Chloe Catherine Kim talks starring in Lifetime’s holiday special A Christmas Arrangement

Chloe Catherine Kim is a model and actress making her presence felt in Hollywood. She recently spoke with us about her family, her life journey, and her new Christmas movie set to premiere on the Lifetime channel, A Christmas Arrangement. 

Chloe Catherine Kim is making an impression in Hollywood as her star continues to shine brighter and brighter. We recently had the chance to speak with her about the roller coaster journey she’s been on, which has included a whirlwind of surprising and unexpected turns.

And though she has much to brag about, she prefers to take the humble route — her love for her family being constantly on the forefront of her mind.

You may recognize the breakout talent from a number of movies released in 2018 such as Untogether, Electric Love, or High Voltage, where she has garnered the attention of audiences worldwide. Basically, we’re just letting you know that you may want to get used to hearing the name Chloe Catherine Kim. Because her time is now.

Chloe Catherine Kim stars in A Christmas Arrangement, airing on Lifetime tonight!

HR: Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate it. You’re an awesome actor, and we’re going to get into that in just a second. But I have to mention, I was excited to talk to you, and then I saw that you’re the oldest of five siblings?

Kim: Yes I am.

HR: And then I was super stoked to talk to you because I am too! (laughs)

Kim: Oh my gosh! Are you serious?

HR: I’m serious.

Kim: That’s so crazy. It’s rare, honestly, these days, because people just aren’t having that many kids anymore.

HR: Yeah, I’ve never met anyone else who the oldest with four little siblings, so I thought that was pretty cool.

Kim: What’s your age gap? Like, oldest to youngest.

HR: I am 25, and so it’s every two years after that. (laughs)

Kim: Oh wow, your parents planned nicely. So I’m 28, and my youngest sister is 12. So she and I are actually the same age difference as my mother and I.

HR: Wow. Cool!

Kim: So she and I are very close — we’re so connected. I love it.

HR: Doesn’t it feel like you’re the third parent?

Kim: Exactly. Oh, in high school people thought that was my kid because they didn’t believe my mom had a kid when I was in high school. (laughs) I’m like, ‘Did anybody see me pregnant in my cheer uniform? I think not.’ So weird.

HR: (laughs) So what’s your funniest sibling memory that you can think of?

Kim: Well, I mean I have so many memories. I moved out when I was 18, so I haven’t lived at home in a very long time, but I spent a lot of years with them growing up, and luckily we’ve always been close. But just in September, we went to our oldest cousin’s wedding. And it was the first time all seven of us had been together dressed up and at a fun function.

And there was a photo booth, and our family monopolized it for a good 30 minutes. And it wasn’t just the kids — my dad was in there too. He’s hilarious. So he’s just in his element in this photo booth, and I have the entire album. I downloaded all of it. And just seeing the beginning to the end of the photo booth pictures shows exactly why I love my family. It’s so perfect.

HR: (laughs) That’s so funny.

Kim: It’s hard to choose. There are so many fun things about my family. But another thing that my middle sister and I are known for, which I guess kind of circles back to why I am a performer, but we used to pretend that we were Swedish exchange students. And we had the accent down perfectly. We named ourselves Swen and Vilma.

We still call each other that to this day. We have whole Swedish names for our entire family, and we’ve actually genuinely convinced people we were from Sweden. My mom has had to go up to people and say, “I’m so sorry. They’re not Swedish. Those are my daughters and they’re just really good with those accents.” But we did this for years and we still do it every time we’re together.

HR: Oh my gosh, so funny! So you enjoy modeling as well, I understand?

Kim: I do. My mother was a model. And I guess that’s kind of where I got it from — I watched her. My mother is the most beautiful woman. She is amazing. She modeled and then had me, kept modeling, and then my dad really wanted a big family so they both graduated college and had my brother and then just couldn’t keep their hands off each other for the next fourteen something years. (laughs)

HR: (laughs) That’s so funny. So how are your family and friends reacting to the fact that you are all of a sudden appearing in TV and in movies?

