Ep. 25: Hollywood Actor Chase Kim on How to Stay Relevant and the Importance of Persistence
In this episode, Darren Reinke chats with Chase Kim, a Hollywood actor who has starred in shows Magnum P.I., Bosch, and Silicon Valley. Chase discusses leaving the corporate world for a career in Hollywood, gaining support from those who originally doubted him, maintaining his calm when it matters most, and staying relevant over a 16 year acting career.
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SHOW NOTES
Why Chase Left His Corporate Job to Pursue Acting [1:02]
The Actors Chase Admired Growing Up [3:45]
The Challenging Barriers Chase Faced Transitioning From Corporate America to Hollywood [4:35]
How Chase Gained Support from Those Who Originally Doubted Him [6:50]
Why Chase Treated Acting as Just Another Job [9:13]
The Relationship Between Sports and Acting [12:04]
How Chase Calms His Nerves When it Matters Most [16:15]
The Moment Chase Felt He “Made It” as an Actor [18:37]
Why Chase Feels The Fundamentals for Every Audition Remain the Same [21:14]
How Chase Grows and Develops to Stay Relevant [25:32]
The Opportunities Chase is Looking Forward to in the Next Few Years of His Career [30:14]
How Chase Maintains His Persistence [33:01]
SHOW LINKS
Chase Kim on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2101748/
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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Darren Reinke: Welcome to The Savage Leader Podcast, where I interview leaders from all walks of life so that you can walk away with tips to apply to your life and your career. But this isn't your traditional leadership podcast because I believe that leadership tips come from successful entrepreneurs and business executives, of course. Still, they also come from unexpected places, like Navy SEALs, successful professional athletes, sports coaches, musicians, entertainers, and more. So let's dive right into today's episode; my hope is you walk away with something tangible that you can apply immediately to your life in your career. Today's guest on the savage leader podcast is Chase Kim .Chase is a professional actor and has appeared on shows such as Magnum, P.I., Bosch, Criminal Minds in Silicon Valley, Chase, thanks for coming on today.
Chase Kim: Hey, what's up Darren And thanks for having me.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, great to have this conversation. It's been a long time. But I'd love to rewind the tape a little bit and just talk to you about what drew you into entertainment and acting?
Why Chase Left His Corporate Job to Pursue Acting [1:02]
Chase Kim: Well, I think, you know, we're about the same age. And I think a lot of us grew up as TV being kind of a big part of our lives, I think I was definitely a little bit of a latchkey kid. So I would come home and, you know, I have my chores, and some homework and all that stuff I had to do. But one of my main sources of entertainment kind of to keep myself busy was, you know, watching TV, whether it be you know, who's the boss, or, you know, whatever, you know, silver spoons, some of those kind of sitcoms, and I always had a fascination towards the actors that were in those shows, just because it seemed like kind of a fun life, you know, that you kind of have your you have your own life and in reality, and then your job is to kind of play make belief. And so I always had that as part of something that I had a fascination towards, but never really pursued it in growing up, I didn't do theater. It wasn't like I was involved in any kind of Performing Arts growing up, I was more of an athlete and played sports and things of that nature, after having spent six or seven years in the corporate world, kind of grinding it out during like that tech boom era, right after we graduated college, and jumped around two or three different companies, but I never really found an environment that I felt fully fulfilled and satisfied. And life in the cubicle just wasn't cutting it. And so, you know, I kind of was thinking long and hard. And I think being from LA, and knowing people in the industry makes it a little bit more approachable. It's not like you're kind of jumping off without a parachute, you kind of know people that are have done it. At the very least, you'd have a friend of a friend or something that has been, you know, in commercials growing up or something, you kind of have something that makes you believe that you may be able to accomplish this. And so I took some time off after I left my last corporate gig, traveled abroad for a little bit, went to Barcelona, cleared my head a little bit and came back and decided to just kind of dive in and and approach the acting world Hollywood as I would kind of any other endeavor. And just kind of break it down into bite sized chunks and figure out how I would kind of move forward and get myself in a position where I would be able to get hired.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, Barcelona have personal experience, they're in a transitional time of my life. So a great place to clear your head, that's for sure.
