It’s safe to say Alicia Hannah-Kim‘s life changed in the blink of an eye when she booked two jobs in one day. Not only did she nab the role of Kim Da-Eun in season 5 of Netflix’s Cobra Kai — the first female sensei in the series — but she also got cast in HBO Max’s Minx.
“It was a moment for sure. It was sort of a watershed moment for my career, and it came at a time when I was particularly sort of down and questioning myself about whether to continue acting or just bowing out. It was such a gift,” the 35-year-old exclusively tells GRAZIA USA. “Acting is so strange because it can be really lonely, and then in the next moment, you have two networks fighting over your schedule. The next day I was on the set of Minx and getting phone calls from my team about my schedule for Cobra Kai and how we were going to work that out.”
“It can feel really magical, and I think I would be sort of swept away in it had I not been grounded by so many experiences of failure and rejection because it gives you a sense of perspective about how lucky you are. You have to know what it’s like on the flip side to appreciate the highs. I was coming from a place of deep, deep gratitude and excitement,” she adds.
Since then, the star has been welcomed into Cobra Kai‘s universe with open arms. “It’s been a real ride,” she shares. “I was totally unprepared for the scope of it. I had no clue that the show had fans all over the world, including places like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India and Brazil. It’s been absolutely incredible for me. It’s very rare as an actor to get to join a recognized franchise, so that has been a new and totally thrilling experience.”
While some might be hesitant to join the Netflix hit show later on, Hannah-Kim notes the fans have been “warm and lovely,” despite playing a villain. “The show creators were really sweet and reassuring. They said, ‘This is going to be epic.’ But I don’t think anything prepares you for the social media attention or comments from people around the world,” she explains.
The real treat is that the Australia native gets to play the first female sensei, which is “meaningful” to her since she never saw that representation on her TV screen growing up. “When I was younger in Australia, I was reflecting on how there was not one Asian TV character on Australian television,” she says. “I would find representation in international films. There was Lucy Liu, Michelle Yeoh and Sandra Oh, but it’s changed so much that I find myself on a global show, and I’m in a position where young girls will be able to see themselves in me. It really means everything to me. Just to be in a position to shine that light back onto our next generation is such an honor and a privilege.”
These days, Hannah-Kim is overjoyed to be part of the change when it comes to seeing more diverse roles in Hollywood. “I get a lot of messages from women who are excited to have another female on the show,” she states. “I get a lot of messages from young Asian girls who are enrolled in Taekwondo, and they’re really inspired by how badass my character is. It really feels like the past five years have been transformative for representation.”
Though it may be tough to train for all of the fight scenes, Hannah-Kim believes people “love to see someone kicking ass” on screen — especially a women. “I love going to stunt training,” she exclaims. “I love being in the gym with the other actors and fighting out a fight. As soon as they call ‘action,’ you feel that adrenaline rush. There’s nothing better, truly.”
“I think my favorite part of playing Kim Da-Eun is being in control of her and her essence and energy because it is so formidable, and she has this really menacing reptilian energy around the other cast members,” she continues. “And that’s really fun to lean into and play with. I think when I get home after a day on set, I feel very calm because I’ve just been raging for 16 hours straight.”
Working alongside Ralph Macchio and Billy Zabka, in addition to some of the younger kids on set feels “warm” and “familial” for Hannah-Kim. “I think it’s part of the show’s appeal, which is how multi-generational it is,” she says. “It’s a giant extended family. Ralph and Billy, who have been in the industry for so long, are so accessible to everyone, which is rare. They set the tone, and they make Cobra Kai an amazingly warm, pleasant experience for the cast and crew.”
At the end of the day, Hannah-Kim had no idea her career would pan out the way it did — but she couldn’t be more thankful for the plethora of opportunities. “I think it just shows how random success is because it’s not always reflective of talent or effort,” she notes. “It really is so much about timing or being lucky enough or being prepared in your work.”
Clearly, Hannah-Kim is ready to conquer Hollywood and has much more she hopes to achieve. “I’m really proud of myself,” she declares. “I’m proud of the work that I’ve put in along the way, even when it wasn’t recognized all the times I’ve auditioned and not made it. When I look back, I think of all the people that helped me along the way. I left Australia and I came to America, and I wasn’t sure how it would work out.”
Now, Hannah-Kim has “started creating my own projects, which is something I never thought I would do.”
“I didn’t think I had that in me, honestly,” she quips. “It’s my dream to work in Korea, so I am developing a film that would be in English and Korean. I’m pitching a docuseries right now that I’ve developed, and I’ve also started writing, which has been a new thing for me. I think I’m sort of slowly chipping away at any kind of limitation that I had placed on myself. Also, one of the most powerful things about representation for me has been understanding that you can do anything. Anything that I thought that I couldn’t do was maybe fed to me by a lack of representation of not seeing myself in media — but that has changed so much.”
She adds, “Now when I see my contemporaries out there producing, writing, directing, acting, I’m so inspired by them, and it fosters that environment of, ‘Oh, we can create, too. We can create our own projects. We have a voice.’ That’s what representation gives you.”
