Episode 994- Mr. Kim Hoang
In this episode, Jeremy sits down and chats with Kim Hoang about his martial journey, podcasting and acting.
Mr. Kim Hoang - Episode 994
SUMMARY
In this engaging conversation, Jeremy and Kim Hoang explore the intersections of podcasting, martial arts, and personal growth. Kim shares his journey from being bullied as a child to finding confidence through martial arts and acting. They discuss the importance of cultural representation in media, the impact of 'The Karate Kid' on his life, and the evolving landscape of opportunities for diverse actors in Hollywood. The conversation highlights the significance of following one's passion and the collaborative spirit within the podcasting community. In this conversation, Kim Hoang shares his journey through martial arts, the impact of his mother's encouragement, and his transition into acting. He discusses the importance of martial arts in his life, the challenges of being typecast as a martial arts actor, and his desire to be recognized as a versatile actor. Additionally, he reflects on the creative outlet that podcasting provides and the responsibility that comes with it. The conversation highlights the intersection of martial arts, acting, and personal growth.
TAKEAWAYS
The beauty of podcasting and martial arts lie in collaboration, not competition.
Confidence gained from martial arts can translate to other areas of life.
Cultural representation in media is crucial for future generations.
The Karate Kid' served as a pivotal inspiration for many martial artists.
Overcoming bullying through martial arts can lead to personal empowerment.
Diversity in film is improving, but there's still work to be done.
The journey of a podcaster is intertwined with personal growth and self-discovery.
Community support can significantly impact one's journey in the arts.
Acting is a powerful form of expression that can resonate with audiences.
He wants to be known as an actor that does martial arts.
Forms can save your life one day.
Podcasting started as a creative outlet during the pandemic.
He values the power and responsibility of being a podcaster.
Kim's journey reflects resilience and personal growth.
He emphasizes the importance of community in martial arts.
Creative expression is vital in both martial arts and acting.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
01:01 The Impact of Martial Arts on Personal Growth
4:02 Cultural Identity and Acting Aspirations
6:58 The Influence of 'The Karate Kid' on Kim's Life
9:58 Overcoming Bullying Through Martial Arts
12:55 The Role of Diversity in Film and Media
15:57 Future Aspirations in Film and Martial Arts
26:51 The Journey of Martial Arts Training
35:03 Combining Acting and Martial Arts
43:30 The Birth of a Podcast
49:51 Creative Expression in Martial Arts
To connect with Kim Hoang:
The Kim Hoang Podcast Experience on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and Audible.
Social Media:
Instagram & Twitter: @tkhpcexperiece
Miscalculated The Movie (a film he starred in): available on Tubi, Fawesome and available for purchase on Prime Video for $4.99
Email:
thekimhoangpodcastexperience@gmail.com
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
✅Subscribe to whistlekick Martial Arts Radio on the following platforms:
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✅You can find whistlekick on all social media platforms using the handle @whistlekick or visit our website at https://www.whistlekick.com or https://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com
Show Transcript
Jeremy (08:35.01)
What's happening, everybody? Welcome back. It's another episode of Whistlekick, martial arts radio. And on today's episode, I'm joined by Mr. Kim Hwang. And we're going to talk about all kinds of good stuff. He's a fellow podcaster. So those of you who've been around a while, you know how it goes when I talk to another podcaster. It gets fun fast because they're already comfortable.
Now, maybe you are not so comfortable in the whistle kick verse because you're new to what we do. And if that's true, rhyming unintentional, I want you to go to whistlekick.com and see all the things that we're doing for you, the traditional martial artists of the world. We've got events, we've got apparel, we've got training programs, we've got a blog, we've got a ton of stuff over there, as well as links to all the other things that we do like the show whistlekick martial arts radio.com is where you want to go for that.
For every single episode, have show notes, which includes a full transcript. And I'm sure we're going to talk about some stuff today, like Kim's podcast. We're going to link that out everywhere that you would want to find that. Go there. Whistlekickmarshallwatchradio.com. It's also the place that you might sign up for a newsletter. You can join the Patreon. You can see the partnerships that we have, with Qatar. I don't even think this is a Qatar episode, but I'm wearing my Qatar sweatshirt and we've got a partnership with Marshallitics. Lots of great stuff.
all here for you. with that, Kim, welcome to the show.
Kim Hoang (10:02.605)
Thank you, sir. really appreciate that. know, top of the morning to everybody. As it's during this time, it's early in the morning, but I'm fired up and ready to go.
Jeremy (10:13.154)
Yeah, man, I'm glad that you're here. Whenever Andrew, you know, Andrew and I talk weekly, as you might imagine, and to those of you who are have not been around for a while, Andrew is my often co-host, and he's been stepping up doing more more and more and does the editing. He sets up a lot of things and we talk weekly about the show. And so when Andrew said, hey, your first guest tomorrow is in a podcast, I got excited.
Kim Hoang (10:37.303)
Nice.
Jeremy (10:37.902)
Because I know that you're going to be comfortable, right? And you know this, sometimes you get somebody on the other end of the microphone and they come on and you say, welcome to the show. they're like, thanks. How are you doing today? Good. And I sit back and I go, okay, I'm going to have to work for this one. I'm going to have to work to pull something out of you to get people comfortable. And I'm sure you know what that's like.
Kim Hoang (11:05.835)
I mean, for sure, being a fellow podcaster, it's one of those things where being from your spectrum, it is a lot of things that we work on very hard. We want to perfect our craft. We want to do the best that we can to give such a great product, if you will. And I pride myself in that. And I think that that goes back to two things.