Chase Kim: Definitely, definitely. Lots of naps, lots of sangria. And, you know, just a very laid back environment that doesn't pressure you into having to do anything besides just kind of be present. So I think that's always a good environment to be in when you're trying to clear your head.
The Actors Chase Admired Growing Up [3:45]
Darren Reinke: Yeah so take me back, even just as a child, like Who were some of those icons or role models, if you will, obviously, you weren't focused on getting into entertainment at that point in your life, but who are some of the actors that even reflecting back who you looked up to
Chase Kim: one of the big guys he's kind of, you know, off the, off the rails now as a human being but growing up like, Kirk Cameron was one of those guys that you watch, like, he was so cool in that show, like he you know, and also like Michael J. Fox, and in Family Ties was also like a guy that I looked at, it was like, That guy's pretty cool. And ironically, I think Magnum PI, Tom Selleck was also somebody that you just always watched, he's in Hawaii, and he was a former ballplayer and all those things. And so I really like those kind of ad shows where my where my kind of developmental shows for sure.
The Challenging Barriers Chase Faced Transitioning From Corporate America to Hollywood [4:35]
Darren Reinke: Yeah. So talk me through the transitions. I know, you worked at a couple of corporate gigs, some tech companies, like what was it like, just in terms of making that transition? I mean, where were some of the barriers, some of the things that came up? So that's obviously a pretty radical shift?
Chase Kim: Definitely, I think, in any industry, I think, the acting side of it. You know, obviously at this stage of my career, there's no blueprint for me in regards to like how I move forward from here to try to be more more successful. But I think in the beginning stages, I think it's a lot easier to identify a few different things that you have to accomplish to put yourself in a position that you're hireable as an actor. And so some of those things for me were like, I would talk to some people that had gone through the process. And they made a very big point of saying that you have to be in the union, you have to find a way to get into SAG-AFTRA. Because if you're not, you're not hireable, nobody can hire you, for you for the big projects, if you're not in the union. Another thing that people said was that you have to find a way to get an agent. So those kinds of things, you kind of I wrote all those things down and figured out within those kind of bullet points, what I needed to do to get myself in a position to accomplish those little things, and they're not, they're not anything that's going to get you a job immediately. But without those things, you're it's a non starter. And so I kind of figured those things out first. And also other thing was, I need to learn what I needed to do to be, I guess, to be an actor, I mean, in terms of just the craft itself, because I didn't come from a theatre or acting background, which is kind of an unusual place to be because most of the people that come to Hollywood to try to make it usually have degrees in theater, or, you know, the plays up through high school, or they just have some kind of a background in the actual profession, which I did not. And so, you know, I enrolled in some classes and figured out kind of the basics of, you know, how to be an actor. And that was another one of the things that I kind of had to check off the list to try to get ready to kind of embark on that.
How Chase Gained Support from Those Who Originally Doubted Him [6:50]
Darren Reinke: I think it's interesting, when people make a big jump, obviously, my lens is more from an entrepreneurship lens, someone starts a company or doing something different and people look at them. Like, if they're not from that, within that context, the guy's a little bit crazy. Like, what was that? Like in terms of dealing with potentially some of the naysayers? I mean, you mentioned you had friends growing up that had been successful in Hollywood, but what were some of those comments? How do you deal with that in terms of just pursuing what meant the most to you, which was acting?
