With a career spanning decades, Daniel Dae Kim has made a point of playing multifaceted and stereotype-breaking roles as an actor. Prior to his seven-season portrayal of Chin Ho Kelly on Hawaii Five-0, which ended in 2020, Kim was best known for his role as Jin Soo Kwon on the hit TV series Lost. In addition to his on-screen achievements, Kim is recognized for his vocal advocacy on social issues and his efforts to foster greater inclusivity in Hollywood.
When he’s not on screen, he’s actively supporting and championing projects that challenge stereotypes and promote authentic portrayals of Asian and Asian American experiences. Kim discusses the historical underrepresentation of Asian Americans in media, including the lack of opportunities for actors, and how the 1961 movie musical Flower Drum Song allowed its cast to be “unapologetically Asian.”
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
I think the thing that has had an impact on my life is the Rodgers and Hammerstein movie, Flower Drum Song. And the reason that had such an impact on my life was because when I started acting, it was in the early ‘90s, and I had grown up to think that there were no Asian leading men or leading women.
I saw this movie one night on VHS, that gives you an idea of when it was, and I remember my jaw was literally hanging open. Because here I saw a completely Asian American cast, without accents, [showing the] spectrum of humanity [and] life [in] San Francisco in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I thought to myself, I'd been taught all along that we didn't exist, but we did.
Flower Drum Song (1961) Trailer
And not only did we exist, but I'm seeing people like James Shigeta and Nancy Kwan doing glorious things on screen. When people said “oh, Asian people can't be this or can't be that,” here was the evidence [that we could be anything]. Here was the receipt. That movie was shot in the ‘60s and by a pair of composers who were traditionally known for doing very Americana type stories. And I thought to myself, we can do this. We have the proof. We have the history, there's no reason why we can't and it reinforced in me this idea that there were institutionalized reasons why we were not given the opportunity.
I also remember when I was starting out as an actor, I kept hearing ‘Oh well, Asian people can't be funny.’ Now you look today at people like Ali Wong, Ronny Chieng, Ken Jeong, Jimmy O. Yang, Jo Koy… the list goes on. But we've always been there, we've never not been able to do these things. We've just never been able to have the opportunity.
That sense of community is so apparent in every frame [of Flower Drum Song]. The fact that they are unapologetically Asian in this movie is something that we strive for today, to be unapologetic about who you are in general. And the fact that they were doing this back then it just shows you again that it's not a matter of “if.”