Daniel Dae Kim has been a familiar face on television for decades — from his breakout role on “Lost” to his years on “Hawaii Five-0.” But in “Butterfly,” the new spy thriller premiering on Amazon Prime Video, Kim takes on a brand new challenge: a leading role. (Watch the full interview above.)
“I’ve been in this business 30-plus years, and this is really the first time I’ve been the lead of a show,” he says. “And that’s not lost on me. No pun intended.”
That milestone is more than a personal win. For Asian American men, who have historically been pushed to the sidelines of Hollywood storytelling, Kim’s first lead role represents a seismic shift.
For decades, Asian American men were depicted through a narrow lens: martial arts fighters, math nerds, comic sidekicks or quiet background characters. They were rarely portrayed as complex leads, and almost never as romantic ones.
“Often in the past I’ve done action and I’ve been in sci-fi shows. I’ve been in deep space way into the far future,” he says. “But I very rarely had the chance to do a kitchen sink drama where I can just talk about the struggles of my relationship, romantically, or, in this case, with family.”