Chase Kim: Well, I think the biggest thing is to, to present it. I mean, if you if you care about what people think about what you're doing, and obviously family members, close friends, there's going to be people that say that those that know you the best, they're obviously going to be supportive, but they're also going to have some severe doubts, because they know you and they know that this isn't what you come from, this isn't your background, I think it would be silly, the people that know you, the best are going to be the ones that kind of try to ground you a little bit and say, Hey, what, what is this fascination? Why are you going in that direction, and I think for, for me, it was always just, hey, I'm gonna give this a go. I don't have any, I think when I entered into this business, I didn't have any kind of grand ideas about, you know, winning an Oscar or just kind of grandiose ideas about what I wanted to do in this business. My goal, from a pretty early standpoint was to make a living, being an actor, I treated it more like a job than I did kind of this whole, like, Oh, hey, career change, it was more like it is a career change. But I'm gonna treat this, like I just entered into another company, a different startup or just another industry, I'm still doing, you know, in my mind, I was still doing the same thing. In a sense, I'm selling myself. So you have to think about it in those terms. And so I think when I put it that that way, to a lot of the people around me, it seemed more realistic, because I wasn't saying like, Hey, I'm going to be the next Batman. You know, that wasn't my goal. My goal was to say, hey, I want to figure out how I can make a living, because it seems like a cool thing. And it seems like the lifestyle is very flexible. You know, it's not like you're grinding nine to five. And so there's all these things that I really found appealing about it. And when I explained it in those terms, I think you got it, you get a lot more buy in from people around you.
Why Chase Treated Acting as Just Another Job [9:13]
Darren Reinke: Yes. Interesting. Obviously, just, it's great. Yes, it's just supportive family and network that they didn't just say that, you know, it's crazy or whatnot. But, you know, I've talked to other people who started businesses, whether it was starting an ugly Christmas sweaters ecommerce site after jumping from a law firm. And, you know, he also had a very supportive family network, which is really cool. That's interesting in terms of pursuing it like a job. So what did that like? What was next, like? How did you actually go about you took some classes, you did some foundational work in terms of getting into unions and so forth, but like, what was next for you to relate to break in and get that first opportunity?
Chase Kim: Well, I think the biggest the biggest thing was the class that I ended up in was just through some referrals through friends, and it was a kind of a Basics class and it was called on camera acting. I didn't want to go in the direction of like taking some kind of theoretical, foundational classes about acting because I knew a lot of that focuses on the theater in different like musical theater or whatever think skill sets that I didn't really want to acquire or need to acquire for that matter. And so I sought out an on camera class that taught you the basics about how to act for the camera, keeping things small, keeping things grounded, keeping things realistic. And so in that class, and that kind of a group of actor friends that I was able to kind of lean on in my early years. And then that class offered an opportunity, because every month, they would bring in different people from the industry, whether it be casting directors, or agents to kind of just see your work. And so that's kind of how I met my agent, who happens to still be my agent today, 16 years later. And so she saw me in this kind of showcase, and I did a scene. And she thought I had a good luck. And I was in my I think I was my late 20s at the time. And so still looked young enough to be able to play kind of the college age kids and things of that nature is and so she got in touch with me and initially wanted to just represent me for commercials. And she saw that I had no background in TV and film. So she said, I'll, I'll take a chance on your commercials. I'll send you out on some auditions. See how it works out. And so yeah, pretty early on. When that happened. I went on my very first real gig was for a company called Pella windows. It was a commercial, it's a company based out of Iowa somewhere. And they were just shooting these commercials here in Pasadena, actually. And I happened to book a job as a window installer. And that was like my first union job that I booked through my agent. And from there, I think several months later, she said, Hey, I think you're ready to audition for TV and film. But why don't we just make the relationship kind of 100%. TV film commercials. And so that's when she started sending me off for roles and slowly start booking stuff. And they have more faith in you and sending you off for bigger stuff. And yeah, 16 years later, where I am.
Darren Reinke: Now, it's exciting. It's so inspiring as well. But what was it like in terms of just, I always think about the pressure of the moment, whether it's a sales person going after the biggest client I've ever gone after an athlete when they make it to the major leagues, they step on the field for the first time, like, what was it like for you in terms of that moment where you really had that shot? And also like, what did it feel like? But also, how did you deal with some of those nerves and the pressure?
