Grace Park (born March 14, 1974)[1] is an American-born Canadian actress and model, known for her roles in the science-fiction series Battlestar Galactica, as Shannon Ng in the Canadian teen soap opera series Edgemont, as Officer Kono Kalakaua in the police procedural Hawaii Five-0, and as Katherine Kim in A Million Little Things.[2]

Grace Park
Park at the 2018 FedCon
Born (1974-03-14) March 14, 1974 (age 50)
NationalityCanadian
EducationMagee Secondary School
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia
Occupation(s)Actress, model
Years active1997–present
Known for
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Spouse
Phil Kim
(m. 2004)
Children1
Korean name
Hangul
박민경
Hanja
Revised RomanizationBak Min-gyeong
McCune–ReischauerPak Minkyŏng

Early life edit

Born in Los Angeles,[3][4] Park moved with her family to Canada when she was 22 months old. She was raised in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Kerrisdale. Park was born to Korean parents.[5] She graduated from Magee Secondary School[6] in 1992 and holds a degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia.[4]

Career edit

 
On the cover of KoreAm, February 2010

At age 25, Park was cast as high school student Shannon Ng on the Canadian teen soap opera Edgemont.[7] She appeared in the miniseries Battlestar Galactica in 2003 and continued as the same or related characters in subsequent series and films.

Park had a role in the 2007 movie West 32nd, a crime drama set in New York City's Korean neighborhood.[8] She appeared as Lt. Sandra Telfair in Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, along with her Battlestar Galactica co-star, Tricia Helfer.[9][10]

In 2008, she had co-starring roles in the A&E series The Cleaner until it was cancelled on September 25, 2009 and the CBC series The Border until it was cancelled in 2010. In 2009, Park had a cameo role (uncredited) on the ninth season, twentieth episode of television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation entitled "A Space Oddity".[11] She appeared as a fan in a crowd at a science fiction convention, objecting to a gritty remake of a Star Trek–like series, comparable to the Battlestar Galactica remake in which she starred. In 2009 she reprised her role from Battlestar Galactica in the television movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.[12]

In 2010, she appeared in the Fox series Human Target as Eva Kahn, and was a main character, Kono Kalakaua, in the 2010 CBS revival of Hawaii Five-0. Park and fellow Hawaii Five-0 co-star Daniel Dae Kim left the show in 2017, leaving the cast without any Asian regulars, after a salary dispute where it was reported that CBS's latest offer paid them 10–15% less than their white co-stars, Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan. CBS claimed that they had given "unprecedented" salary raises to Park and Kim, suggesting that they had been paid a lot less under their old contracts. Some critics noted that the network's "refusal to pay Kim and Park on matching terms with O'Loughlin and Caan was CBS's formal declaration that they were determined to protect a disparity that has been a sore point since the show's premiere: The assertion was that O'Loughlin and Caan are Hawaii Five-0 "stars" with Kim and Park being merely "co-leads" or supporting cast", yet Kim and Park were originally featured heavily on advertising and proved to be a crucial part of the show's success.[13][14][15][16]

Personal life edit

In 2004, Park married real estate developer Phil Kim.[17] The two live in Vancouver.[18] They have one son, born in 2013.[19][20]

Park is a former member of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing organization and cult, and appeared in video interviews with NXIVM founder Keith Raniere.[21][22][23]

Filmography edit

Film edit

Year Title Role Notes
2000 Romeo Must Die Asian Dancer
2003 Fluffy Amy Short film
2007 West 32nd Lila Lee
2008 Run Rabbit Run Hannah Moon
2017 Adventures in Public School Mackenzie
2018 Freaks Agent Ray