Jeremy (11:27.706)
Mmm.
Kim Hoang (11:35.511)
being a martial artist of training in the Muda Kwan style of taekwondo for many years because one of the things that they teach us in the martial arts is to have self-confidence in yourself. And when you have that confidence in yourself, it's pretty much like, I can do anything that I set my mind to. And I try to put that type of emphasis into my podcasting.
And also being a local film actor, getting my start in school, theater, elementary school, all the way up to local film and being extras in major motion pictures, it just kind of felt like, it works hand in hand.
Jeremy (12:20.826)
Hmm. So which came first, the acting bug or the martial arts bug? I don't know, is it a bug?
Kim Hoang (12:29.229)
Technically I technically I probably want to say that the acting bug came first at a young age because You know, I'm just gonna throw the age out there. I'm 47 years old, know what I mean? So, know growing up being a kid of the 80s Okay, okay Being a kid of the 80s man, you know, I used to watch like a lot of TV as a kid and
Jeremy (12:35.13)
Really? Okay.
Jeremy (12:44.63)
So you got a year and change on me. Yeah.
Kim Hoang (12:57.357)
You know, what really hooked me on was the TV show Family Ties back on NBC with yeah, Michael J. Fox and you know, seeing him act at a young age, looking at the TV and seeing how he portrays a character so well. And I was like thinking to myself, wait a minute, that's an actual job and I can do that? And I just kind of got hooked ever since of like trying to be like a...
Jeremy (13:03.546)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy (13:14.2)
Yeah.
Kim Hoang (13:23.543)
you know, an actor and trying to make myself big and successful in many aspects.
Jeremy (13:26.936)
Hmm. Well, so when when you talk to actors and I don't know if you're at all a fan of the show inside the actor studio, right? One of my favorite shows of all time, because you get to go. Yeah, yeah. And and and to the audience, if you track down the Robin Williams episode, I think you can find it on YouTube. You will find one of I believe one of the most authentic views of that man, who is a comedic hero of mine. But if if you.
Kim Hoang (13:37.313)
Yeah, I've caught a couple of that. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Kim Hoang (13:53.249)
Right, for sure.
Jeremy (13:55.65)
If you watch that show, you start to learn that for a lot of people, acting comes from something that is missing in their lives. Often it's trauma. I'm going to broaden that. It's, that something wasn't, wasn't here for them. And, know, spoiler alert.
Europe, Europe.
You might not necessarily look like everyone else, right? You are Korean?
Kim Hoang (14:27.619)
No, although I do take a Korean martial art. So at least you and I do love Korean barbecue So you get some points there? But no, my family is from Vietnam. I was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland
Jeremy (14:28.994)
Okay. Okay.
Okay.
Jeremy (14:41.506)
Okay, yep. And with the accent, right? It was clear that you were born here, but growing up in the 80s, even though I grew up in the woods of Maine, I was still aware that if you didn't look like everyone around you, that could create some, let's call it tension, right? So I could imagine that maybe your desire for acting came out of that, perhaps.
Kim Hoang (14:58.689)
Yeah
Kim Hoang (15:04.867)
I wouldn't necessarily, you know, go that way. I mean, you know, definitely, I mean, I'm not going to say what you're saying is wrong in terms of like, you know, growing up, there was definitely like a lot of, you know, a situation where being a young Asian person and, you know, growing up in Annapolis, because, you know, at that time during the seventies and eighties, you know, it really wasn't, you know, that diverse, you know,
I mean, there weren't that many Asians there. When I looked at acting, I kind of thought of it as like my way of saying that this was a cool art form of expression and it was cool how you could be a person portraying another person and showing the world your interpretations of how you think this character can be.
Jeremy (15:47.533)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (16:01.495)
you're either, you know, from the other side of the spectrum, you're either going to like what that person does and how they portray that character, or you might say, that's not really much of my flavor.
Jeremy (16:12.914)
Okay. What did your parents think of the idea of you wanting to be an actor? Were they supportive?
Kim Hoang (16:16.655)
I will say this. I, I, I loved my mom and dad dearly. I think, you know, back in the day, even to, you know, now, they've always wanted what was best for me and so forth. But the stereotypical, you know, way for, at least in my culture, the Vietnamese culture is that, you know, when you say something like, you know, you want to be an actor or something like that, or let's say something random is that you want to be a chef.
Automatically they think, you know, that's not really promising because you know in order for you to be successful you have to be like a person that works like You know for a major corporation getting you know high five figures to six figures or something like that being like a doctor or a lawyer or engineer or some somebody with yeah So for stability, yeah, you know a career that has stability in that, you know, you'll be successful in that way
Jeremy (17:05.978)
Stability they're looking for stability for you
Kim Hoang (17:15.029)
and that you will be financially stable in the long run. And that's all well and good, but I feel like the generation of today, you really have to do what you want to do and what you love. So whether if it's albeit acting or if you want to be a chef or if you want to be in the education system being a teacher, you got to follow your passion and what you love. Because if you don't, you're going to live with regret for the rest of your life and you're always going to wonder what if.
Jeremy (17:36.6)
Absolutely.
Kim Hoang (17:43.607)
and you're not going to be living your life for you. You're going to be living your life for other people, for the people that wanted to pursue their dreams but didn't, and they decide to push their dreams upon you. And I feel like that's wrong.
Jeremy (17:58.008)
Hmm. Okay. I agree. I absolutely agree. Now, people who've been around the show for a while probably have an idea of where I'm going to start to connect the dots on here with my questions. And because you, opened up a lot of things that at least for me, dovetail in with martial arts, right? Interpretation, artistic expression, right? We can certainly see those things there. So
Kim Hoang (18:19.639)
Yes, Yes, sir.
