Photo by Dahlia Katz
Kim’s Convenience
by Ins Choi
One of the most recognizable Canadian plays of the past two decades, Kim’s Convenience is a warm, funny, and deeply human portrait of a Korean-Canadian family navigating generational change, cultural identity, and everyday life in Toronto.
Cast & Creative
Ins Choi
Appa
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Ins Choi was born in Korea but grew up and currently lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and two children. Some of his theatre acting credits include Banana Boys, lady in the red dress (fu-GEN); Hamlet, The Odyssey, Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, All's Well That Ends Well (Stratford Festival); Alligator Pie and Death of a Saleman (Soulpepper). As a writer, his debut play, Kim's Convenience, won the Best New Play award and the Patron's Pick at the 2011 Toronto Fringe festival. It then launched Soulpepper theatre company's 2012 season, toured across Canada, and was adapted into a TV series of the same name on the CBC and Netflix for 5 seasons. Ins was a writer, executive producer and co-creator of the TV series. He has also written a solo show called Subway Stations of the Cross: Songs, Stories and Spoken Words and was part of the collective that created Alligator Pie, re(birth): ee cummings in song, Window on Toronto (Soulpepper) and 2000 Candles (Brookstone). His new play Bad Parent was produced by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre for the fall of 2022 at PTE in Winnipeg, the Cultch in Vancouver and at Soulpepper in Toronto. He’s also developing various TV and film projects.
Esther Chung
Umma
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Esther Chung was born in South Korea and raised in Thornhill, Ontario.
THEATRE: World Premiere of Bigfoot! (Port Stanley Festival Theatre); Calendar Girls; Noises Off; Five Alarm; One Slight Hitch; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
FILM & TELEVISION: Cross; The Horror of Dolores Roach; The Boys; Children Ruin Everything; Shelved; Let’s Get Merried (Paramount+).
Ryan Jinn
Jung Kim
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Ryan Jinn 진윤섭 was born in Los Angeles and raised in Vancouver, BC.
THEATRE: Kim's Convenience (Arts Club Vancouver); An Assertive Girl (Pull Festival).
FILM & TELEVISION: Reginald The Vampire; Kim's Convenience; Van Helsing; The Good Doctor; Charmed; 2 Hearts; Arrow; Legends of Tomorrow; The Man In The High Castle
OTHER: Animation: Cocomelon Lane. Award Winning Short Films: So-Ri (소리); Songbird.
Kelly Seo
Janet Kim
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Kelly J. Seo is a theatre graduate of York University, is a Toronto based actor. Recent theatre credits include playing lead roles in Kim’s Convenience (Grand Theatre), Jenny’s House of Joy (Foster Festival), Kim’s convenience (Thousand Islands Playhouse), Twelfth Night (St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival) and Hana Hashimoto the Sixth Violin (Thousand Islands Playhouse).
Select On-Camera credits include, The Sanhok Tapes – PUBG Lore Drop, Designated Survivor, and If I Should Die “The Strangler”. Her quirky comedic side can be seen in her lead role in the short film, Lola.
Brandon McKnight
Rich/Alex/Mr. Lee/Mike
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Brandon McKnight is a Canadian actor with Jamaican roots, born and raised in Toronto, ON.
THEATRE: Judas Noir (Tarragon Theatre); Of Mice And Men (Unit 102 Theatre).
SELECTED FILM & TELEVISION: The Flash (CW); The Shape of Water (FOX Searchlight); Morningside (Elevation Pictures); Most Dangerous Game (Tubi) ; Kim’s Convenience (CBC)
OTHER: McKnight is an alumnus of the prestigious CFC Actors Conservatory founded by Norman Jewison (class of 2018).