The Relationship Between Sports and Acting [12:04]
Chase Kim: I mean, that's a good question. And I think, for me, I think part of it is, you know, kind of like yourself as well. And a lot of our friends in our, in our circle of friends, I come from more of an athletic background, I played competitive sports, most of my life through Palo Alto High School. And so I learned early on that the acting process, especially the auditioning process is much more sport like than it is art like. So to kind of elaborate on that the auditioning process, you do all this prep, whether it be by yourself, or with somebody that's coaching you or whatever, and you, you do all this prep on the material. But in the audition room, you don't have any of the things that make it an artistic process, because you don't have the sets, you don't have the wardrobe, you don't have the other actors, it's just you and the camera and the casting director. And so you have to kind of create that environment yourself, and deliver the performance that you kind of worked on, which is a lot lot more like an athletic endeavor than it is artistic one, whether it be shooting a free throw, or, or hitting a baseball or catching a football, it's something that you prepared for by practicing. But when the time comes, you have to be able to do that when it's called upon. And so the auditioning process I explained to a lot of people that asked me about this, it is to me, I treated more like hey, I'm going to do the prep. And when the time comes when that casting director presses play and starts recording, I have to deliver this, and sometimes I do and sometimes they don't, there's times when you swing a mess, and there's times when you and you get it exactly like you want. And I think the artistic part comes in later. You know, if and when you book the job, and you show up on set and you have your other actors and you're collaborating, and you have all the environment created for you around you, then you can really bring life to it and play around and kind of bring the art artistic endeavor. But up until that point, I think it's much more of like, Hey, see the ball hit the ball. Sometimes you miss the ball, and it happens
Darren Reinke: for those practice reps like them. And I can relate from a sporting perspective of what was that like in terms of prepping for Sony get out there to shoot the free throw or to use the you know, baseball to hit the ball. And it was like how did you prepare for that and what did you learn from sports but also from business in terms of how to prepare for that situation?
Chase Kim: I think it all comes down to knowing what works for you as far as practice goes, right? And so when it comes to for me with the acting like I try to break down the character as much as possible to try to figure out what are the things that drive This character, one of the things that and so it and it also could be in the early stages of my career, most of these auditions were, you know, one or two lines, you know, most of these auditions were threes hands your hands up, or whatever it is, you know, like something very simple. But you practice that, however many ways that you need to, to try to get it to be your own words instead of words on a page. And, you know, during the times when pre pandemic you're driving, you're in LA traffic and, and you're basically sitting there just like, if it's a one line audition, you're sitting there saying that line 100 different ways until you kind of figure out what sounds the best. And then when you get in the room, you try to deliver that version of it. And, and sometimes the casting director may feel it right away and say that was great, thank you. Or they might say, Hey, you're completely off base on that one line, they might say, you know, you went in a direction that we didn't really want, and you try it a different way. And then you have to be able to, to kind of pivot and go from there.
Darren Reinke: Interesting, I love the those mental reps or those physical reps in terms of in the car and whatnot, I think about going to a speaking event and just rehearsing the intro and the outro. Obviously, those are kind of key to critical moments for a speaker. But what about actually in the moment? I mean, I guess you're kind of a nice man, your nerves of steel. But in the event that nerves come up, what are some of the mental prep that you do, or even things you do in that moment that help you just calm those nerves and get get ready to deliver what matters most?
How Chase Calms His Nerves When it Matters Most [16:15]
Chase Kim: Yeah, and I think the biggest thing for actors, and this is kind of it, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But the biggest advice you'll see people give actors when it comes to auditioning is if you have nerves, just make sure that they're the character's nerves, not your nerves, right? No matter what the audition is, and no matter what the subject matter of the audition is, that character is going to have their own issues, whether it be insecurities, or, or nerves coming from the conversation they're about to have with their significant other or whatever it is. And so you try to use that as much as possible. And that's one aspect that I really miss about actually being in an audition room. And these kind of Coronavirus times where I'm recording everything from home is that I have to manufacture every every ounce of kind of energy slash nerves. Adrenaline, because I'm just in my, you know, in my office, trying to create this atmosphere instead of walking into a room where you have some actual nerves and energy present. And so I think the biggest thing too, is that, I think the more you go on in your career, I think that's probably the same thing for you in regards to your speaking engagements and things of that nature is that when you first started, you were putting a lot more pressure on yourself, because you hadn't done it as many times, and you don't know how many more times you're going to get. Whereas now when you have an established career, it's a little bit easier, say, you know, even if I bombed this audition, it's not my last audition. I'm going to have one tomorrow. I'm going to have one next week. And so I think that grounds you a lot more and your ability, and I think that's the same thing with sales, right? I think for a lot of people, you know, people smell the desperation when it comes to salespeople trying to sell you something. And I think it's the same way for actors. Like if you're in there and you thinking about man, I got a really booked this job, because, you know, I haven't booked anything in months or whatever, that kind of plays on camera as well.
