After 31 years of working in television, Korean American actor Daniel Dae Kim has been tapped to star in the second season of the successful thriller The Hot Zone, an American anthology drama television series, based on the 1994 non-fiction book of the same name by Richard Preston.
Daniel Dae Kim, previously of Lost and Hawaii Five-O, and most recently of the Disney animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, tweeted confirmation of the news:
“Hardly the biggest news given what’s going on in the world today,” he tweeted. “But after 31 years of working in TV, this is my first series lead.”
An actor and activist, Daniel Dae Kim has long been vocal about racial issues including pay inequity in Hollywood. In 2017, Kim chose to leave the hit show Hawaii Five-O when it was discovered that he and his Korean American co-star Grace Park were being offered far less than those of their Caucasian co-stars.
His recent tweet confirming his new role comes at a time of growing concern over widespread reports of random violence against Asians in America. Kim recently offered $25,000 reward money for information leading to the arrest of a perpetrator who attacked a 91-year old Asian man in Oakland, CA.
One week ago, Kim tweeted, “The number of hate crimes against Asian Americans continues to skyrocket, despite our repeated pleas for help. The crimes are too often ignored and even excused. Remember #VincentChin. Remember #VinchaRatanapakdee.”
The next installment of The Hot Zone, titled Anthrax, starts principal photography in Toronto this winter, and will star Kim as Matthew Ryker, an FBI agent who specializes in microbiology.
