Although she’s a major movie star in South Korea, where she was born, Yunjin Kim has only recently hit the radar in her adopted homeland of the United States, as one of the stars of Wednesday ABC hit “Lost.”
“I just can’t believe that I worked out of Korea for the last six years before doing this,” Kim says, “but it’s something that just happened.”
As a shy 13-year-old growing up in the New York City borough of Staten Island, Kim traveled by bus, ferry and subway to Manhattan to attend the High School of Performing Arts.
“I wanted to get out of Staten Island. I didn’t want to become a cheer-leader to be accepted at school. I used to say, ‘What can I do?’ I was already interested in acting, so I went to acting class. It was really out of desperation. I was trying to find where I fit in, and it was the city.”
One of Kim’s biggest challenges has proven to be filming on Hawaii’s windy beaches. “It’s hard to keep your eyes still and open when you’re out on the beach.”‘
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Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea, on Nov. 7, but she was raised in New York.
Family un-ties: Although she shares a last name with her “Lost” co-star and on-screen husband, Daniel Dae Kim, they are neither married nor related.