Darren Reinke: So what was that moment, then when you felt like you did have that that foundation underneath you in terms of you, you've made it as a working actor. And so you could have that confidence to know that, hey, if I if I blow this one audition that I've got one tomorrow or the next week, like, what was that moment? Just how did that change in terms of the way you focused on the work ahead?
The Moment Chase Felt He “Made It” as an Actor [18:37]
Chase Kim: Well, I think it's an ongoing process. Like right now I'm in a place where it doesn't feel real to me, just because I feel like everything feels artificial, because I'm doing everything from home. Like even if I book a job, like it doesn't seem as enjoyable because like, the first thing you got to worry about is getting covered testing and all this but like when times are good, it's easy to just kind of take a step back and say, Okay, I'm a numbers person, by nature. And so one of the things that I always do is I've kept a very detailed log of what goes on in my career, whether it be auditions, and how many times I've gotten callback and how many times I've booked something. And so when all else fails, when I'm having a hard time, having confidence in what I'm doing, what I go back is I go back to my 15 plus year, Excel spreadsheet of things that I've done. And I crunched the numbers again, just to just to show myself that, hey, for 15 years, this is what it's been. You get x amount of auditions, you get x amount of callbacks and you get x amount of jobs you booked them. And so that always kind of brings me back to the fact that I've been doing this for a while. I don't need to worry about the next audition as much as I need to just keep my head down and grind it out because eventually the numbers will even out and so it's like it's like that career 300 And hitter in baseball, going through a slump, he's always gonna know if he goes back and looks back of his baseball card, he's gonna know, I've been doing this for 1015 years, I know I'm gonna have my numbers. And obviously, with athletes, there's a time when they got to hang them up because they can't do it anymore. But I think, you know, that gives me some peace of mind knowing that, you know, I have a track record. And as long as I kind of keep my head about me and grind it out and stay focused, it's got to even out in the end.
Darren Reinke: But that's hard to do. I think about a lot of leaders in terms of, especially if they're trying to do something for the first time is that I think it's helpful actually look back to the past and love the example looking at your business card or for you looking at the metrics, which is interesting for accurate to look at metrics, like a CRM system. But to give you that confidence today, look, I've done this for a long time, the same thing goes with people taking risks. But how did you apply some of that in terms of going after new roles? Was it anything you did? differently? Like, okay, you went from the window installer for your first paid gig to the next role to TV to movie to whatever that trajectory was? But did you use this at all in terms of when you were making big transitions or trying to be a different type of character, a different type of actor? Was it also relevant? No situations?
Why Chase Feels The Fundamentals for Every Audition Remain the Same [21:14]
Chase Kim: Yeah, I think it is, in a sense, but I think, for me, what I learned early on is that you have to treat each audition, regardless of whether it's the one line, or whether it's a role that could possibly be a kind of a career changer that lands you on a series for 10 years, the fundamentals are the same, you know, so the fundamentals are the same in the sense that you can't let the moment be too big and put too much pressure, because the character that's saying the one line, you know, freeze hands up, he has the same thing going on in his life. As the guy that's the, you know, the captain of the police department that is, in every episode of the show, like they both have full lives outside of that, those lines. And so it was hard in the beginning, because you get an audition, and it say, Yeah, you know, this is a potentially career changing audition. But if you let that aspect, cloud, your performance, then you're not being true to that character, because the character doesn't care if it's what the role is, characters living in his life. It's one of those things, I mean, I guess, to go back to the kind of the sports analogy, I think, the people, you talk to the athletes that are good in the clutch, and they're always gonna say the same thing, they're gonna say, Hey, I treat it like any other shot or any other at bat or any other, you know, golf shot, or plot or whatever it is, they can't sit there and think, Man, this is a putt to win the Masters. And if you the guys that do it, probably gonna miss that. But so I think that's one of those things where I try to not focus on kind of the gravity of the role, because that's out of my control. And so all I can control is how I interpret the character and deliver the performance. And then after that, it's not really in my hand.
