Jongman Kim was an actor who had been in a few big studio films in South Korea and even had his own theatre company. However, he says it was when he first saw Robert De Niro and Al Pacino’s performances on the big screen that he aspired to learn “true acting” in America. “People laughed at me because I couldn’t speak any English, and I said that I’m going to America to be an actor,” said Kim. “I had been acting for 15 years before I moved to NYC, but I couldn’t stand not knowing what true acting was.”
Since Kim couldn’t speak English when he first moved to the city, he first attended ESL school to learn the language before enrolling at the New York Film Academy.
“I loved my experience at NYFA,” he said. “I had lots of beautiful teachers and actor friends in both NYC and LA. Meisner Technique changed my perspective of acting.”
After his acting for film course at NYFA NYC, Kim moved to LA to pursue his MFA in Acting for Film at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles. “Taking acting classes is really important to me,” he said. “It’s like a gym for an actor to build his acting muscles.”
Kim most recently appeared as Victor in the Netflix comedy series “Love,” which was created by Judd Apatow, Lesley Arfin, and Paul Rust. Victor is a famous Korean movie director who is well respected in the action genre, but who has limited patience with the people around him. The main lead, Gus (Paul Rust), is the studio teacher of Arya (played by Judd Apatow’s real daughter). Arya is acting on Victor’s film and Gus is trying to pitch his movie idea to Victor through Tommy (played by Randall Park) — Victor’s translator and assistant.
“People now recognize me on the street in LA, and have said to me that they really enjoyed my acting. It’s amazing that I started from not speaking any English and not knowing this country. I broke my big Hollywood wall, so now I’m just going to keep moving forward.”
Kim has acted in many short films and one independent feature film that will be released this year. One of his short films, “She Jang,” in which he is a producer, co-writer and lead actor, was accepted into the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. Kim is currently represented by the Jenny Stricklin Talent Agency and the Clover Company in Korea. He’s hoping to continue to act in both Korea and the US.
Please note: NYFA does not represent that these are typical or guaranteed career outcomes. The success of our graduates in any chosen professional pathway depends on multiple factors, and the achievements of NYFA alumni are the result of their hard work, perseverance, talent and circumstances.