By Dave Quinn

Need to Know

• Daniel Dae Kim’s 2025 Tony Award nomination earned him a spot in the record books at the first Asian American to be nominated in the Lead Actor in a Play category
• The Yellow Face opens up to PEOPLE about taking risks and carving out a spot for himself in show business
• A filmed version of Yellow Face will air on PBS’ Great Performances on Friday, May 16, and can be streamed on PBS.org until June 30

Daniel Dae Kim is far from lost after his latest Broadway role.

Back in the fall, the 56-year-old star trod the boards in David Henry Hwang’s semi-autographical play, Yellow Face. And earlier this month, his performance earned him a 2025 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play — a feat that landed him in the history books as the first Asian American performer to nab a nod in the category.

“It feels incredibly special,” Kim tells PEOPLE at the Tony Awards’ annual ‘Meet the Nominees’ event on May 8. “I found out that stat a couple of weeks ago, and it really surprised me because the Tonys have been around for 78 years! To know that I’m the first makes me a little sad, but a lot happy. It’s very meaningful. In fact, it means more for that reason than it does for my own achievement.”

Yellow Face is inspired by the infamous Miss Saigon casting controversy, which made headlines when the musical transferred from London’s West End to Broadway in 1990 with Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce reprising his role of the Engineer, a Eurasian (French-Vietnamese) pimp.

To read the entire article: https://people.com/daniel-dae-kim-tony-awards-nomination-exclusive-11736191

Photo credit: DFree/Shutterstock