Daniel Dae Kim Says an Asian Actor Wouldn't Have Been Cast as 'Hot Zone: Anthrax' Lead 10 Years Ago

When Daniel Dae Kim first appeared in Lost in 2004 playing Korean strongman Jin-Soo Kwon, he was one of the few East Asian faces on American TV. Seventeen years later, the actor has his first lead role, in the second season of National Geographic's reality-based series, The Hot Zone: Anthrax.

"If this show were being made 10 years ago, I could guarantee you that a face like mine, wouldn't be the FBI agent leading this investigation," he says in this week's issue of PEOPLE. "To me, that's a real sign of progress."

The actor plays Special Agent Matthew Ryker. "He is an FBI agent who tracks down the culprit of these attacks," says Kim. "My character is a fictional one that is an amalgam of different people who actually worked the investigation."

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On Lost, Kim's character and his onscreen wife, Sun-Hwa (played by Yunjin Kim — no relation), initially spoke only in Korean.

"I think for the majority of Americans, it was the first time they'd ever seen Asian people on TV, featured in the way that we were, speaking another language," he says. "It changed the way TV shows were cast. I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity."

After Lost, Kim starred as Detective Chin Ho Kelly on Hawaii Five-O for seven seasons before leaving in 2017 amid a reported salary dispute. Since then, Kim has branched out into producing, adapting a Korean drama into the ABC show The Good Doctor.

"If I can be a job creator and cast my shows in the way that I see the world and make those casts more diverse as a result, then I should do that, too," he says. "I'm thankful that people have let me do it. And it is nice to be a job creator as opposed to someone who's waiting on others to hire them."

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Kim says his wife Mia has been key to his success.

"When I first met my wife, I wasn't even thinking about becoming an actor," he says. "I was going to be a lawyer, like a good Korean boy. Or an engineer. I chose none of them. And my wife stood by me when I made that very risky choice. I'm forever grateful for her support and she's been the rock of our relationship."

The Hot Zone: Anthrax premieres Nov. 28 at 9 p.m. ET on Nat Geo and will stream on Hulu.