Kim surfaces as sex symbol on 'Lost'

[Sydney]

By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

Tue Mar 21, 6:05 PM


Daniel Dae Kim is chuckling.

After chatting for a half-hour on the phone from Hawaii, he mentions that fans might be interested to know that tonight on Lost, "there's a pretty long scene in which I'm shirtless."

Then he adds, "Oh, man, I think I'm red."

Ever since an episode in November featured a shirtless Kim, 37, revealing rippling abs, his profile has jumped. He's a sex symbol, and even rarer, an Asian sex symbol.

"Let's face it: Asian men aren't necessarily considered sexy in America, and severe underrepresentation in the media has a lot to do with that," says Phil Yu, creator of angryasianman.com, which tracks all things Asian. "It's not that Asian men aren't or can't be sexy. You just normally don't get to see it.



"That's why it's so refreshing to see a regular Asian guy like Daniel Dae Kim portrayed and perceived as likable and attractive, just like anybody else on television."

Wednesday on Lost (ABC, 9 ET/PT), the story focuses on Kim, who plays Jin-Soo Kwon, and his wife, Sun, played by Yunjin Kim (no relation). Viewers will learn more about "the secrets that damaged the foundation of their marriage," he says.

Kim praises the complexity of his character but says fans didn't always see it that way. "When I started, I got a lot of letters for my portrayal of an Asian man. They were concerned the character might be stereotypical and that he was one-dimensional." But as his character has softened, "the mail has been really positive. I think it was the fact you got to see a lot of different colors. He wasn't just this overbearing, domineering husband."

Adding to the mystique is that Jin speaks only Korean. Kim had to brush up on his Korean to play him. Although his family moved from South Korea to Pennsylvania when he was a toddler and he spoke Korean exclusively at home until he was 6, he began to forget it as he went through school. The show has tutored him.

Kim says the cast has banded together. "As the show got successful, it became this whirlwind. I think all of us got caught up in it." Now, "we're familiar with Hawaii, our characters, each other. We've become more of a family."

He recently bought a house in Hawaii and says his wife and their two sons, ages 9 and 4, love to be outdoors. The good weather helps him keep in shape for those shirtless shots, but he doesn't do a certain number of sit-ups each day.

Instead, "I try and do something active — running, hiking or playing tennis."

He laughs when he thinks about making People's list of the sexiest men alive in 2005. "It's not ever something I saw as a career goal. It's very flattering. I'm hoping I'm the first in a long line of Asian men and women to be seen that way."

As for the sexy scene tonight, Kim says it takes place in the bedroom. "I think I'm going to watch it with one eye closed."

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