Dan Kim '90
Hollywood Squares
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by Todd Larson
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Dan Kim '90 was not in American Beauty. Nor has he appeared in That '70s Show - yet. I say "yet" because he has appeared in guest spots on many of the most popular programs on television: Law & Order, Ally McBeal, Seinfeld, The Practice, Beverly Hills 90210 and NYPD Blue (ask him to tell you the story about Jimmy Smits and the Armani suit), just to name a few. Last year he starred as Lt. John Matheson on the TNT series Crusade, and his résumé also boasts roles in films like For Love of the Game and The Jackal, in which Kim played opposite his admitted "idol," Sydney Poitier.
When I catch with Kim, he's actually starring in a play - David Henry Hwang's Tony-nominated "Golden Child," which is playing in Little Tokyo. Although he claims that theater remains his "first love" (he has an MFA from NYU's Tisch school and a host of off-Broadway and regional theater experience), the New York transplant acknowledges that he relocated to the West Coast primarily because "L.A. is still the place to be" for more lucrative film and television work. "I miss New York," he says. "It's a great place to be young. But I've got a family to take care of now."
Kim credits that family - wife Mia and three-year-old son Zander - for keeping him balanced in the face of his increasing success. "As an actor," he explains, "it's so important to have somewhere you can go for stability and security. For me, that's my family." When audience members interrupt our post-show chat at a neighboring restaurant to offer congratulations on his performance, he is remarkably gracious and appreciative. He is similarly matter-of-fact about his impressive list of theater, film and television credits. In short, he displays none of the self-absorption I would expect of a successful young actor. Kim laughs when describing Zander's increasing indifference to his father's celebrity. "My son used to get incredibly excited whenever I appeared on TV. Now he's already so blasé about it. He'll look at the TV, see me on it and say, 'Oh, there's Daddy,' and go back to whatever he's doing."
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Kim's reserve and success each belie the occupational hazards continually confronting actors. "Imagine yourself interviewing for a job every week," he says, "where if you're lucky, you get ten percent of them. You've got to be able to handle rejection 90% of the time." The Hollywood climate (and I don't mean the weather, which is gloomy as usual) only adds to the strain. "The business is about a 180 degree turn from Haverford," Kim claims. "There's some truth to the stories you've heard. There's not a lot of interpersonal respect, and there aren't a lot of ethics, so you need to learn the rules of the game. I've survived the business by realizing just that: to many people, it's a business - not an art form, not a craft. It's not about anything more than money."
When Haverford students asked him for career advice, Kim claims that he asks them whether there's something else they can do well? "If their response is 'Yeah, I can bank. I can be a lawyer.' Then I say, 'Good. Be a banker, be a lawyer.' I'm not saying that those are easier jobs, but I am saying if you have a choice, take something that doesn't take as large a toll on your psyche. I have to admit, as much as I love what I do - and I most definitely do - there have been a few occasions where I've sat down and said 'Why do I do this to myself?'
Afraid that he's sounding too negative (and that his banker and lawyer buddies will take offense), Kim makes a point to answer his own question. "It is a tough business," he explains, "but I wouldn't change what I do for anything. It's precisely the difficulties that make the successes so rewarding.... People who want to pursue an acting career, I think, have no choice. They have to do it and nothing anybody says is going to stop them."