Jeremy (18:26.072)
Before we get there though, we've got to talk about martial arts for you. When did that start?
Kim Hoang (18:30.957)
I think that what really started it off in terms of like seeing it for the first time visually was, know, probably, you know, when I was growing up back in Washington, DC, in Baltimore, every Saturday and Sunday, they would always have like you know, martial arts theater or black belt theater or Kung Fu theater. So I was, I would always watch it and I would be in tune to it.
And I didn't even really know what they were doing. I just thought they were just guys doing like really cool moves and, you know, and do the yelling that the hi-yah and the hi-yah or like the woo-ah, you know, kind of sound effect. But what really, what really secured it was the motion picture of the karate kid back in 1984 with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. That really sealed the deal for me.
Jeremy (19:06.49)
You
Yeah.
Jeremy (19:23.194)
Do you remember watching that? Did you watch it in the theater?
Kim Hoang (19:27.095)
Do you know what funny story I did not watch it in theater? and but I will I will the funny story is Do you remember back in the day where they had like the old VHS tapes and the VHS players? Precursor that there was a thing called beta Yeah, beta they had the beta max and everything and it was like that the videotape was like that like a fraction of the size of the VHS tape So my cousin actually pops in the beta tape. I don't know what he's playing
Jeremy (19:30.105)
Me either.
Jeremy (19:38.66)
Of course. Of course.
Kim Hoang (19:57.131)
And all of sudden, I'm watching it and I'm just like, my goodness, it's the Karate Kid. all my cousins and uncles and everybody were watching it. I don't know how they got it, but we were just watching it and I was hooked. I was like, wow, this is awesome.
Jeremy (20:13.082)
Yeah, there was something about that movie. We've talked about that movie a number of times, was absolutely blessed to speak with Fumio Demura, who of course had such a significant role in that film prior to his passing. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just one of the best, one of the absolute best. But I describe that movie as far greater than the sum of its parts, because if you break it down, the acting's not good. The writing's not good.
Kim Hoang (20:25.003)
rest his soul, God rest his Us. Absolutely, absolutely.
Jeremy (20:42.554)
I mean, there's the individual aspects of that movie are in my mind are not very good, but the movie itself overall is fantastic. It captures something that is is lightning in a bottle.
Kim Hoang (20:54.445)
would slightly disagree in the terms of that. think the acting for what it was, I think it was incredible. And for the fact that Pat Morita actually got nominated for Best Actor in the Oscars for that film. Yeah, he, I really felt like, you know, he really did service for the role of Mr. Miyagi and, you know, as being, you know,
Jeremy (20:55.756)
Okay, I love that you disagree.
Jeremy (21:09.584)
He is, he's absolutely the exception to my statement there. Yeah.
Kim Hoang (21:22.806)
a fellow Asian actor, it really inspires us, like the next generation to say, if that gentleman can do it and did it so well, you know, that's probably the way for us. Like, you know, he paved the way for us.
Jeremy (21:35.95)
Yeah, yeah, there's, when we go back, some of the older folks that I've spoken with that were around training at the time that Bruce Lee was coming onto the scene, they've spoken about the same thing, know, folks of, know, people in the West, non-white, right? Like, and anyone who doesn't fit that mold, watching these acting roles gain some visibility was...
Kim Hoang (21:47.117)
Right.
Jeremy (22:04.422)
was just absolutely so powerful. And we talked about it as recently as, I don't remember who the guest was when we talked about what Crazy Rich Asians did in the Asian community. You know, here we have a A-level feature film with, I mean, if I remember it correctly, it's been a little bit since I watched it, there were token white people in that film, right?
Kim Hoang (22:29.985)
Yeah, right.
Jeremy (22:31.086)
The cast was Asian across the board and just so great to see that diversity and finally the world opening up.
Kim Hoang (22:39.395)
For sure, for sure. I think that when it comes to movies like Rich Crazy Asians and even movies like Parasite that won a lot of Academy Awards for best film and best director and stuff like that, it definitely opened the door a lot for the community in that way. And I'm very glad to kind of see that the community is opening up and we're making our own path.
Jeremy (22:48.385)
Mm-hmm.
Kim Hoang (23:09.121)
you know, even Hollywood is, you know, supporting that, which is great, you know, because, you know, we want our opportunities as well. You know, we, think that it's just unfortunate that, you know, we don't get as much as the acting opportunities because there just may not be roles that were created for us and like, let's say a leading capacity. And I feel like, you know, I do get that, but it's kind of a shame because you never really know because, you know, any actor,
that has talent, I feel like deserves a chance and an opportunity, at least if for anything, maybe like an auditioning process or something.
Jeremy (23:48.836)
Right, it's become.
There are more roles available now, but there are also because of that, there are more people who want those roles. So I don't know if it's gotten easier or harder. You know, I'm not, I'm not in that industry. you know, to, to you, this is probably the first time I'm going to announce this publicly. I do have vision for basically recreating what the Shaw brothers did under the whistle kick umbrella, where we're turning out films quick. I would love to do some of that stuff at whistle kick.
Kim Hoang (23:57.09)
Yes,
Jeremy (24:24.438)
And we're just not there yet. And mostly it's not because I think it would make us money. I just think it would be super fun. And I'd love to give more people the opportunity to be in a movie. Cause how many of us like you started with Kung Fu theater, et cetera, and said, you know, one day I want to be in one of these martial arts films. So let's, you know, maybe we can give people the opportunity.