Television edit

Year Title Role Notes
1997 The Outer Limits Virtual Avatar Episode: "Bits of Love"
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Maddie Episode: "The Crypt Ghost"
2000 Secret Agent Man Louann/Staffer No. 2 Episodes: "From Prima with Love", "Uncle S.A.M."
2000–2001 The Immortal Mikiko Recurring role (5 episodes)
2001 The Outer Limits Satchko Episode: "Time to Time"
Dead Last Bartender No. 2 Episode: "Pilot"
Dark Angel Female Breeding X5 Episode: "Designate This"
Stargate SG-1 Lt. Satterfield Episode: "Proving Ground"
2001–2005 Edgemont Shannon Ng Main role (69 episodes)
2002 L.A. Law: The Movie Charmaigne TV film
2003 Jinnah: On Crime – White Knight, Black Widow Cynthia Wong TV film
Battlestar Galactica Lt. Sharon Valerii TV miniseries
2003–2004 Jake 2.0 Fran Yoshida Recurring role (4 episodes)
2004 Human Cargo Taiwanese Woman No. 1 TV miniseries
Andromeda Doctor 26 Carol Episode: "Machinery of the Mind"
The Dead Zone Sexy Bridesmaid Episode: "Speak Now"
2004–2009 Battlestar Galactica Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
Lt. Sharon "Athena" Agathon
Main role (73 episodes)
2007 Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Lt. Sandra Telfair Video game
Battlestar Galactica: Razor Lt. Sharon Valerii TV film
2008–2009 Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy Number Eight TV miniseries
The Cleaner Akani Cuesta Main role (26 episodes)
2008–2010 The Border Special Agent Liz Carver Main role (12 episodes)
2009 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Convention Attendee Episode: "A Space Oddity"
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii TV film
2010 Human Target Eva Khan Episode: "Corner Man"
2010, 2013 American Dad! Akiko Yoshida (voice) Episodes: "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", "Spelling Bee My Baby"
2010–2017 Hawaii Five-0 Kono Kalakaua Main role seasons 1–7; (168 episodes)
Nominated: 2013 Teen Choice AwardsChoice TV Actress: Action
2017 MacGyver Episode 18: "Flashlight"
2018–2023 A Million Little Things Katherine Kim Main role

References edit

  1. ^ "Grace Park Biography". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016.
  2. ^ "A Million Little Things, Cast, Characters and Stars". ABC.
  3. ^ Tweet (February 25, 2009). "Grace Park". Maxim. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Grace Park". Gale Biography in Context. Gale, Cengage Learning. May 1, 2011. (Gale document no. GALE|K1650007575, accessed October 17, 2011).
  5. ^ Park in "2014 Asian Hall of Fame Honoree Announcement – Honoree Quotes" (Press release). Asian Hall of Fame. January 20, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2014. It is hard to know how my Korean heritage has impacted my life and achievements without thinking about my parents.
  6. ^ Glen Schaefer (November 9, 2008). "Battlestar beauty on The Border". The Province. Archived from the original on November 9, 2009. Retrieved November 9, 2008.
  7. ^ "It's Evening in America". Vanity Fair. May 2012. p. 152.
  8. ^ Cover Story / December / 2006 / Archives|publisher=KoreAm Journal Archived February 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Bantick, Mike (March 27, 2007). "EA delivers Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars on PC". iTWire. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  10. ^ "Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars". Xbox. Archived from the original on March 29, 2007. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  11. ^ "A Space Oddity". IMDb. April 16, 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  12. ^ Tucker, Ken (April 16, 2009). "'CSI' goes frakkin' 'BSG' on us". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  13. ^ "'Hawaii Five-O' Stars' Bold Stand". NBC Chicago. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Saraiya, Sonia (July 6, 2017). "CBS Made Wrong Call on Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park 'Hawaii Five-0' Deals (Column)". Variety. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  15. ^ Yang, Jeff (July 8, 2017). "'Hawaii Five-0' Asian actors won't be without projects for long". CNN. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  16. ^ "Crunching CBS' diversity numbers after the 'Hawaii Five-0' cast departures is painful". Salon. July 6, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  17. ^ "Grace Park Profile". Korea Society. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  18. ^ "Grace Park". Listal. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  19. ^ "Five Things You Didn't Know about Grace Park". July 6, 2017.
  20. ^ "'Hawaii Five-0': Meet Grace Park's Husband". Promipool.com. October 19, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  21. ^ Artvoice (April 15, 2018). "9-videos surface that show 'Hawaii Five-0' Actress Grace Park deeply drunk the Kool-aid of sex-slaver cult leader Keith Raniere". Artvoice.
  22. ^ "Smallville, Battlestar Galactica Actresses Tied to Alleged Sex Cult". TVweb. April 7, 2018. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  23. ^ Lyons, Brendan J. (April 20, 2018). "Women branded with actress' initials in secret sex-slave club". Times Union.

External links edit