"Hawaii Five-0" actor and former "Lost" star Daniel Dae Kim is tackling a different type of role with three projects in development at various networks this season. Kim, whose production company 3AD is under the CBS Television Banner, will executive produce all three shows.
"Exhibit A," a legal drama based on the South Korean series "My Lawyer, Mr. Jo," is in the works at CBS, and "Re Jane," a comedy adaptation of the Patricia Park novel of the same name, has landed at TV Land. Both pilots center on main characters who are Korean American.
According to Deadline, if "Exhibit A" is picked up to series, it would be the first U.S. non-action drama to feature an Asian-American lead. Current CBS dramas with Asian-American lead characters include "Hawaii Five-0" and "Elementary," co-starring Lucy Liu.
Kim’s third project, "The Good Doctor," is a medical drama co-produced and written by "House" creator David Shore. The show, which is based on the 2013 South Korean show of the same name, has a put pilot commitment at ABC, which would require the network to pay a penalty if it doesn’t air the pilot as a special or part of a series. According to Deadline, it “centers on a young surgeon with Savant syndrome who is recruited into the pediatric surgical unit of a prestigious hospital.”'
Kim also made headlines recently as the face behind the new global campaign by beauty brand Clinique for Men. The campaign, which uses the hashtag #BehindTheFace, aims to encourage people to share their stories of overcoming social barriers via video and social media. In his video, Kim spoke about growing up as one of the only Korean Americans in a small Pennsylvania town.
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In a 2015 interview with NBC News, Kim addressed problems of diversity and representation in Hollywood.
"It's very difficult to be asking other people for opportunities," Kim said. "It is much more empowering to be creating opportunities, to be the one who is saying, 'Look, I'm going to take this from the ground up and create a story that is meaningful to me as an Asian American, and cast it with Asian Americans, and have Asian Americans writing it.'"
Kim noted that his comments apply to everyone, not just Asian Americans. "The more that we can take control of the creative process, the less we will have to be begging the majority to give us roles, to give us work," he said.
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