Kim: You know, it’s strange because everyone is very supportive, super excited for me. I guess we’re all kind of wondering how this happened. I’m just a girl from Sacramento. I transferred here to go to school, was in the right place at the right time, and got Taft Hartlied. And I didn’t even know what that meant when I heard it. I had to Google it.

And when I found out what it meant, and what I had heard from other people — because I wasn’t modeling full time — I was going to school at Cal State Northridge and was working at 24-hour fitness. And I would just go to castings or auditions when I could. And then when I transferred, I asked if they had any sister agencies. So, I guess they’re just wondering how I moved out here for school and then all of a sudden I’m in movies even though that wasn’t my goal.

HR: That’s so interesting. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that somebody just fell into acting. So that’s a first for me.

Kim: Well, I mean I, I totally grew up performing. I did all the talent shows. I did Christmas plays, all the church plays, every single one of them. So I was no stranger to performing — I guess I just never perpetuated the thought of a career.

HR: Gotcha. That’s cool. So you went to school for sign language, correct?

Kim: Yes.

HR: And I know that you’re really good at it because your YouTube channel is full of song covers in sign language, and you’re like, ripping away.

Kim: Oh thank you! Yes, I wish I could do more of that honestly because if anything, sign language has helped me with acting because you’re having to speak without your words and there’s no punctuation with your hands. The punctuation is your face. It’s interesting how much sign language correlates with acting and being able to show an emotion or even a question without speaking.

HR: That’s really cool. I didn’t even think about that. Wow. So how are you handling the pressure of your growing stardom? All of a sudden you’ve got this new dynamic in your life. Have there been any challenges in that regard?

Kim: It’s funny that you say rising stardom. I guess I just don’t think of it that way because, I don’t know, I never have been the kind of person to dramatize things. But I think it’s more about not getting caught up in that. Yes, the parties are fun. Yes, the premieres are fun and the pictures are fun — but I’m more concerned about the work that is going to come from those meetings and those networking functions.

Because yes, it’s so amazing that I have so much coming out over the next few months. But if there’s nothing else after that, then what’s all this for? So I think the biggest challenge is keeping focused on what my long-term goals are and then making sure that I’m doing the things to get there.

HR: Nice! That’s awesome.

Kim: But it’s like choosing, you know, the balance workwise and then also making sure that you’re taking care of you at the end of the day.

HR: Are you able to ever look back at what you’ve accomplished and realize, ‘Whoa, I’m making it — look what I’ve accomplished so far,’ or are you a more forward-focused individual?

Kim: You know, I’m super forward-focused and I think for me it’s kind of like, okay, that’s great that I did this, but what’s next? And I’ve always been that person. I’m trying to one-up myself. But my mother actually does a really great job of reminding me that I did all this on my own. I mean, I moved out at 18 and didn’t take a cent from my parents after that.

I paid for my own college. I worked three jobs and lived in my car for a period of time. Went from different friends’ couches and houses until I finally got my own apartment. It’s been such a process to get here. Yes, when I really think about it standing in my beautiful apartment, I’m comfortably working in a career that I absolutely love.

It’s a lot of frigging hard work, but stopping to recognize where I’m at now is — it’s kind of crazy, really. I mean I’m going to be on a Lifetime Christmas movie on cable. I never thought that would happen. Ever.

I grew up watching those with my mom. My mom and sister watched them. They have a list, and they crossed the movies off from the printout. And now I’m in one of those. That, to me, is the most… mind-blowing thing.

HR: So how has that early hard work — the early struggles of moving out and working three jobs and making it happen — how has that affected your acting career?

Kim: I think sometimes having gotten here the way that I did makes me feel a little inadequate.

HR: Really?

Kim: Sometimes when I look back at things that so many other people worked really hard to earn all their vouchers for, yeah. I never had to do that. Some people dream of acting and doing these things their whole life. And, of course, that sounded like a really fun idea. But I never knew.

HR: So [because of that] you feel inadequate in comparing yourself with these other actors or other individuals somehow?

