Korean-Canadian actor, Scarborough, Ontario native, and rising star Jonathan Kim has been on quite the run lately, popping up on the big screen this week in the latest film from director Johnny Ma (Old Stone, To Live to Sing), the comedy-drama The Mother and the Bear.
The Mother and the Bear (which premiered at TIFF in 2024) tells the story of Sara Kim (played by veteran Korean actor Kim Ho-jung), a concerned mother from Seoul who travels to wintery Winnipeg to watch over her 26 year old daughter, Sumi, who has been placed in a medically induced coma following a bizarre accident. Sumi will be just fine, but traditionally minded Sara worries that without a husband, no one will be able to take care of her daughter. While her daughter is sleeping off her injuries, Sara creates a fake dating app profile for Sumi, hoping that she’ll find her a new man before she awakens.
In the film, Jonathan Kim plays Min, a handsome young Korean-Canadian who catches Sara’s eye. He’s precisely the kind of upstanding, well-put-together man she would love her daughter to marry. But much to her dismay, Min is happily attached to a successful doctor (Samantha Kendrick), who is both white and the person caring for her ailing daughter. This relationship also causes contention between Min and his restaurant owner father, Sam (Won-jae Lee), who starts to develop a close friendship and bond with Sara.
Kim, who can currently be seen in the hit television series Sheriff Country and had a recurring role on Brilliant Minds, took time out of his day to talk about working with Johnny Ma, the awe he felt around Kim Ho-jung, the various ways this film speaks to cultural and generational differences, and what it’s like working on popular American television dramas that just so happen to be shot in Toronto.
The Mother and the Bear opens in select cities and theatres on Friday, January 9, 2026.
