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Korean born actor/multidisciplinary artist SOOMI KIM is equal parts actor, musician and movement artist. She grew up in Oregon and performed with a movement theatre company called Do Jump! Movement theatre co. Before moving to New York to study acting at the Circle in the Square Theatre School, she studied music, dance and theatre at OSU and Umass, Amherst.

Most recent credits: performing as a company member with the female theatre troupe "Ex.p girl" in 10 Plates as part of Here theatre's Culturemart '07 and Prelude '06 new works festival, Kim's original performance piece Lee/gendary (a work inspired by the life of Bruce Lee) was presented at the American Living Room Festival '06(presented by HERE theatre) at the 3Legged Dog theatre and The Beautiful (Joanne) directed by Marlies Yearby (choreographer for RENT and A.D. of Movin' Spirits Dance co.) presented at Dance Theatre Workshop's digital lab. She is a company member with composer/choreographer Grisha Coleman's (founder of "Hotmouth") Echo::System- the Desert which was shown at On the Boards theatre in Seattle (with Laurie Carlos), and is slated to premiere at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre in fall '07. She has performed and toured extensively as a martial arts performer with Fred Ho in principal roles in Voice of the Dragon (BAM's Next Wave Festival and 2003 U.S. tour) and V.O.D. 2 at the Apollo Soundstage. Other credits and venues include: N.Y.T.W. (readings of works by playwright Julia Cho's BFE and 99 Histories), E.S.T., Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Source, LaMaMa E.T.C. (first floor and Annex), the Kraine, Town Hall, Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, Lincoln Center Institute (workshop of Liz Swado's Inside Out), Denver Center Theatre (Pavel Dobrusky's Fables), and the Ordway Music Theatre (Worth Gardner's Wizard of Oz). Other works include commercials, voice-overs, industrials, print ads, stunt double fighting and independent film. Television appearances: Law and Order, (Detective Shimura), Guiding Light, MTV and MTV2.

Given Kim's training in several disciplines she naturally began cultivating her own work to develop original performance pieces. For the past few years, she has been in development of her original performance piece inspired by the life of Bruce Lee titled Lee/gendary (Kim plays Lee) primarily developed with playwright Derek Nguyen and composer Jen Shyu.

Other original performance: Bruce Lee: Inside the Lost Interview, (Nuyorican Poets' Cafe), Daydream (Westpark Church) The Metronome (Dia Center for the Arts) and Moni's Class (Circle in the Square Dance concert).

She is a member of a martial arts performance troupe, the "Art of War", aka "Go!" (Empire Entertainment) and has performed in nearly 20 live industrial shows, including a television show in Beirut, Lebanon. She works as a gymnastics/dance coach and has choreographed more than 20 floor routines for competing gymnasts. As a dancer, she has performed in numerous theatrical productions, concerts, and choreographed all the movement in her aforementioned original pieces. Her martial arts training include basics in: Wing Chun, boxing, Wu Shu, Capoeira, staff work and nanchakus. Her movement style has evolved into a powerful and unique hybrid of dance, martial arts and acrobatics.

Artistic statement
Thoughts on original work:

The quest to cultivate my personal artistic voice is the most recent evolution in my performance history. I enjoy the process of collaboration and am drawn and inspired by themes that are identity driven and often ones that straddle lines; be it cultural, gender or race. I find myself intrigued by discovering links and collisions in biographical and autobiographical experiences. I do not label myself as an activist or feminist per se, but these ideas lie inherent in my work as a first generation Korean American female performing artist. Whether I am playing Bruce Lee or stripping and playing saxophone on a trampoline, the work does not set out to be statement oriented, but it becomes so because it challenges perceptions of roles and stereotypes of Asian women. I often refer to the notion of cultural and societal oppression vs. individuality and freedom of expression. In Metronome (my first original solo multidisciplinary piece) I explore this theme via music, utilizing classical versus improvisation as an allegory for creative expression vs. the confining structure of written music.

Since jazz music has had such a huge influence on my life, I am in the process of finding a way where the structure of performance, theatre and musical improvisation can co-exist. Although I'm not classically trained, I feel I have the soul of a dancer and am just discovering the wonderful visions of dance theatre artists like William Forsythe and Pina Bausch. These works transcend race, conventions and create worlds where dance, theatre, music/sound design and visual art are seamlessly interwoven. As an audience member and performer, when innovative stories are met with passion, strong vision, excellence and a sense of humor, it is the most exciting to me.

Currently, I am at the beginning stages of collaboration with Korean American visual and performing artist, Maria Yoon. The piece will be an interdisciplinary interpretive performance piece based on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's seminal autobiographical epic poem "Dictee."