Kim Hoang (24:44.075)
Right, right, for sure.
I hope so. I hope so.
Jeremy (24:50.188)
So you saw Karate Kid and how did that get you into training?
Kim Hoang (24:57.147)
you know, just the way that I saw, you know, the story of like, you know, Daniel getting bullied and then just like learning from somebody that you didn't expect was a karate master or a martial arts master. And, you know, that resonated with me because when I was young, I got bullied a lot. you know, a lot of people said, you know,
maybe because, you know, obviously being Asian, you know, visually I'm a little bit different. Maybe I was an easy target. I don't know. So to this day, it's a little bit of a mystery. But the story was that one day I actually got off the bus stop. I just got home from school and, you know, I got beat up by like these five kids, you know, like these five kids that lived in the neighborhood and, know,
Jeremy (25:52.502)
How old were you at that point?
Kim Hoang (25:53.995)
I think I was like maybe around like six or seven or something like that. So like you have to imagine like the five to one ratio of getting beat up, it was not good. And then my best friend who is still my best friend to this day was like saw from a distance what was going on. And he just like intervened himself and he literally saved my life, doing all these things that we would see.
Jeremy (25:58.052)
Okay, so we're still really young, yeah.
Kim Hoang (26:23.859)
on Kung Fu theater or Black Belt theater. And I was like, wait a minute, what is he doing? He's kicking these dudes and pushing them around and catching a punch and twisting the arm and throwing them around and so forth. So when the bullies actually got away, he helped me up and he was like, my goodness, are you all right? What's going on, man? And I was at five or six, mean, your logic is that you're hurt, you're crying.
You know, the, you're not really calm. And then, you know, his dad comes over and wants to know what happened. And, my friends like dad, know, Kim got beat up again. I don't like this because he's my best friend. We got to do something. And that, precursored where, you know, I went home, when I got to the door, my mom opened up the door and she was really upset because she saw me, with all these bruises and all these cuts and so forth. So my friends.
Dad basically said, I'm going to talk to your mom. You go outside and you hang out with my son and I'm going to talk to your mom. So the conversation happened for about like maybe about an hour. An hour later, you know, he actually tells me, go ahead, get dressed into something comfortable and meet me over at the house in about five minutes. And I said, okay, which was fine because you you live in one house away from me. No problem. I go over there. We go into his white Chevrolet truck.
and we're driving. And I thought that he was going to take me to like Baskin Robbins to kind of like, you know, cheer me up after, you know, what happened because, you know, that was like the thing to do, I guess. And it turns out that we went over to this shopping center and we get out and he says, we're here. And we walk forward and I look at the sign and the building, I was like, wait a minute, karate, what is this? And I go to my best random, like, what is this?
What is this karate school all about? And he explained to me, well, you didn't know this, but dad owns a karate school. He's a teacher there. And I've been taking karate for a long time over there. So yeah, I mean, I know what's going on here and what we're doing. And I said, really? What belt are you in karate? He said, I'm a Brown. I'm like, okay. And at that point, that just kind of like,
Kim Hoang (28:51.767)
That was kind of like the sign, like, this is the first step for something that you're probably going to do for the rest of your life.
Jeremy (28:58.426)
you
It's how you're using some details that suggest how transitional, how important this experience was for you, right? How many, how many people are going to remember the color of the vehicle that you drove in or the make of that vehicle or, you know, any of these other details. And what that tells me is that in that moment, that was really significant. The emotion, not just of the, the altercation.
but afterwards, right? Most people post fight aren't gonna remember a whole lot, but the way you described it, you remembered afterwards better than you remembered during.
Kim Hoang (29:33.473)
Right.
Kim Hoang (29:44.397)
Well, I I remember the white Chevrolet truck is because the fact that I remember when they first actually bought that, I thought that was like the coolest thing. You know, I think that was one of the rare trucks in the neighborhood at the time. So I always thought that that was kind of like a cool vehicle and so forth. But yeah, I I mean, it's just those things that, know, details that you remember that you never forget.
Jeremy (30:11.066)
Yeah. So you get there, you go inside and what happens?
Kim Hoang (30:19.267)
Well, I go inside and into the door and on the other side of the wall, you know, I see a lot of people where I, you know, what I called, you know, pajamas at a six year old logic, didn't realize it was the uniform or a gi depending on what system, you know, you are, what you call it, but they're wearing the uniforms and they're just like training and they're kicking and they're doing
different types of exercises and so forth. And, you know, I was just kind of like entranced. was like, whoa, this is, this is, this is wild. I didn't really expect this at all. So, you know, next thing you know, I was just so hypnotized because it was such a beautiful thing to look at.
Jeremy (30:59.556)
Hmm.
Jeremy (31:11.791)
And so some stuff happens that day, I imagine, shortly after you're talking to your parents or maybe your friend's dad's talking to your parents, were they supportive?
Kim Hoang (31:24.161)
I think that my parents were supportive in the fact that if this is going to help me to learn some kind of way to defend myself and for me to maybe not be a shy kid and have some form of confidence, then they're all about it. Because not to say that they didn't know, you know,
how to teach it or how to give me some kind of direction. But maybe it was like, we need to have the proper resources in order to help our son to become that much better. And if this is the tool that we need to help him to get there, then let's go for it. And especially because we know the person that owns this
martial arts school, this martial arts business, and we've known him for many years, and because we have a good relationship with him, we are going to trust him in faith that he's going to do great things for our son. We just have to trust knowing that he knows what he's doing. We have to trust that what he speaks of and the knowledge that he speaks of
He practices what he preaches. at this point, we're kind of desperate. We need that guidance so that our son could be in a better situation.