Darren Reinke: So is there anything that you do, practically speaking from a mindset perspective, just to tune out the gravity of the moment beyond to saying, hey, look, this is just like any other role? I mean, obviously, I think it's impossible for us to push out like, wow, look at this job interview, I'm going I will get this customer, I'm in front of this venture capitalist, I'm sitting next to in front of pitching, like anything you do, from a mindset perspective, to really calm your mind to be able to say, Oh, this is just any old audition for yourself.
Chase Kim: Oddly enough, I think right now, it's easiest to do that, because there's so much noise just in our lives. Right? So you were talking before we kind of started recording that, you'd love to be able to go to your friend's office and record where it's quieter, but then that involves just driving to different part of town. And like, same thing with me like, I'm right now I'm just trying to juggle the fact that, you know, we've got one spare room my wife works from in this room. This is also the audition room, and we've got the five year old that's not in summer school right now. So right now, it's easy to just kind of say, you know, what focus on less is more focused on what you need to focus on, and get it done. And so in that regard, it's been very helpful to not worry about a what ifs, and this is a big role. So I got to prepare more. There's only so much time I have and so I think that's that's kind of taught me a little bit of a lesson for myself as well going forward. If and when things go back to normal that prepping more doesn't necessarily mean it's better. And I think that's kind of the same thing. Whereas I think, from a, you know, business standpoint, or sales standpoint, I think people think, man, if I just grind harder and do more, that's not necessarily going to get you the results. You just have to be able to figure out what works best for you, under the circumstances to be able to kind of do your best.
Darren Reinke: I think obviously, finding those things are really impactful in terms of moving the needle. Obviously that's the that's the art of that's the talent, but I do agree in terms of when you flat out don't have the time as a forcing mechanism to really choose what matters the most to you. I mean just the amount of noise as you mentioned the busyness to start lives, what's his personal things, professional things? And, you know, saying yes to everything social because we can do a lot of stuff. You know, hopefully that stays the same moving forward. But yeah, it just definitely requires you to force what your choices are, for sure. One thing I think about you mentioned, I believe, he said 16 years in the business, and I think about that, as an entrepreneur, also, I think about being in a company that just like the old days, people at IBM for 50 years, their entire career, they don't have to really focus on the growth and development. It's right there in front of them. But as an entrepreneur, I think about that all the time about how do I keep those skills sharp? How do I learn new things, how to stay on top of trends, I think of yourself as an actor, as an independent artist, is how you've been able to grow and develop over time as, as roles change as opportunities change as you change. I mean, it's just even getting older. In the acting business. I'm just curious about what have you done to grow and to stay fresh and relevant?
