Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park leave ‘Hawaii Five-0’
Actor George Eads, with co-stars Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim. Park and Kim left "Hawaii Five-O" after trying to secure equal pay on the show. Credit: CBS / Norman Shapiro
“Hawaii Five-0” stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park have left the CBS police-procedural series after seven seasons, following a contract dispute.
Variety reported that the two Asian-American actors, who have been cast-members since the show premiered in 2010, had been attempting to reach equal pay with their Caucasian castmates Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan, but that the production company, CBS Television Studios, balked. The trade magazine estimated that CBS’ final offer was 10 to 15 percent below the salaries of O’Loughlin and Caan, who additionally have percentages of revenue participation for ancillary sales such as rerun syndication.
A CBS representative said in a statement, “We are so appreciative of Daniel and Grace’s enormous talents, professional excellence and the aloha spirit they brought to each and every one of our 168 episodes. They’ve helped us build an exciting new ‘Hawaii Five-0,’ ” — a reference to the original 1968-1980 series starring Jack Lord, James MacArthur and Kam Fong — “and we wish them all the best and much success in their next chapters.”
The statement concluded with the Hawaiian expression “Mahalo and a hui hou,” translating to “Thank you and until we meet again.”
Kim, 48, previously best known as Korean husband Jin-Soo Kwon on the 2004-2010 series “Lost,” played Hawaii Five-0 Task Force member Chin Ho Kelly, an ex-Honolulu police detective who had been wrongly accused of corruption. Park, 43, who was Lt. Sharon “Boomer” Valerii on the 2004-09 science-fiction drama “Battlestar Galactica,” played Kelly’s cousin, fellow task-force member and expert sniper Kono Kalakaua. Neither has commented publicly.
“I will never forget meeting Daniel while still writing the pilot and being certain there was no other actor who I’d want to play Chin Ho Kelly,” executive producer Peter Lenkov told Variety. “Needless to say, Daniel has been an instrumental part of the success of ‘Hawaii Five-0’ over the past seven seasons and it has personally been a privilege to know him. Grace’s presence gave ‘Hawaii Five-0’ a beauty and serenity to each episode. She was the consummate collaborator, helping build her character from day 1. They will always be ohana [“like family”] to us, we will miss them and we wish them both all the best.”
