DANIEL DAE KIM Enjoying the View From the Top!

THE LOST AND HAWAII FIVE-0 ACTOR SCORED A HISTORIC TONY NOMINATION AND STARS IN AN ACTION-PACKED NEW SERIES. NOW HE’S READY TO SOAR HIGHER

- LIZZIE HYMAN

'I like it when my kids give me advice about my career' - DANIEL DAE KIM

Daniel Dae Kim is fully immersed in a packed Monday schedule: interviews, production meetings, team dinners. It also happens to be his 57th birthday, but for the actor and producer, working is its own kind of gift. “I’m always focused on the task at hand—today’s work, what I’m working toward,” he says. “But sometimes it’s good to take a break as you’re climbing the mountain, look out and enjoy the view.” The past year has given him a bounty of positive reflections. It’s been 15 years since he portrayed plane crash survivor Jin-Soo Kwon on Lost—the groundbreaking sci-fi drama that Kim “wouldn’t be here without.” As that ratings hit aired its finale in 2010, he was about to embark on another long-running career milestone: Hawaii Five-0, an update of the ’70s cop drama featuring Kim as police task force member Chin Ho Kelly. And earlier this year Kim made history as the first Asian Tony nominee for best lead actor in a play, for his Broadway performance last year in Yellow Face.