KI HONG

Ki Hong Lee is a Korean American actor currently residing in Los Angeles. Upon graduating college, he served as an indentured servant at his parents’ restaurant while pursuing a career as an actor. He is currently starring in the new series The Nine Lives of Chloe King (the summer finale airs tonight at 9/8 C on ABC Family). You can interact with him on twitter, facebook or youtube. When not on set, he likes to play pickup basketball with little kids twice his size so he can feel like Michael Jordan. Ki Hong previously wrote about his experiences as his show was about to debut (click here to read). Today, he writes about how things have changed as the summer season comes to an end.

“Why does everyone try to kill Chleo (Chloe) all the time?” asks my grandpa in Korean.

“Well – her name is Chloe, Granpa, and it’s because they think she’s dangerous,” I reply.

“Well, I think they should stop trying to kill Chleo”

This is only a tiny snippet of the weekly conversations between my grandpa and I. He likes to call me after every episode airs to tell me he’s seen me on T.V.

It’s been a couple of months since I finished shooting the first ten episodes of ABC Family’s The Nine Lives of Chloe King. We’ve been on hiatus now and we’re waiting to hear if the network will order more episodes. The summer finale airs tonight – and my – it has been a wild ride. Just earlier this year I was working as a waiter while auditioning and now I’m on a T.V. show set to air its final summer season episode. I have to admit, it still feels a little bit weird to be on T.V. every week – I guess it takes time.

But just because I’m on hiatus doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games. I enrolled in an acting class and it’s been kicking my acting butt into shape during the break. I’m also auditioning and trying to figure out what the next project might be in case the show doesn’t get picked up. You never know what’s going to happen in this business so you always want to be prepared.

The show seems to be showing some promising signs though. We were nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Best Breakout Series. Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but I still had the chance to attend the event. That’s another thing I’ve been busy with lately during the hiatus – publicity events. I’ve been very lucky to attend various publicity events ranging from the Captain America Premiere to Comic Con and, most recently, the Teen Choice Awards.

It’s been a crazy experience to say the least. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be walking the red carpet with other celebrities and be invited to premieres and awards shows. It sounds awesome and fun right? Yea – it did to me too while I was daydreaming in my middle school class of one day being rich and famous.

But in reality, going to those events became a “chore” – another thing that I had to cross off on my list of things to do that day. I viewed it as such because I was stressing over the smallest things – what kinds of questions will they ask me on the carpet, what do I wear, how will I do my hair, etc. I just wanted to be done with it as quickly as possible. In retrospect those were good things to worry about in terms of being prepared. Who wants to sound like an idiot on camera and who wants to look bad in pictures? But those things should’ve been fun and I should’ve enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, I did the same thing while I was filming. Particularly in the beginning of some of the earlier episodes. I would worry over the smallest details and made sure I said every word just like how I practiced. And it if didn’t come out exactly the way I practiced it, I’d sometimes get so upset at myself that I’d shut down and my other scenes suffered for it.

If you hadn’t figured it out by now – I’m a worry wart and stress out way too easily. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit this but maybe I’ll get over it if I talk about it. My biggest regret from this wonderful experience has been my inability to enjoy and have fun while filming and attending these cool publicity events.

On the flip side – what I have enjoyed – immensely – is interacting with the fans. It’s amazing how one T.V. show can affect the lives of so many people. I have received tons of encouraging tweets from fans all over the world and I enjoy interacting with them on twitter and facebook. I actually started my own youtube channel recently. The initial thought behind it was that I could get used to filming myself on camera since I film my own auditions sometimes. But I managed to use it to interact with the fans when I had a problem deciding which shirt to wear to comic-con. The fans voted by leaving a comment on the video and I wore the shirt that the fans picked out for me. Interacting with fans via internet is cool but I also enjoy meeting them in person. Although the first couple of times I actually gave out my autograph, I think I was more nervous than the person asking me for it. It was my first time, and I didn’t want to mess it up!

I can’t believe that the show is already airing the end of the first half of the season. It’s been a great year for me and now I sit here wondering if the show will get picked up. Will I ever be back on set shooting as Paul? (That’s my character’s name) Will I ever get the opportunity to attend an awards show and have the privilege of being nominated for an award? Will I ever get to interact with the fans again? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I will do my best to enjoy every moment of that experience and to let go of my anxiety and fears and trust that everything will turn out fine – because everything happens for a reason.