Joel Kim Booster

Joel Alexander Kim Booster (born Kim Joonmin; February 29, 1988) is an American actor, comedian, producer and writer. Born on Jeju Island, South Korea, he was adopted by an American couple as an infant and raised in Plainfield, Illinois, in a conservative Evangelical Christian family, and was initially homeschooled. He studied theater at Millikin University. He is gay and often talks about his sexuality in his stand-up. He is known for writing, producing and starring in the Hulu romantic comedy film Fire Island and for his role in the Apple TV comedy series Loot (2022-present).

Living in Chicago, Booster began his comedy career in an unconventional fashion by opening up for plays in the city's theater scene. In 2014 he moved to New York to pursue comedy, taking inspiration from the careers of Mindy Kaling and Aziz Ansari to establish his own brand through stand-up. He performed a set on Conan in 2016 and filmed a 30-minute special for Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents in 2017. On November 3, 2018, he released his debut stand-up album, Model Minority, whose material covers racism in the gay community and growing up Asian in a white community.

Booster's acting career took off with roles in Netflix's The Week Of, the Hulu series Shrill and the NBC comedy Sunnyside, and he has written for comedies including Big Mouth, The Other Two, Billy on the Street and Search Party. He is a regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and started the podcast Urgent Care with comedian Mitra Jouhari in 2019. In 2022 he wrote and starred in Fire Island, inspired by Pride and Prejudice, and released the Netflix special Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual, earning two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Fire Island.