How Chase Grows and Develops to Stay Relevant [25:32]
Chase Kim: It's great question. And I think one of the things that that's great about being an actor is that you can only do so much in the sense that we're not all Daniel Day Lewis, or Johnny Depp, being in this kind of crazy characters, for the most, most actors are playing some version of themselves. I think, in that regard, as you get older, during the time that I've been an actor, you know, I've gotten married, I've had kids, you know, you go through different things, you you purchase a house, like all these things that you go through, I think you start to realize that that shapes who you are as a person, and what you put out there as an actor. And so I would definitely say that, you know, have having a child five years ago, was a big moment for me, because then I really knew what it felt like to be a parent. And that you use that in your auditioning and acting all the time, because I'm playing those roles. Now. I have played multiple roles where I'm the dad or, you know, and so instead of having to kind of envision an Venket, you have that feeling and the emotion and kind of all that very accessible to you, because you're going through yourself. You know, and I think there was time to during this Coronavirus time, obviously, it was kind of it was a very challenging time for all of us. And I felt like my emotions were much more within reach easily. And there were several auditions that I had over the over the course of the the pandemic, where required a lot of emotional kind of being in touch with your emotions, and breakdowns and all these things. And it came very easily because I think the nerves are so raw, you know, we're all going through the same thing for the last 18 months, I think I had some auditions where I didn't know if I can access the emotion. And when I tried it was really just right there. And it just goes to show you, whatever you're going on in your life is really a part of who you are. And so I think that plays in any industry, not just as an actor, because if you're not aware of those emotions, and how raw you are, when you're living life, I think you do yourself a disservice because you're not being truthful, out in the world. And I think, you know, whether it be sales or whether it be leading a team, you have to acknowledge what you're going through in your day to day life. Because if not, you're not a three dimensional person, I think if the people that you're leading don't see the human side of you, I think they relate to you less.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, so important. It's interesting, just as an actor, where that can be a real asset, but I think so many leaders have a hard time with that. And they're probably afraid of that, you know, in terms of really acknowledging in being aware of the changes the pressure, the life changes, all those things. But as you mentioned, you know, not being a cardboard cutout version of a leader of yourself actually being truly authentic to your experiences to your values. But it also realizing that that's a real asset. So clearly for you, you've realized that in terms of from an acting perspective, but also leaders as well, and I encourage it all the time to really create your own authentic brand. Don't create some fake version of yourself that you think people want to see, but actually show the world what you want to be big. And, you know, interestingly, from that is, I find people are more successful, but there's happier, there's just more joy. And just being something of you know, the person that you're meant to be that's true to who you are.
Chase Kim: Absolutely, I think I think everybody, whether it be between amongst friends, amongst coworkers, or whatever, amongst colleagues of any type, you want to know that the person that you're dealing with and interacting with is, is relatable. And that's one of the things that I think we've gotten into in this current society where there's all this social media presence, and people are trying to put out like this kind of best version of themselves out into the world. And yet, in real life, a lot of these people aren't living full lives. They're just projecting this image out in the world. And I think the more authentic the relationships, relationships can be, I think the more kinds of fruitful relationships could be and I think that's that plays in the kind of corporate setting as well, because a lot of these leaders like you're talking about, I think they project an image of themselves as You know, competence and stoic and all these things without really letting their people see who the real person is.
Darren Reinke: Absolutely. So true. So true. So looking forward, I know you've you met your goal, your working actor 16 years in the business was incredible. Like, what's next for you? What are you currently working on? What are you looking forward to just the next several years in terms of your career in your life?
The Opportunities Chase is Looking Forward to in the Next Few Years of His Career [30:14]
Chase Kim: I think I think I just want to keep it consistent. You know, I think my recipe kind of over the course of my career has been, you know, book two or three commercials, book five or six TV shows a year and just keep grinding. And I think ideally, I would love to book a role on a TV show that kind of lasts for a while. So I'd have to kind of take a break on the auditioning process of it. But those aren't easy to come by. And I think I have faith that I think if I just continue to do the work, and I think it's showing itself and kind of the types of auditions that I'm getting, getting more auditions that are 4358, episodes, whatever it is. And I think, you know, hopefully, I just get one of those that will kind of carry me through the next stage of my career. But But all I know is that all I could do is keep being consistent in the work that I put out there, keep my head on straight and just kind of grind it out. The whole concept of like the life changing or career changing role. I don't really buy into it that much anymore. I think it's now that I've been doing this for so long. I know that I have a career and as long as I can kind of continue that track. I think I'll be okay.
