'Hawaii Five-0' star Daniel Dae Kim is ready to be a romantic lead

Daniel Dae Kim has one genre that's still on his career bucket list, and it's a fun one. "I would love to be a romantic lead," he revealed to PEOPLE. "Just boy meets girl — but I am getting a bit old for that, so it may be man meets woman."

He continued to explain, "Traditionally in America, someone who looks like me does not get the girl. I’m so glad to see that changing. I really hope that's a barrier that not only our community breaks, but one that I get to participate in breaking."

Kim has built a career as one of the most recognizable and respected Asian American actors in Hollywood. He first broke through as Jin-Soo Kwon on ABC’s hit series ‘Lost,’ a role that earned him critical acclaim and fan devotion. He later starred for 10 seasons on CBS’s reboot of ‘Hawaii Five-0,’ where he also made strides as a producer and advocate for representation. On the film side, Kim has appeared in projects ranging from ‘The Jackal’ and ‘Spider-Man 2’ to the 2019 ‘Hellboy’ reboot, where he played Ben Daimio. More recently, he’s lent his voice to major animated titles like Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ and continues to take on roles that spotlight his versatility

He broke a pretty major barrier earlier this year by becoming the first Asian actor to be nominated for a Tony Award in the Best Lead Actor in a Play category, thanks to his incredible Broadway performance in Yellow Face. 

"I started my career on stage and I started at a time where representation was very different from where it is today," the actor commented. "To be nominated for [best lead actor] is a dream come true and a really good metaphor for where we are culturally. We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still a ways to go… the next step that we have to take, and not just for me, but for all of us, is for an Asian man to win that category."