Ins Choi

Born as Insub Choi in South Korea in 1974, Choi moved to Canada at the age of 1 and grew up in Scarborough, Toronto.[3] When he became a Canadian citizen, Choi changed his name to Ins Choi.[4] He began using the name "Danny" from grade 9 onwards when an immigration officer misspelled his name as "Insurp". When he went to the acting program at York University, he met other struggling Asian immigrants and became inspired to adopt a short form of his birth name, “Ins Choi”.[5] Throughout his childhood, Choi played volleyball, football, rugby, hockey, was cast in a school production called “Damn Yankees” (at Victoria Park S.S.), and performed in “Banana Boys”.[6] After school he worked at his parents’ friends convenience store.[7] Choi attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute in the early 1990s.[8] Choi graduated from York University's theatre program in 1998[3]

Choi was rejected the first time he applied to the fine arts program at York. “I wasn’t talented enough,” Choi says.[6] He completed a Master of Theological Studies instead at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.[3] In that time he was forced to read more and do more reading analysis; Choi asserts that this scholarly activity made him a better writer and were a contributing factor to his success.[9] His professors at Wycliffe, such as John Bowen, Brian Walsh, and Marion Taylor were a great influence, and encouraged him to be an artist.[9]

Choi worked with fu-GEN, a Toronto based Asian Canadian theater company, who helped him figure out what he wanted to portray to an audience through his work.[6] Choi emphasizes the importance of community as the goal for his shows to play in cities worldwide, predominantly in Korean communities, to honor Koreans who made sacrifices for other migrating Koreans.[6] Working with fu-GEN showed him “who [he] really was and what [he] really wanted to say mattered in the world of art,” according to Choi, and inspired him to write Kim’s Convenience.[6]

According to Choi, his mother is strict. However, she gets things done, which is where he maintains dual attributes of being artistic, focused, and determined.[6] His father used to be a pastor of an immigrant church in downtown Toronto that he personally owned and founded.[10]

Ins met his wife Mari for the first time before her birthday. Years later he saw her again at a mutual friend’s wedding and finally found the courage to ask her out. According to Choi that was one of the best days of his life.[11] Choi currently lives in Canada with his wife Mari, daughter Poem, and his son River. He is enjoying family life, which was always a substantial value for him, especially since his father was a religious person and believed in the family as an institution.[12]

Choi's writing experience came from songwriting, poetry, and eventually play-writing. He proceeded to write for television and turned Kim’s Convenience into a popular TV show on CBC. He is an official co-creator, producer, and main screenwriter. Choi claims to take inspiration in strange places, exemplified by his play ”The Subway Stations of the Cross,” which Choi says was inspired by the homeless and mentally ill men he met in parks and public spaces across Toronto.[13] He has also created the show called ”The Beats and Breaks,” which is about hip-hop and is currently working on The KJV: The Bible Show.[14] In addition, other awards and achievements won by the Kim's Convenience team are:

• Best Picture Editing in a Comedy Program or Series (Kye Meechan) (2017)
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) (2017)
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role or Guest Role in a Comedy Series (Andrew Phung) (2017)
• Best Supporting or Guest Actor, Comedy (Andrew Phung) (2018)
• Best Lead Actor, Comedy (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) (2018)
• Best Comedy Series (2018)[15]