Meet Matthew Kim, the K-Pop Rapper Making His Acting Debut in ‘Beef’ Season 2

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For the second season of Netflix‘s acclaimed drama Beef, creator Lee Sung-jin recruited rising and veteran stars from Korea to tell a cross-cultural tale. Among the standout K-drama actors, one star is better known in the music world: Matthew Kim, a.k.a. K-pop rapper BM.

Kim makes his acting debut as Woosh, a mysterious tennis coach who arrives at the central country club alongside its new chaebol owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung). Instead of being attached to the chairwoman’s side like her assistant Eunice (Seoyeon Jang), Woosh is busy hawking K-beauty products and procedures to the club’s wealthy clientele. Still, the seemingly harmless himbo is hiding some major secrets (though he may or may not be aware of it).

“[Beef] was acting school for me. The most prestigious acting school,” Kim told Marie Claire on the red carpet for the Beef season 2 L.A. premiere. “The information [I learned] through working alongside these actors is, wow. I feel so much different now than I did before Beef.”

Read on to learn more about Matthew Kim, from his career as a K-pop producer and meme generator to how his personality differs from Woosh.

Matthew Kim is a Korean-American rapper known by his stage name, BM.

Matthew Kim, 33, was born in October 1992 in Southern California. After growing up in and around Los Angeles, Kim relocated to Seoul in 2011 to take part in the first season of the singing competition K-pop Star. Though he didn’t win, he was subsequently recruited by DSP Media, and spent five years there as a trainee.

In 2016, Kim debuted under the name BM (which stands for Big Matthew) as a rapper in the co-ed K-pop group KARD. The quartet—comprised of BM, J.Seph, Somin, and Jiwoo—quickly stood out as one of the rare mixed-gender groups in an industry full of boy and girl groups. Kim later made his solo artist with the single “Broken Me” in 2021; he has also served as composer, songwriter, and producer for his solo work, as well as KARD songs like “Dumb Litty” and “Break Down.” Most recently, he produced several songs on Somin’s solo EP, Unveil.

In addition to K-pop, Matthew Kim is a podcaster and entertainer.

Kim is known throughout the K-pop world for his personality as much as his music. Since 2020, Kim has worked with Eric Nam‘s DIVE Studios as a longtime co-host of the English-language podcast “GET REAL,” alongside BTOB member Peniel, former Ladies’ Code member Ashley Choi, and singer-songwriter JUNNY. The chat podcast discusses “the ups and downs of work, love, and adulthood,” and often features English-speaking celebrities who moved to South Korea from countries like the U.S. and Canada to pursue careers in entertainment.

Kim is also well-known for being the creator of the Big Tiddie Gang meme, which originated from a viral March 2019 livestream where he said he prefers chest workouts. The following October, during a KARD tour stop in L.A., Kim met a fan of the group who said their music comforted her as she was going through chemotherapy for breast cancer. Per Refinery29, this inspired Kim to sell Big Tiddie Gang (BTG) merch through his parents’ clothing brand Staydium LA, with over $20,000 from the proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Speaking to the outlet in late 2020, Kim reflected on becoming known for his candor as a K-pop idol. “I’m just too blatantly honest. It’s the L.A. in me — I was born and raised around people that are very open with their opinions. I’ve got nothing to hide. If you ask me something, I’m going to tell you exactly how it is and how I feel about it,” he said. “There are obviously rules and standards that are placed on idols and other public figures since they’re looked at as role models, so they’re careful with what they say. I understand why things are the way they are. I’ve been told why, but…I just don’t listen. And I guess it worked out for me.”

Matthew Kim says he’s “a little less greedy” than Woosh in real life.

In his first-ever acting role, Kim plays a former tennis pro who now teaches tennis at Monte Vista Point, selling expensive K-beauty products to housewives on the side. Speaking to Marie Claire at the show’s L.A. premiere, Kim compares Woosh’s traits to his real-life personality. “[We’re both] attention hungry, [but] Matthew is a little less greedy. Woosh is very hungry still.”

In a TV Guide interview, Kim discussed the similarities between acting and his creative background as a K-pop idol. “While there’s a lot of differences, I think there’s an honesty and authenticity in your emotions when you convey something in both music and acting,” he said. “Acting, you’re just not doing it in a set time, in a set rhythm — you have your own rhythm. Having been able to for so long convey an emotion through music, definitely that energy was brought to acting and it was pretty helpful to have done that for such a long time.”