Darren Reinke: Yes, interesting. You say that I think about that as it pertains to purpose. And I think people just expect this flash of light just to change their life and have this sense of purpose. We're really it's about creating it for you a great example, is I imagine there's probably very few actors that just they have that moment where it's just it just changes from zero to one moving forward. And the reality is probably more people who actually have to create it enough to constantly grind and get, you know, single episode spots and just continually move and put the effort to keep going.
Chase Kim: Absolutely. It's funny, because I just worked with a guy, I just shot a State Farm commercial with Jake from State Farm. You know, he's become such a big part of our cultural kind of awareness right now, because he's been on TV nonstop. But he was a guy that up until 18 months ago was grinding and thought he was struggling and he kind of barely making it. And he is one of those kind of rare examples of somebody that booked a job, that's going to be definitely life changing. But that's not the common way to kind of succeed in this business. I think the common ways to, to keep grinding books out then here and there. And eventually your body of work speaks for itself. And then you kind of can go to the next step. But you know, Jake, from State Farm is definitely the anomaly not the norm.
Darren Reinke: Yeah, absolutely. Just in thinking through that, like, how have you been able to persevere? I mean, just the grind, even that's tough to grind for 16 years, you think about? A lot of times people think Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are all overnight successes. It's like, yeah, the overnight success that took five years. So how are you able to stay in there and hang in there and keep grinding? Keep working? Without that big break? That hasn't come your way?
How Chase Maintains His Persistence [33:01]
Chase Kim: Yeah, I think that what's motivating me has changed over the years. You know, I think when I first started, it was more of a singular focus. You know, when I was single, and living by myself, it was like, you know, I got up and went to the gym and try to stay fit and, and just kind of go and have a singular focus on what I wanted to accomplish in the business. And as I've gotten older, I think it's, it's just the same things that keep everybody focused, right? Whether it be your family, you know, providing for your family or being there for your, for your son or for your wife, or whatever it is, I think those things continuously change. And they have for me, and I think what I try to do, and I'm not always successful, I think there's there's times when it wears on me because it is a grind. There's years where I have hundreds, I think the most I've had in a year I've had 120 auditions in here. And I think I had a pretty good year that year and booked 10 of them, you know, which is less than 10%, obviously. And so I got 110 rejections and some of those years, it's tough it wears on you. But you try not to bring that home and you try to just stay even keeled because I think, again, I tried to make sure that I treat this like a job where so those 120 auditions were my 120 sales calls and the 10 jobs I booked or the 10 sales that I made. And so in that regard, I try to keep it as kind of even keeled as possible because if I let myself get into the thought process of man, I didn't get that one again. I didn't get this one. I haven't booked an audition in two months. And if you start going like it's gonna affect my life at home, how pleasant or unpleasant I am around my family and so I try to just keep that aspect of it out of my life.
Darren Reinke: That is tough to do. Definitely speaking from personal experience. So where can people go to find out more about you and what you're up to see some of your work online.
Chase Kim: Sure, you can You can always, you know, kind of the Internet Movie Database or imdb.com is, is kind of the place to go to find out what people are doing. It has all my credits on there. And then just kind of keep your eyes peeled all the time on commercials because I'm generally in a commercial here and there. I shot lawn last year for the new Apple Watch release, which is kind of which ran a lot. And then, like I said, I just did a State Farm commercial with Jake from State Farm. So that should probably be out in the next couple of months. But yeah, I think I'm going to be in the next season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I just shot an episode of that a couple months ago.
Darren Reinke: So well, hey, Chase, and you're a busy guy with all the auditions and of course, the personal responsibilities. But hey, I really appreciate you coming on the show today.
Chase Kim: Hey, thanks a lot for having me, Darren. It's been nice catching up, man.
Darren Reinke: Thanks for listening to today's episode of The Savage Leader Podcast. My hope is you walk away with tactics that you can apply to become a better leader in your life and in your career. If you're looking for additional insight in tactics, be sure to check out my book titled The Savage Leader 13 Principles to Become a Better Leader From The Inside Out. Also, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and I would truly appreciate it if you would leave a review and also rate the podcast. Thanks and see you in the next episode.