- - Daniel Dae Kim talks Broadway, travel tips and trust issues in Amazon Prime's 'Butterfly'

Ralphie Aversa, USA TODAYAugust 13, 2025 at 5:02 AM

NEW YORK – Daniel Dae Kim seems like a good person to ask for a travel hack.

The actor, 57, lives with his family in Hawaii. He spends a decent amount of time in Los Angeles and South Korea, where he filmed his latest series, Amazon Prime's "Butterfly" (all six episodes now streaming). He travels to New York to promote the espionage thriller but soon after will return to Vancouver, where he's filming Season 3 of Netflix's "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

"It's a lot," the actor says, before offering a piece of advice. "The best thing to do is to forget about the time zone you left, because there's no sense in hanging on to something you're not gonna get back."

The ancedote sounds more apt for navigating life than simply dealing with jet lag. But Kim may not be so quick to leave 2025 behind, a year when he was named to Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world, earned a Tony nomination for his role in the revival of "Yellow Face" and continues to shine a light on Asian representation in show business.

Daniel Dae Kim stars in and is an executive producer on Prime Video's "Butterfly." "I got to put together all the different sides of who I am as a Korean, as an American, as a father," he says of his characxter. It was the synthesis of my years of experience as an actor."

"I'm incredibly grateful to be in this position and literally right here talking to you because it means that people care about the projects that I'm doing and people think that whatever I have to say means something," Kim says, "I don't know if my kids would feel the same way, but I'm very grateful."

Daniel Dae Kim balances crime, family in 'Butterfly'

In "Butterfly," Kim plays David Jung, a former U.S. intelligence agent living in South Korea with his wife and daughter. When Rebecca (Reina Hardesty), an agent for the spy organization Caddis, tries to kill him, Jung confronts a decision from his past while trying to save his family.

"A central question in our entire season is, 'Who can you trust?'" Kim says. "And just because they're family, can you trust them? The ending to our season really speaks to that question."

Daniel Dae Kim plays a former U.S. intelligence agent who must confront his past to save his family in the espionage thriller, "Butterfly."

Kim is also an executive producer of the series and says a potential Season 2 offers "a lot more story to tell, and there are places for all of our characters to go that I find really intriguing. So let's hope people like it enough to make that happen."

Daniel Dae Kim reflects on Tony nomination

Kim became the first Asian nominee for best actor in a play in the Tony Awards' 78-year history. Though he lost to Cole Escola ("Oh, Mary!"), Kim enjoyed his experience on Broadway and hopes that an Asian actor can one day win the category. During his time working in New York, the self-described theater nerd "saw anything and everything" he could when it came to shows.

"I was sometimes seeing plays, at least one a day for several weeks," says Kim, a graduate of New York University. "I have a lot of friends still here in New York who I grew up with and did my theater work with. So it's been nice to reconnect with the community here."

Kim also celebrated his 57th birthday Aug. 4 in New York, marking the occasion with a "Butterfly" cast and crew dinner at the Korean restaurant Naro. However, unlike the opening of "Butterfly," where Kim's character is belting out The Killers' "Mr. Brightside," the actor did not partake in any karaoke afterward.

"I do love 'Mr. Brightside,'" he jokes. "It doesn't matter who starts it − everyone finishes it, and that to me is a sign of a good karaoke song."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daniel Dae Kim questions who he can trust in new show 'Butterfly'

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