Jeremy (33:05.498)
All right. So you've got the support, your training. It was karate. You're in Muda Kwan now at some point things changed, right? So, so take us through your martial arts journey and how do we get to now?
Kim Hoang (33:23.043)
Well, I would say this it it's probably as common as as many people would expect You know and I'll and I'll be very transparent, you know when you're a young kid, You know you get into a lot of things and you have a lot of interest and so forth I've been in that karate school that organization for all my life that is mainly the number one school that I've always trained in but
Jeremy (33:49.86)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (33:52.105)
It came at a point where I probably stopped training there or quit training there maybe twice. The first time, I was just really young. I was probably at that point nine. I wanted to get into other hobbies and so forth. So I just kind of said goodbye for now. See you later. I came back at when I was maybe
11 or 12 because the bullying started happening once again in middle school and You know it went to a point where you know, I realized it got out of hand and I said I wanted to come back so for the two years I was training in middle school, which was like Seventh grade all the way almost to the beginning of ninth grade You know I was training and I was training religiously and it went to a point where you know I started like after school. I would just walk
to the school because it was like a 15 minute walk. It was fine. I didn't really, it was no big deal. And I quit going into the ninth grade because I moved out of Annapolis, Maryland to Silver Spring, Maryland, which is more closer to the Washington DC metropolitan area. So at that point, well, there's no way I can go back over there because being like, I guess like 13 or 14, obviously I don't have a
a car and I can't drive and it's a long ways. going back years even later, back in I would say 1999 to maybe 2000, I decided to come back because I felt like now I'm a little bit older, a little bit more mobile, but also at the same time though, I kind of had a little tragedy in my life where my mom passed away in 1999.
Jeremy (35:48.154)
I'm so sorry.
Kim Hoang (35:49.443)
And thank you, I appreciate that. The one thing that she always wanted me to do was to succeed in something. she knew that martial arts was always something that I loved. And she would always hint in some weird way, in a concealed way, you should go back into the martial arts, go back. mean, you should earn your black belt. I mean, finish what you started.
Jeremy (36:10.35)
Hmm.
Jeremy (36:18.391)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (36:19.926)
It just kind of boggles me that you didn't stay there. And I just said, well, it's not like I had a choice. We did move away. So it's not like I could have drove all the way down there and back. But yeah, when I decided to come back for that time, it was just like, hey, time to put the pedal to the metal. It's time to go. I wanted to punch it from zero to 100 almost immediately because
Jeremy (36:24.73)
Hmm.
Jeremy (36:48.1)
Yeah.
Kim Hoang (36:49.539)
I felt like I found my purpose and all the people that I grew up with in the martial arts actually got higher than me. Even my younger cousins who started after I did got higher than me. So I was like, okay, well, we have to go back. We have to do this. This time I want to do it for me. I want to have some support. I want to develop some friendships and good relationships.
Jeremy (36:57.402)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (37:19.288)
I felt like that was my sanctuary, that was my church, and it was great. I just kept on going from there.
Jeremy (37:29.956)
Wow. All right. You know, just want to acknowledge, know, losing your mom in your early 20s. That's that's tough. Right. And, you know, and, know, you're just starting to launch as an early adult. And and here's what I'm wondering, right, the way you're talking about her encouragement for you to to train.
Kim Hoang (37:39.583)
It is.
Jeremy (37:55.002)
Do you think that changed your course at all?
Kim Hoang (37:59.307)
You know, I think that it did, you know, because, you know, I'll admit, you know, I'm a mama's boy, you know, I love my mom, you know, God rest her soul, because she was definitely an amazing parent. And, you know, she was not only like my mom, she was my best friend. And she always knew that, you know, when I trained in the martial arts and I trained in karate and I was doing a lot of things, you know, I was really happy. And I, you know, it didn't matter if I was
Jeremy (38:01.114)
Okay.
Jeremy (38:14.447)
Mm.
Kim Hoang (38:27.927)
having a bad day, like, you maybe I just had an off day in class, or maybe when I competed in a tournament and I didn't do so well. She was always very supportive in that. And I think because of, you know, those times where she was encouraging and wanting me to go back and dropping hints, I think that was kind of like a, a good ingredient of the reason why where I got where I am today.
And that's one of those things. It's like, you never forget that. You never forget that. The love from a mother to a child, it's huge. And it definitely did a lot for me.
Jeremy (39:13.944)
Yeah. Yeah, I understand. Okay. So what I don't think we've talked about is transitioning from karate to muticom. How did that
Kim Hoang (39:27.567)
Well, basically it was always Muda Kwan, Taekwondo, but what it was is that, I guess the marketing tool is that not many people know things like, we teach Taekwondo, we teach the Muda Kwan style, or we teach Tung Sudo, or we teach this, or we teach that. Right.
Jeremy (39:28.026)
And that happened.
Okay.
Jeremy (39:46.394)
So it was karate generically, not karate specifically. And one of the things that...
Jeremy (39:57.108)
We haven't talked about this on the show for a while, but we've definitely heard, you know, this is is before my time before your time. But we've definitely heard from some of our older guests that especially in the 60s and 70s and even continuing into the 80s, being associated with Korea wasn't necessarily an asset in this country that teaching a Korean martial art still, you know, you had people who had fought in Korea and it still stunk.
