Daniel Dae Kim has deservedly gotten a lot of love from the Asian American community.
His recent salary dispute and sudden departure from Hawaii Five-0 brought to light the issue of pay equity on an ensemble cast.
His portrayals as Chin Ho Kelly on Five-0 and Jin-Soo Kwon on Lost showed both depth and strength and did the AAPI community proud.
It was thus somewhat surprising when the new ABC drama The Good Doctor which is based on the popular Korean drama of the same name does not feature an Asian American actor in a lead role.
The Good Doctor was originally launched as a project with Kim’s own 3AD production company under a two year deal with CBS, but last year ABC snagged the series.
Kim is listed as an executive producer of the project.
The show will star Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy.
“We did think about [casting an Asian lead], we auditioned all over the place,” Tracking Board quoted executive producer David Shore as saying. “Freddie is fantastic, but we did, we were very open to that. I will say this – and it’s not to say we didn’t, because we absolutely did – I never felt compelled to do it. I felt I should be open to it, that I should think about that, I should be thinking about it for all characters, but the reason I did this show is because I watched [the Korean version] and it wasn’t a Korean story, it wasn’t an American story. It was just a very, very human story. So I wanted to be completely open across the board.”
The Good Doctor does have two Asian Americans on the cast, Irene Keng plays Dr. Elle Mclean and Tamlyn Tomita has the part of Allegra Aoki.
There’s no rule that Asian Americans have to do only shows featuring Asian Americans. Kim has shown that he has the Asian American community in his heart and its great to see him expand his resume into a leadership role. Hopefully the opportunity will come in the future to give a lead role to a fellow Asian American in the future.
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RE: American remake of Korean Drama Good Doctor to star White actor: So sad still wouldn’t cast an Asian male as a lead!!! 🙁
RE: American Remake of Korean Drama Good Doctor to Star White Actor: As an American adaptation, I understand that this show doesn’t have to have an Asian lead. Still it is a letdown. I guess the important thing is they gave everyone an equal chance.