The journey of one of television’s most beloved actors is defined by self- reliance — built without excuses, handouts or the need for approval.
Joel Kim Booster has built a career out of defying expectations. His early years were anything but conventional. Born in South Korea, adopted into an all-white Evangelical Christian family in suburban Illinois and home- schooled until he was 16, he emancipated himself from his family after a difficult coming out. “It’s quite honestly the cornerstone of my personality that I haven’t taken any money from my parents since I was 17,” he says.
That fierce self-sufficiency shaped both the person and performer he became. Initially immersed in theatre, Booster discovered stand-up almost by accident while auditioning in Chicago. The stage offered something rare and liberating: the chance to speak in his own voice, rather than compete for the narrow roles offered to Asian-American actors at the time. Stand-up soon became, in his words, “the most interesting thing in my life,” leading him to New York and, eventually, national recognition. Today, Booster is one of the most versatile talents in comedy and entertainment. He wrote and starred in Fire Island, the 2022 rom-com reimagining Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice through a queer lens. The film earned two Emmy nominations, won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film and made him a breakout name. He followed that success with Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual, his Netflix special, which was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award and hailed by Variety as one of that year’s best.
His acting credits span platforms and genres: starring alongside Maya Rudolph in Apple TV+’s Loot, hosting Bravo’s dating series, Love Hotel, and voicing Sony Pictures Animation’s hit Kpop Demon Hunters. Next, he’ll be reuniting with Searchlight as writer and producer of Again Again Again, a wedding comedy now in development, and recently wrapped Season 2 of Bad Dates, a podcast where funny friends share their most memorable — and disastrous — dating stories.
When asked what la dolce vita means to him, Booster’s answer is disarmingly simple: “The sweet life to me is just a night at home on the couch with my fiancé watching something that is a cultural artifact from one of our pasts that the other one hasn’t seen, or playing a video game and taking out. Those are the moments where I really do feel like I’m living the sweet life.”
For someone who’s carved his own path since the age of 17, it makes sense that joy lies not in chasing mass approval, but in savouring the small, meaningful rituals of a life fully his own.
INTERVIEW BY MARC CASTALDO
