On stage, he is known both for his extensive classical repertoire and as an interpreter of the works of playwright Frank Chin.
[4] Kim was born to a fundamentalist Baptist family of Chinese and Korean descent in Hawaii.
In 1964, Kim and his friend Charles Bright moved to New York City to pursue acting careers.
[10] He has portrayed a wide variety of roles on the stage, focusing upon Western classical works, including Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen and Molière.
Kim co-founded the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin with Anne Occhiogrosso and Charles Bright in 1977.
Other Broadway credits include Golden Child and the revised version of Flower Drum Song, both written by David Henry Hwang.
[10] In 2008, he played mathematician Dashiell Kim in the episode "The Equation" of the television series Fringe.