You know, much in the same way that we've heard from folks, you know, we don't hear from them too often anymore. But, you know, fifties and sixties who. They were bringing Japanese martial arts to this country and let's face it, World War Two at that point wasn't that far gone. So, you know, there was some some marketing adjustment there. So, OK, so it was always Muda Kwan. Taekwondo and to those of you out there who don't know that school of Taekwondo or you don't know your Taekwondo history.
Kim Hoang (40:25.644)
Right.
Kim Hoang (40:41.228)
Right.
Jeremy (40:53.848)
Go back, check out Alex Gillis' episode. Make sure you read A Killing Art, absolutely amazing book on the history of Taekwondo. Kim, have you read that book? Well, you gotta check it out. You gotta check it out. It's crazy. It is a crazy book. When you read it, if you didn't know better, you would think it was a novel because it's that crazy, but the history of how Taekwondo spread around the world is nuts. And I'd be interested to know your...
Kim Hoang (41:05.088)
No sir, I have not.
Jeremy (41:22.744)
your thoughts after you read it if you do choose to.
Kim Hoang (41:25.933)
For sure, for sure.
Jeremy (41:29.72)
So you're in and out a couple of times with this school and here you are, you jump back in and it sounds like you've remained for quite a time.
Kim Hoang (41:41.437)
That would probably be the school I would confidently say that was the constant school where that was my number one school that I went to. I would say there was a time before I came back officially to the school, I might have took a martial arts class over at the community college just because it was a PE elective and you had to pick up some elective for physical education. And I just thought,
Jeremy (42:09.71)
And you missed it. You missed it, didn't you? Yeah.
Kim Hoang (42:11.105)
Yeah, I just, yeah, I missed it terribly, you know? And I was just like, you know what, I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna see what it's all about. you know, it just, you know, I guess it was just like kind of a thing where I was like, okay, if this class, if I get one good thing out of it, it's the fact that, you know, I'm starting to jumpstart the battery of the martial arts again.
And worst case scenario, I didn't like it and I can just go back to what I've always been doing.
Jeremy (42:44.514)
All right, so I think we've got enough of your martial arts. I want to go back. You know, we talked about your initial bug for acting and you, I don't remember if it was pre-show or not. We talked about how you had done some acting in school.
Kim Hoang (42:54.211)
Yes, sir.
Jeremy (43:03.67)
At what point did you start working to combine these two interests or loves or however you would describe them?
Kim Hoang (43:12.419)
to combining acting with martial arts? think that, I think there was always like an interest of sorts. Like, you know, back in the nineties, you know, Paramounts, or not Paramount, I'm sorry, New Line Cinemas, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the movie, you know, with the puppets, like, you know, the guys in the puppets being the turtles. When I saw that, I was like, wow, that was pretty cool.
Jeremy (43:14.841)
Yeah.
Jeremy (43:33.88)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kim Hoang (43:41.183)
And I would love to do something like that. And then later on, I'll even go in the movie period, so you'll understand a little bit, like Chuck Norris's sidekicks. I thought that was pretty cool. So I always thought of myself as like, wow, maybe I could do something where I'm an actor, but I could always incorporate some kind of element of martial arts and so forth. And I think that's how that kind of like...
Jeremy (43:52.878)
Mm-hmm.
Kim Hoang (44:07.285)
strongly embedded inside of me. hey, maybe I could be like this martial arts actor, because you see people like Bruce Lee did it and then years later, son Brandon Lee did it. So why couldn't I be the one? Why can't I do that? And I think later on, was just like, although that's really cool, and I think that's great that there are some martial arts actors that are
Jeremy (44:14.244)
Hmm.
Jeremy (44:24.218)
Why not? Yeah.
Kim Hoang (44:36.513)
very successful in doing it. just don't want to be the guy anymore to be typecast as, "He's a martial arts actor only, so he can only do certain roles or certain movies.", you know.
Jeremy (44:42.586)
Hmm.
Jeremy (44:50.635)
And I would imagine being of Asian descent, it's even more likely to be typecast in that way.
Kim Hoang (44:55.949)
For sure, yeah. I mean, and I don't blame anybody for that. I mean, it is what it is, but I definitely want to be like an actor where I can do just much more than that. Like if they want me to play a role of a doctor, for sure. Or like a head engineer or a businessman, sure, I can do that. I want to be known now.
as actor that does martial arts, not a martial arts actor, because I feel like if you say martial arts actor, you're only limited to that. Whereas if I'm an actor that does martial arts, that does open the doors a little bit more for everything.
Jeremy (45:35.994)
Yeah, we've had this conversation a few times on the show, this idea that, because, we're going to come back to why I'm bringing this point up. lot of martial artists find that expression very interesting. They step into acting and you know, they, they're, they're writing down on their acting resume. Here are the skills I have. I've got martial arts experience and it becomes very quick that they are typecast in that way.
Kim Hoang (46:01.251)
Thank
Jeremy (46:06.29)
And it almost seems like stunt coordinators, fight choreographers end up with their people, right? And so you just move often, maybe not often, but sometimes from set to set, working with some of the same people and the script and the scene changes, but the people don't always change so much. And trying to break out of that, if I'm remembering correctly, Rick Worthy, who I don't know if you know that name, you would definitely recognize him, was on the show talking about how
he felt like he wanted to kind of push some boundaries on what he was able to take for roles. what sparked this for me was the way you phrased it, not being so much of a martial arts actor, but an actor who does martial arts. And that's a powerful distinction because a lot of us out, know, let's face it, the majority of us here in the audience and myself, we're not actors. are people living our day-to-day lives. And are we
Kim Hoang (46:45.208)
Right.
Kim Hoang (46:52.621)
Right.
