The relationship with exercise that makes Kim feel "fortunate," along with staying active as we age.
Actor, Executive Producer, and Activist Daniel Dae Kim on Balance & Staying Mellow
He’s known for dozens of roles spanning film, TV stage, and even video games, including Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024), as well as being the creator and executive producer of ABC’s The Good Doctor.
But in the past few years, Daniel Dae Kim has taken up yet another endeavor. Kim, 56, is a prominent activist for inclusion and voting access, particularly in response to the growth in racial hate crimes around the country for nearly the past decade. Kim has even gone before Congress and submitted a written testimony advocating for government resources to be dedicated to the fight against racial violence.
Taking all this on might make Kim’s current partnership with Advil a natural fit. The long-trusted ibuprofen brand has assembled its own pickleball team, and Daniel is a co-captain alongside Tyra Hurricane Black (one of the first Black women to reach the top 10 in professional pickleball). Here, he chatted with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest about the importance of having a little fun even—or, especially—when life gets heavy.
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The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Between the advocacy work and all your activity in Hollywood, is one of those more demanding than the other?
Daniel Dae Kim: I think stress takes many forms, whether it’s in your personal or professional life. It’s hard to know how to compartmentalize it, too, sometimes because to your body, it’s all the same. Your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure rises, and you feel this overall sense of being unsettled.
Learning to manage and lower your stress is helpful and important—almost as important as finding a remedy. Whether it’s meditation, running, or a drink at the end of the day as a reward—just a way to switch gears—we all have to find ways to relieve ourselves. Otherwise, that stress is going to do some damage.
The Healthy: We’re loving this “pickleball captain” role. How important is physical activity in your life?
Physical activity plays a huge role in my life. I’m lucky that I actually enjoy physical activities, like working out, running and playing pickleball. Many people don’t, and I feel for them because no one wants to do something they don’t want to do. I feel fortunate that I feel better after I exercise. I’ve never regretted a workout, but I’ve often regretted not working out.
I’m excited to be a co-captain of the Advil Pickleball Team to encourage others to explore their love of fitness and pickleball—and to keep Advil Targeted Relief in mind for their post-game recovery.
The Healthy: You’ve had such a long and impressive career. Isn’t it crazy how time flies? What’s your attitude about aging and where you are today?
Daniel Dae Kim: Time definitely does fly, and we all definitely age. I just got off a very physically demanding shoot, and it made me recognize that I wasn’t as capable as I was when I was 25. These are realizations that most of us make at some point. It’s important to think about aging holistically, though—not just about what you’re no longer capable of doing physically—but also realizing the things you can still do and enjoy. The skill set I have now is one I didn’t have when I was younger. I’m able to use my experience to better problem-solve, and I feel like I can have a more balanced perspective about the highs and lows of everyday life and work. I guess that adage is true: Hopefully, with age, a little bit of wisdom comes. It makes you better equipped to be the person you always wanted.
The Healthy: Is there an Olympic sport you loved watching, or any other summer sports you look forward to this time of year?
Daniel Dae Kim: I love gymnastics. I love seeing what the human body is capable of and watching these supreme athletes flying around and doing things that 99% of us would never even attempt—it’s close to the pinnacle of human physical achievement.
I love Wimbledon, too. I love the tennis Grand Slams—with any luck, I’ll be attending the US Open this year. I’m also a golfer, so I love watching the major golf tournaments.
Summer sports are the ones I generally participate in, although I love to ski. There’s always something fun to watch in the summertime. And then, of course, in the fall, it’s football—I’m ready for football season.
The Healthy: Us too. What self-care ritual do you refuse to skip?
Daniel Dae Kim: My breakfast. As healthy as I try to be, I’ve been eating the same cereal since college: Cracklin’ Oat Bran. Even when I was in Korea these past six months, I brought 20 boxes with me because I knew they didn’t have it there. It sounds a little crazy, I know.
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