HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Insub "Ins" Choi () is a Canadian actor and playwright best known for his
Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...
-nominated 2011 play ''
Kim's Convenience ''Kim's Convenience'' is a Television in Canada, Canadian television sitcom that aired on CBC Television from October 2016 to April 2021. It depicts the Korean Canadians, Korean Canadian Kim family that runs a convenience store in the Moss Park ...
''"Kim's Convenience drawing TV interest, Ins Choi says"
CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...
, July 7, 2013.
"Ins Choi: Actor/writer sells some hard-hitting immigrant truths in Kim’s Convenience"
''
NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...
'', July 7, 2011
and its subsequent TV adaptation. Choi was born in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
and raised in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. He is a graduate of the theatre program at
York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
.


Early life and education

Born Insub Choi in South Korea in 1974, Choi moved to Canada at the age of one and grew up in
Scarborough, Ontario Scarborough (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Census 629,941) is a district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated in the eastern part of the City of Toronto. Its borders are Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Steeles Avenue (Toronto), Steele ...
, which is now part of Toronto. His father was born in North Korea and "walked south" with his family as a child. Choi's mother grew up in South Korea, where she met and married her husband before emigrating to Canada with Choi and his two older sisters in 1975. His father worked as a pastor of an immigrant church in downtown Toronto that he owned and founded. An immigration officer misspelled his name as "Insurp" and in Grade 9 Choi began using the name "Danny", inspired by
John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...
's character in '' Grease''. When he attended the acting program at York University, he met other struggling Asian immigrants and began going by Ins, as a shortened form of his birth name. In high school, Choi played various sports and performed in a school play. After school he worked at convenience stores owned by friends of his parents. Choi attended
North Toronto Collegiate Institute North Toronto Collegiate Institute is a semestered, public high school institution with over 1,200 students located in North Toronto area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is operated and governed by the Toronto District School Board. Fro ...
in the early 1990s. He graduated from York University's theatre program in 1998. His first application to the fine arts program at York was rejected. He completed a Master of Theological Studies at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, graduating in 2002. He credits his success to his studies at Wycliffe, which he believes made him a better writer.


Career

Following his graduation from York University, Choi worked with fu-GEN, a Toronto-based Asian Canadian theatre company, which helped him figure out what he wanted to portray to an audience through his work. He stated that working with fu-GEN showed him "who ereally was and what ereally wanted to say mattered in the world of art," and it was there that he first envisioned ''Kim's Convenience'', a play that eventually became a successful television series. He is credited as a co-creator, producer, and main screenwriter on the series, which ended after its fifth season. In 2012, he collaborated with Gregory Prest, Raquel Duffy, Ken MacKenzie and Mike Ross on a theatrical adaptation of Dennis Lee's children's poetry book '' Alligator Pie'', for which they received ensemble Dora nominations for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Direction in the Theatre for Young Audiences division in 2013. Choi's 2013
one-man show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show, one-woman show, or one-person show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieti ...
, ''The Subway Stations of the Cross'', was inspired by the homeless and mentally ill men he met in parks and public spaces across Toronto. He has also created the show, ''The Beats and the Breaks'', about hip-hop, as well as ''The KJV: The Bible Show''. In 2018 and 2019 Choi toured with his stage show ''Ins Choi: Songs, Stories and Spoken Word''.


Works

* ''
Kim's Convenience ''Kim's Convenience'' is a Television in Canada, Canadian television sitcom that aired on CBC Television from October 2016 to April 2021. It depicts the Korean Canadians, Korean Canadian Kim family that runs a convenience store in the Moss Park ...
'' (2011) * ''The KJV: The Bible Show'' (2011) * ''Alligator Pie'' (2012) * ''The Beats and the Breaks'' (2012) * ''The Subway Stations of the Cross'' (2015) * ''Ins Choi: Songs, Stories and Spoken Word'' (2018) * ''Bad Parent'' (2022)


Personal life

Ins Choi married Mari in March 2005, and together they have two children and reside in Toronto. Like his father who was a preacher, he also follows the Christian faith.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Ins 1974 births Living people 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male actors of Korean descent Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male stage actors Canadian writers of Asian descent Male actors from Toronto South Korean emigrants to Canada Writers from Toronto York University alumni