Joel Kim Booster
Joel Alexander Kim Booster, born Kim Joonmin, is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. He is known for writing, producing, and starring in the Hulu romantic comedy film Fire Island and his role in the Apple TV comedy series Loot, earning two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the former. He has also co-produced, written, or guest starred for Big Mouth, The Other Two, Shrill, Search Party, and Sunnyside.
Early and personal life
Born Kim Joonmin in Jeju Island, South Korea, Booster was adopted by an American couple as an infant. He was raised in Plainfield, Illinois, in a "conservative, white, Evangelical Christian family" and was initially homeschooled. He went to public school for the first time when he was 16, which he described as his "first time being around non-religious people." He studied theater at Millikin University for his bachelor's degree. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.Booster is gay and often talks about his sexuality in his stand-up. He explained he knew he was gay from childhood but kept it a secret. During his senior year of high school, his parents found out his orientation by reading his diary where he had described his sexual encounters with other boys. Booster moved out and began to couchsurf until he stayed with a family friend. On July 21, 2020, Booster publicly shared that he lives with bipolar disorder.
On September 1, 2024, Booster announced on Twitter his engagement to John-Michael Sudsina in South Korea. The couple married at the Exploratorium in San Francisco on December 30, 2025.
Career
2012–2017: Early standup career
Living in Chicago, Booster took a job as a copywriter and began to perform in theater and write jokes after work. His standup career began in an unconventional fashion by opening up for plays in Chicago's theater scene. In 2014, Booster moved to New York to pursue a career in comedy. Recognizing the dearth of quality comedic roles in film and television for Asian performers at the time, Booster took inspiration from the careers of Mindy Kaling and Aziz Ansari and decided to focus on establishing his own brand and identity through standup as a means to break into better acting roles later. He quickly found new levels of stand up success after moving to New York, performing a set on Conan in 2016 and filming a 30-minute stand up special for Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents in 2017. On November 3, 2018, he released his debut stand-up album, Model Minority. The material covers racism in the gay community, growing up Asian in a white community, and his own non-adherence to stereotypes about Asian Americans.2018–2021: Expansion into hosting, comedy writing, acting
In 2018, Booster's acting career began to take off. Booster acted with Susan Sarandon in the YouTube original film Viper Club and was cast in Netflix's The Week Of. In 2019, he was cast as a recurring guest character in the critically acclaimed Hulu series Shrill starring Aidy Bryant and based on the titular memoir by Lindy West and co-starred as Jun Ho in the NBC comedy series Sunnyside, which ran for one season. Meanwhile, he started seeing similar success as a comedic writer and producer during this time period, writing for acclaimed comedies Big Mouth, Billy on the Street, and The Other Two.He is a regular panelist on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on NPR. In 2019, he started the podcast Urgent Care with Joel Kim Booster + Mitra Jouhari with comedian Mitra Jouhari under Earwolf.
Booster appeared on the December 8, 2020, episode of The George Lucas Talk Show with fellow guest Eliza Skinner.
2022–present: Hollywood breakout and mainstream success
Booster wrote and starred in the 2022 romantic comedy film Fire Island, streaming on Hulu and inspired by Pride and Prejudice. It is one of few mainstream gay films with a predominantly Asian American cast, and co-stars Margaret Cho, Bowen Yang, and Conrad Ricamora. The film received positive reception and was noted for its cinematography, faithfulness to Pride and Prejudice, and depiction of a loving friendship between Howie and Noah.In 2022, he released a stand-up special on Netflix called Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual. Abbey White of The Hollywood Reporter described the special positively: "...Psychosexual offers a hilariously biting deconstruction and reconstruction of Booster's identity onstage; a repudiation not only of himself as a representative or "role model" for his various communities, but an affirmation that as a comedian, his only job is to tell jokes — regardless of whether that speaks to any community at all."
In September 2022, Booster performed alongside EDM DJ / Kawaii Metal Idol Freya Fox and Atsuko Okatsuka at Life is Beautiful in Las Vegas, CA. A clip of Booster's comedy game at Life is Beautiful "Joel Kim or Kim Jeong Un" vent viral on Freya Fox's TikTok, amassing over 500,000 views.
In June 2025, it was announced that Booster would be performing at Belly Laughs, a new comedy and food festival in Los Angeles.
In November 2025, Booster made it to the final round of the "8 Degrees of Jane" episode of Celebrity Weakest Link.
Accolades
Booster was called a Comic to Watch by Variety and one of Vultures 20 Comedians You Should and Will Know, and was named a ForbesDiscography
- 2018: ''Model Minority''