Jeremy (47:06.252)
martial artists in the world, or are we human beings who do martial arts, right? And some people get really passionate about that distinction. And I think it's important that we highlight that there is that distinction in every way that martial arts is gonna manifest.
Kim Hoang (47:21.922)
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Jeremy (47:23.486)
So where was it I was gonna the expression piece the artistic piece. So I I'm I love forums, I absolutely love forums. And that that comes from time to time on the show was was that a passion of yours in your martial arts training?
Kim Hoang (47:40.513)
You know, I, I at first, you know, growing up, I never was the forms person. I mean, I liked doing forms and I thought it was pretty cool, but I liked sparring more at the time because, know, I feel like that was. In my opinion, the best way to, you know, apply your martial arts knowledge and put it in a real life kind of situation. I think that.
Jeremy (48:06.574)
And it reflects your why, right? The reason that you started training was rooted in that application. So that makes sense to me.
Kim Hoang (48:10.883)
Correct. Correct. But later on in my years, I started to have, if I didn't have an appreciation for forms, katas or hyungs, depending on what system that you're in and what you call it, I had more of deeper appreciation for forms. I guess when I was a little bit seasoned competing,
I said, you know what, I want to try forms just for the fact that if I do it and I didn't place, it's not the end of the world, but I really want to put more emphasis back into forms again. Not that I never did because I think that I did pretty well before Black Belt. I might've gotten a couple of second and third places and an occasional first place in forms and I did well, but competing as a Black Belt, was just like, you might as well just go for it.
Jeremy (49:08.186)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (49:08.311)
You know, what's the worst that can happen? And I love forums. think it's great. You know, it's one of those things where I think it's great for, you know, building up that, that cardiovascular and also at the same time, a chance to work technique for technique on what it is, working on, you know, different blocks, stances, extension of like, you know, your kicks and your punches and so forth, and just analyzing things.
Jeremy (49:21.327)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (49:37.114)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (49:38.307)
I think that anybody that loves forms, stick with it. If you're a person that don't favor forms, I will say this, whatever it is that you don't favor could possibly save your life one day. So just ponder on that.
Jeremy (49:57.338)
Yeah. You know, for me, forms competition is the closest I've ever been to acting. And so that's, that, that's where I'm connecting those dots, maybe in a way that others wouldn't.
Kim Hoang (50:04.781)
That's fair, yeah.
Jeremy (50:11.546)
Cause I'm trying to tell a story. I'm trying to tell a story of being in a crazy battle and winning. And I see a lot of people who tell the story and they don't win. Right?
Kim Hoang (50:15.789)
Yup. Yup.
Kim Hoang (50:22.003)
You're still, I think that you're still, you know, expressing and telling your story, you know, regardless, you know, somebody, cause somebody's watching. Somebody's, somebody's seeing you perform and, know, seeing you tell the tale in a physical sense and in an emotional sense too, because there's a lot of, you know, power and expression. And especially when you're, you know, when you're yelling that, you know, how, how deep and how loud that you scream, you know,
Jeremy (50:26.762)
Absolutely. Yep, I agree. Right.
Kim Hoang (50:51.229)
that you know the because the louder that you scream you wake up the audience and the audience is like paying attention at that point you're just like whoa you know you're invested in the story that you're sharing
Jeremy (50:57.646)
Hmm.
Jeremy (51:00.984)
Hmm, for sure. All right. Well, let's talk about your show. What what, you know, put putting on a podcast is not easy. We are long past the time when people think that just getting a few friends together and hosting a podcast will lead to money. There aren't a lot of things that you can do that are almost guaranteed to make you less money than podcasting.
Kim Hoang (51:06.509)
Yes, sir.
Kim Hoang (51:12.618)
Yes, sir.
Kim Hoang (51:28.493)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (51:30.527)
Why would you ever want to be a podcaster?
Kim Hoang (51:34.179)
Well, funny story was that I didn't really start doing the podcast until like the pandemic, like around like 2020 to 2021. It was at the time where obviously there was not a lot going on. were mainly indoors, not a lot of businesses were open and so forth.
Jeremy (51:42.906)
Mm-hmm.
Kim Hoang (51:58.749)
And I was always toying with the idea that I wanted to do a podcast because I felt like normally I like to talk and I like to engage in conversation. And being an actor, we're very expressive in that way. And I remember a friend of mine, God rest his soul, I used to tell my friend, John Henderson, John, I really wanna do a podcast because I think that I might be a good fit for it. Because right now,
Local acting for me is not really strong, you know, and I think that you know I could do this because you know, it would give me something to do creatively and you know I'll never forget what John said John said, know Kim if you really want to do it I think that you should and I think that it'd be a great idea because you know, you're very expressive, you know how to talk you always have something on your mind and
You're not afraid to really go down that rabbit hole and just, you know, speak your piece. So why not? I mean, the worst thing that could happen is that you try it for a couple of times and you find out that it isn't, you know, for you. And at that point, you know, you can just kind of, you know, hang up the headphones and the microphone and say, Hey, you gave it a shot. And, you know, now coming in, to the new year of 20, 25.
you know, we're actually going to be celebrating our fourth season, coming up on the 17th, which is going to be, this coming Friday, depending on, you know, when this is airing out. And I'm, I'm just glad to have been in there for about four seasons, dedicating myself. Thank you, sir.
Jeremy (53:34.423)
Yeah.
Jeremy (53:42.504)
congratulations, man. Most podcasts to the audience, you may not realize, but very few podcasts make it to 10 episodes, let alone go for four years.
