Matthew Kim, better known to K-pop fans as BM or Big Matthew, just made his Hollywood acting debut starring in the latest season of Netflix’s acclaimed drama series Beef.

Kim plays Woosh, a tennis coach who is covertly selling expensive Korean skincare to the women at the country club where he works.

“[Beef] was acting school for me. The most prestigious acting school,” he told Marie Claire at the Los Angeles premiere of the show’s second season. “The information [I learned] through working alongside these actors is, wow. I feel so much different now than I did before Beef.”

The hit show features a new storyline in addition to its impressive cast line-up including Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Korean veteran actress and Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung, as well as Parasite’s Song Kang-ho, in its second season, which premiered on April 16.

While Kim may be a Hollywood newcomer, the K-pop star has a career spanning 15 years in the entertainment industry. Here’s everything you need to know about Matthew Kim.

Matthew Kim is a K-pop idol

Matthew Kim was born in October 1992 in Southern California and relocated to Seoul, South Korea, in 2011 to participate in the singing competition K-pop Star. While he didn’t make it as a finalist on the show, he was recruited by DSP Media as a trainee for several years.

In 2016, Kim made his K-pop debut as BM, a rapper in Kard, one of the very few coed groups in the South Korean entertainment industry. Comprised of four members, including Kim, the group released hits such as “Oh NaNa” and “Don’t Recall” in 2017, and most recently its eighth mini-album, Drift, in July last year. In 2021, Kim made his debut as a solo artist with his single “Broken Me”.

Aside from rapping, the idol is also credited as a composer, songwriter and producer for various Kard tracks, including their 2020 song “Dumb Litty”.

He’s a model