"Hawaii Five-0's" Daniel Dae Kim on a career in paradise
For Daniel Dae Kim, working in paradise has been twice as nice. He played Jin-Soo Kwon on the series “Lost,” and now he stars on another show filmed in Hawaii. He plays Detective Chin Ho Kelly on CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0.”
Kim joined “CBS This Morning” and discussed his career, being able to work in Hawaii and his family with the co-hosts.
“When I wanted to be an attorney, I think I wanted to be a litigator; I wanted to be in a courtroom,” he said, “and there are a lot of similarities between that and what I do today.”
The original “Hawaii Five-0” was the longest-running crime show ever before CBS' "CSI:" and originally aired from 1968 to 1980. Kim’s character was originally played by Kam Fong Chun. Kim told the co-hosts that it was “special” to be part of the tradition around this television program.
“Especially in a place like Hawaii, where there isn’t a lot of filming going on, it has such a place in the state’s history,” he said. “To be a part of that legacy is really nice and it’s very welcoming to be a part of the community that way.”
Kim said that he thinks the show could be more popular in Hawaii than it is in other states.
“The locals make a game out of trying to spot where everything is being shot, and if there's any kind of anachronisms with locations, it’s kind of a popular sport,” he said.
“I’ve lived in Hawaii long enough now where people don't make a big deal about me being there; I’m just a part of the community, thankfully,” he said. “But they’ll do things like … ‘You were great last night’ or ‘What happened to Kono?’ or- there’s no introduction, it’s just asking questions like that.”
For one episode of “Hawaii Five-0” Kim had to ride a motorcycle, something he had never done before.
“I hadn’t ridden before ‘Hawaii Five-0,’and it was one of the things I promised my dad I would never do while he was alive,” he said. “But if I have to do it for work, I have to do it for work.”
He told the co-hosts that, now, he does enjoy riding, and he owns his own motorcycle.
To watch the full interview with Daniel Dae Kim, watch the video in the player above