Kim Hoang (53:51.221)
Yeah, it's crazy. know, call me phony tough or crazy brave, but you know, I've always wanted to do something just for the heck of it, for the sake of creativity and just something, you know, to give entertainment and to give back to, you know, people in general, you know, and I think that's important. I think that, you know, not many people realize this, but we as podcasters have a tremendous power.
Jeremy (54:00.346)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (54:09.658)
Hmm.
Kim Hoang (54:19.943)
And with power, like Spider-Man said in the movie, with great power comes great responsibility. And I always thought that with what I do, I hopefully can be a good influence on others. I could be that voice of reason. Maybe I could be that calming voice that they hear and they're like, wow, he's got a real good voice. I'm very, thank you, thank you. I really appreciate it.
Jeremy (54:45.048)
You do have a great voice. You do. Yeah. I could, I could listen to you. You should read books. I would listen to you read books.
Kim Hoang (54:51.555)
Maybe something to think about. don't know. yeah, I've had a lot of people tell me that when they listen to my podcast, they compliment me just on my voice alone because it sounds really relaxing. if they were stressed out way before, they're not anymore because listening to what I'm that negative energy dissipates. And I'm forever
Jeremy (54:54.116)
Yeah.
Kim Hoang (55:19.299)
grateful for those kinds of compliments because it tells me I must be doing something right. So, yeah.
Jeremy (55:27.706)
Right on. If people want to find your show or your socials or anything like that, where are they going to go?
Kim Hoang (55:34.359)
Well, my podcast is called and you know, not to be arrogant or anything or vain, but it's the Kim Hwang Podcast Experience. That last name is spelled H-O-A-N-G, the Kim Hwang Podcast Experience. We're on a lot of podcasting platforms. We are on Spotify. We are on Apple Podcasts. We are on Amazon Music. We are on YouTube Music in Ottawa.
Jeremy (56:00.276)
You're everywhere. Okay, so you should be you should be pretty much everywhere then if Yeah
Kim Hoang (56:05.665)
Yeah, all the major ones and for those that want to follow us We are on social media You know either go on Facebook and find us at the Kim Hwang podcast experience under the search bar on on Twitter now known as X and on Instagram You can find us under the tag name at TKH PC experience all in one word lowercase letters
Jeremy (56:32.599)
Okay.
Kim Hoang (56:34.989)
So once again, that's TKHPC experience.
Jeremy (56:39.962)
Okay. We'll make sure we get all that linked up in the show notes for those of you out there who might be driving in a car or something and you can't type right now, right? Make sure you do check out Kim's show because this has been a lot of fun. And I've said it many times before. will continue to say it. Support other martial arts podcasts. If you find those that you prefer over this one, awesome. That's great. Forces us to work harder. And that's part of why we have no issue bringing people to the light and sharing
Kim Hoang (56:48.216)
haha
Jeremy (57:10.006)
our audience with other podcasters because you know what? More martial arts podcasts is good. More martial arts schools is good. More people doing martial arts is good. And we're gonna continue to support those endeavors from people who are working hard and like, you four years, man, that's great. That's great.
Kim Hoang (57:26.243)
Yes, sir. The thing about it is with our podcast, it's not really a martial arts podcast per se. It's more like if we bring a guest over, it's because they have a creative medium. It's coincidental that if you are a martial artist, great. We would love to interview you. I interview people that are actors, directors, writers, musicians.
Jeremy (57:31.298)
okay.
Jeremy (57:48.654)
Okay.
So it's not a martial arts podcast. It's a podcast with some martial arts.
Kim Hoang (57:55.351)
Well, for anybody that is a martial artist, great, we'll take you, but it's all about people that are creative, that have some, if there's creativity that is involved in that process, then that's what it is. if I don't have a guest where I do a solo episode, I'll talk about anything and everything. I just don't talk about no religion, no politics. And most recently, we have incorporated episode minis where we take a full-length episode
Jeremy (57:58.489)
Yeah.
Jeremy (58:02.669)
Okay.
Jeremy (58:06.714)
Love it.
Kim Hoang (58:25.261)
cram it into a 10-minute format, maybe a little less, maybe a little bit more than 10 minutes, but it's a cool diversification.
Jeremy (58:31.414)
cool.
Jeremy (58:35.034)
Awesome. Awesome. Well, I do hope people will check that out and I'm going to throw it to you to close in a moment for us, Kim, but to those of you out there watching, listening, thank you for being here. Thank you for spending some time with us today. We appreciate all of you. Remember if our actions to support the traditional martial arts community means something to you, if our goal of getting everybody in the world to train for six months resonates, if you're here for our connect, educate, entertain mantra.
Please consider supporting us in any way that makes sense, whether that's Patreon, patreon.com slash whistlekick, or make a purchase at whistlekick.com, or if you want the free options, tell your martial arts friends about what we're doing, because we're working hard, we're here for you, and we appreciate your feedback and your engagement. Kim, I appreciate you being here, your engagement, I loved hearing your story. Now, how do you wanna close? What do you wanna leave for the audience today?
Kim Hoang (59:31.485)
like my, martial arts brother, Torell Friedman would always say, and it's so true that, my, my attitude is my gratitude. You know what I mean? And, I just want to thank everybody, you know, from all my martial arts family at the school, that has helped me to become the person that I am today. I want to thank all my family and friends that have stuck by me that has shown me, you know, positivity and love and,
to the audience out there listening to this podcast. You guys are like the reason why we do things the way that we do. In this case, being a podcaster, you're the source of our inspiration. And I'll also say this, patience and training develops character.