If you’ve watched any television lately, chances are you’ve encountered actress Grace Park in something you’ve seen on television.
Grace Park is a prolific actress known for her roles in shows like Battlestar Galactica, the reboot of the 70’s classic Hawaii Five-0 and most recently in the show A Million Little Things.
Park is of Korean origin and was born in Los Angeles on March 14, 1974, but moved to Vancouver as an infant where she grew up and attended high school.
Early Life and Starting Out
After moving to Vancouver, Park attended high school there and graduated in 1992 before getting a degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia.
Though Park would eventually gain widespread fame for some of her other roles, she got her start in 1997 playing a bit part in the reboot of the classic sci-fi series The Outer Limits. Park would go on to land numerous small parts before finally making it big in 2000.
Acting Career
Grace got her first major break at the age of 26 when she landed a small role in the film Romeo Must Die. From there Park’s career took off.
She managed to get a number of small parts and even landed a 5 episode recurring role in the series The Immortal before landing a main role in the Canadian teen drama Edgemont which ran for 5 seasons and a total of 69 episodes.
She even landed a small part in the sci-fi classic Stargate SG-1.
Battlestar Galactica
Park’s next major break would come in the form of a reboot of the 1978 sci-fi cult classic Battlestar Galactica. She would play the role of Lt. Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii in a TV miniseries revival of the show in 2003.
The show would be picked up as a full series in 2004 where Park would reprise her role as a main character and a total of 73 episodes, 2 TV movies and then a character known as Number Eight in a TV miniseries.
This would become one of Park’s most iconic roles and make her a household name.
After Battlestar Galactica
After the conclusion of the primary Battlestar Galactica series, Park would land main roles in two different shows, The Cleaner and The Border each show would be short lived, running for 26 and 12 episodes respectively.
Though these shows would be short lived, Park would continue to land roles in different shows for the next two years before landing her next big role and one that would cement her in the fabric of Hollywood and also break her out of the mold of playing only sci-fi characters
Hawaii Five-0
Grace Park would again become a household name thanks to the CBS reboot of the classic crime drama Hawaii Five-0.
This role would be one that defined Grace as a standout actor. She had already been in a number of different shows and had some main roles, but outside of the sci-fi genre she wasn’t as well known.
She would wind up playing the lead role of Kono Kalakaua on the show for 7 seasons. In the show she starts off as the fresh faced rookie who joins the Hawaii police department’s special task force.
Her skills quickly set her apart as a skilled martial artist and marksman, frequently playing the sniper on the team.
Grace continues to play the role up through season 7 as her character becomes more and more integral to the show.
Why did she leave Hawaii Five-0?
It is reported that at the end of season 7 of the show a contract despite involving herself, fellow actor Daniel Dae Kim and CBS studies came to light.
It was alleged that the studio refused to pay the Asian stars as much as their white counterparts. In fact, it was reported that Park and Kim were making some 15% less than their co-stars.
At the time the response from the studio stated that they had given Park and Kim substantial raises to be comparable with their castmates, but this seemed to only solidify the fact that the studio was, in fact, paying the actors less throughout the entire run of the show.
This ultimately led to Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim leaving the show entirely before the filming for the 8th season began.
What is Grace Park doing now?
Since departing Hawaii Five-0, Park has done two more feature films titled Adventures in Public School and Freaks.
Her popularity appears not to have taken a hit either as she landed a leading role in the show A Million Little Things playing the part of Katherine Kim, a role which she has held since 2018. However it was recently disclosed that the show is officially ending after its upcoming fifth season.
Ties to the NXIVM Cult
During a tumultuous time in her life Grace was part of what is now known to be a sex cult that was founded by Keith Raniere in 1998 as a supposed self empowerment group that held seminars and taught people to be their best selves.
It was later learned that at the height of its popularity it included numerous stars including Grace Park, fellow Battlestar Galactica co-star Nicki Cline, and Smallville stars Allison Mack and Kristen Kreuk.
At present both Park and Kreuk have left the cult and are considered to have been low ranking members.
Allison Mack has been brought up on charges alleging sex trafficking and other crimes, while Nicki Cline, Park’s co-star, remains fiercely loyal to the cult’s founder and continues ot sing its praises.
Park reportedly left the cult in 2017 after a news article was published alleging that women were being stripped naked and branded by leaders of the cult.
Personal Life
Grace Park has been married to Phil Kim since 2004. Little is known about her husband other than the fact that he is a real estate developer.
The couple still live together in Vancouver with their son, born in 2013.
Grace doesn’t uses social media and has been relatively quiet about her personal life.
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