Kim: I guess I’m not sitting here super down on myself or anything, but it is definitely intimidating to be sitting among actors who have trained years at professional acting studios and have these incredible acting coaches. I haven’t done any of those things in that sense. I’m not saying I’m not prepared or unable to do these things. Are some people better at naturally acting and being able to embody characters? I think so. Absolutely.

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Look at Swen and Vilma. Nobody taught us that. But through school plays and church plays, I always received a lot of direction. We always had drama classes, theater classes. So I’m not saying I’m untrained or I have no idea what I’m doing.

But yes, I do feel those sorts of ways because it can be intimidating. When I did the movie Untogether and was on set around all of these huge actors, I kind of was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what in the world am I doing here?’

HR: Wow. And yet you’re a natural.

Kim: Well… I hope that way. I mean, I do get a lot of positive feedback. And when I’m working, people tell me, “Chloe, your emotions are translating so great.” Those types of things. So it feels [good to hear that.] I wouldn’t keep going if people said, ‘Uh, hey girl, maybe not so much with the acting thing,’ you know?

HR: Yeah, I think your work ethic is going to carry you far. And also, when watching your reel, I was really impressed. Because I’m watching this character and that character — and, you know, a reel is back to back to back footage of different movies — but with you, you’re seriously a completely different person every time you’re on screen. It’s like, here’s this person and, whoa, she just totally changed.

With a lot of actors, their real personalities seep through so much in their acting that it’s like, ‘Okay, I got you still. You’re still this person and yet you’re in this role.’ But watching your reel was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t even figure out who the heck you are at all.’ Know what I’m saying?

Kim: Well that feels nice.

HR: Yeah, I was really impressed with your acting. Very impressed.

Kim: Well thank you. I’ll take it. I work really hard. And the thing is, I love my reel. I think it does show that I’ve done some really cool work and that I’ve been able to hold my own alongside bigger actors.

The only thing I feel is that I haven’t received “my” role, that I thought was perfect for me. I want to be the funny girl. Whenever I’m asked, “What’s your dream role?” I say I would have loved to have been Kaley Cuoco in The Big Bang Theory. She’s cute, she’s funny, she’s not over-sexualized, and she’s a strong female character. I like that. And that’s who I feel I am regularly.

HR: I had been wondering what your desired roles were and where you wanted to take your career. So that’s, that’s really cool. I also wanted to ask, with your gymnastics background — because you did gymnastics for many years, right?

Kim: Yes, 16 or 17 years.

HR: Would you be willing to take on any action roles at all?

Kim: Oh totally. I actually read for Kickboxers 3 a couple months ago. And that role was for a fighter. And they’re not shooting that until next year. So I’ll have a great chance of hearing back from that.

I actually, on purpose, whenever I’m at the gym, I like I do round off, and I do a couple back handsprings and back walkovers just to make made sure that I don’t lose that skill because I still put it on my resume. (laughs)

HR: That is so cool. Yeah, it will come in handy I’m sure.

Kim: Oh and also, my mom says that she and my father didn’t pay for gymnastics all those years for me to not be able to do a backflip whenever they ask. (laughs) So funny.

HR: So can you tell me a little bit about your new movie on Lifetime, A Christmas Arrangement? What’s the premise of the story?

Kim: So, A Christmas Arrangement is about two competing floral companies. One is the prominent, well-known family, and the other is Poppy, who is played by Nicky Whelan. She’s so cute and I love her. And I play the lead man’s best friend/previous love interest.

So I’m Tiffany Daniels. And the main character’s boss is trying to scare the competition, Poppy, but letting her believe we had a flame when were actually just friends, best friends.

I’m helping him get the girl, but she doesn’t realize it. It’s a fun part. I definitely get to be silly and it’s a great segway to the types of roles I want to be playing. Plus, I love Christmas movies, so it’s going to be fun.

Be sure to catch Chloe Catherine Kim in A Christmas Arrangement on the Lifetime channel starting Nov. 21. You can find Lifetime’s schedule at this link.

Happy holidays from Hidden Remote!