Meet Alan Kim, the adorable Minari star
Oscar-nominated film’s child actor is poised to make it big
Here are some things Alan Kim likes: Harry Potter. The song Blinding Lights by the Weeknd. Legos. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and rainbow sprinkles.
Acting? Yeah, he likes it. But he’s just as into playing video games or watching TV and going outside with his dog, an American Eskimo named Cream.
Alan is 9, so you can forgive him for not knowing if this whole Hollywood thing is for him yet. At the moment, however, he’s getting a lot of attention because he is one of the stars of the new movie Minari, an Oscar-nominated drama about a family of South Korean immigrants trying to build a life for themselves on a farm in rural Arkansas in the 1980s. The movi features actors who are far more recognisable than Alan: The family’s patriarch is played by The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun, and Yuh-Jung Youn — who is kind of like Korea’s Meryl Streep — co-stars as the grandmother.
But it is Alan, whose face was previously seen in print advertisements for Pottery Barn Kids, who has emerged as Minari’s breakout star. When the movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2020, he turned up at every screening or interview dressed like a cowboy: Western hat, bandanna, boots and a sheriff’s badge pinned on his suede vest. “It was kind of like getting an early Halloween, except no candy and no decorations,” Alan said. “I had the cowboy boots from the movie, and my mom was like, ‘Come on, wear this!’”
In his promotional appearances for Minari, Alan has continued to show off his panache even over Zoom, rotating through a collection of dapper miniature blazers and starched shirts. For this interview from his family’s home in Irvine, California, he is wearing a pastel bow tie and collared shirt embroidered with seagulls and boats. While he may not be used to speaking about himself yet, he is comfortable on video chat. He’s in the third grade but has been doing virtual school since the pandemic began in March 2020. “I actually like it, because I can finally relax,” he said, giggling.
In Minari, Alan plays Daniel, a boy whose desire to run free through the Arkansas wilderness surrounding his family’s new trailer is restrained due to a heart murmur. He is forced to share his bedroom with his grandmother, newly arrived from Korea.
Director Lee Isaac Chung needed a boy for the part who could pull off being both adorable and a hellion — “a kid who pees in his grandma’s tea and still somehow doesn’t come across terribly,” he said.
Which isn’t to say that the then-seven-year-old got special treatment. Because of his experience working in print advertisements, he knew that being on a set meant “he had to be serious,” Chung said.
“And we had to keep that atmosphere going for him to respect him as a professional,” the director continued. “After a couple of days, we set the rule that no one baby talks to him or overly celebrates when he does a great take or something. Treat him like a pro, and he’s going to act like a pro.”
For a nine-year-old, Alan does seem pretty mature. Over quarantine, he lost two teeth and immediately put the $5 he received into his savings account. “I always save my money,” he said with pride. “I guess for, like, big emergencies that could happen.”