lost, in which he played Jin-Soo Kwon, a lowly Korean fisherman-turned-hitman who crashes onto a mysterious island with his wife, Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim).

Since the role required him to speak exclusively in Korean, he said he was forced to quickly relearn the language, which he had not spoken with any great frequency since high school.

2005

Kim was also named one of People Magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2005.

2006

Throughout the show's run, he, along with his fellow cast members, received numerous accolades, including a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble.

He was individually honored with an AZN Asian Excellence Award, a Multicultural Prism Award, and a Vanguard Award from the Korean American Coalition, all for Outstanding Performance by an Actor.

Kim provided the voice of the character Johnny Gat for the Saints Row video game series, which debuted in 2006.

That same year, Kim provided the voice for Metron in the final two episodes of Justice League Unlimited.

2008

He also portrayed Dr. Tsi Chou in a 2008 miniseries based on the acclaimed Michael Crichton novel The Andromeda Strain.

2009

Kim played the King of Siam in Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I from June 12–28, 2009 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

2010

He would go on to play the character up until the 2010 series finale.

In February 2010, shortly after Lost 's conclusion, it was announced that Kim would join the CBS reboot Hawaii Five-0 as Chin Ho Kelly, the role originally made famous by actor Kam Fong.

He was the first actor to be officially cast on the show.

That series premiered on September 20, 2010, to strong ratings and solid critical acclaim.

2013

3AD is currently producing the ABC television series The Good Doctor, based on the 2013 South Korean series of the same name.

He is an executive producer on The Good Doctor and joined the show during its second season in the role of chief of surgery, Dr. Jackson Han.

2014

He served as a speaker at the 2014 University of Hawaii commencement ceremony.

Kim made his directorial debut with the Hawaii Five-0 season five episode "Kuka'awale".

Kim co-starred in The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the sequel to 2014's Divergent, playing Jack Kang, the leader of the Candor faction.

As the founder of the film and television production company 3AD, Kim in January 2014 signed a first-look development deal with CBS Television Studios, the first of its kind with an Asian-American actor.

2016

In January 2016, it was announced Kim would make his Broadway debut as the King of Siam in Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I from May 3 – June 26, 2016, at the Lincoln Center Theatre in New York.

2017

He departed the show together with Grace Park, the female lead, in late June 2017 prior to the eighth season due to a salary dispute with CBS.

They had been seeking pay equality with co-stars Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan, but CBS would not agree to it.

It was the first time since the reboot started that the show did not feature any Asian actors in the main cast.

2019

He portrayed Ben Daimio in the superhero film Hellboy (2019) and provided the voice of Chief Benja in the Disney animated film Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

Kim was born in Busan, South Korea, the son of mother Jung Kim and father Doo-tae Kim, but moved to the United States with his family when he was one year old.

He grew up in New York City, Easton, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

He graduated from Freedom High School in Bethlehem in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

In 2019, Kim played the role of Ben Daimio in the reboot film Hellboy.

He replaced Ed Skrein in the role to avoid a whitewashing controversy, as the character was Asian-American in the original comics.