Joel Kim Booster

Born Kim Joonmin in Jeju Island, South Korea, Booster was adopted by an American couple as an infant. He was raised in Plainfield, Illinois, in a "conservative, white, Evangelical Christian family" and was initially homeschooled. He went to public school for the first time when he was 16, which he described as his "first time being around non-religious people." Booster is gay and often talks about his sexuality in his stand-up. He explained he knew he was gay from childhood ("before I knew I was Asian") but kept it a secret. During his senior year of high school, his parents found out his orientation by reading his diary where he had described his sexual encounters with other boys. On July 21, 2020, Booster publicly shared that he lives with bipolar disorder. On September 1, 2024, Booster announced on Twitter his engagement to John-Michael Sudsina in South Korea. The couple married at the Exploratorium in San Francisco on December 30, 2025. In an interview with GQ, Booster revealed that they are in a non-monogamous relationship, but they are not polyamorous and sex outside their marriage is recreational. ==Career==

2012–2017: Early standup career Living in Chicago, Booster took a job as a copywriter and began to perform in theater and write jokes after work. Meanwhile, he started seeing similar success as a comedic writer and producer during this time period, writing for acclaimed comedies Big Mouth, Billy on the Street, and The Other Two. In 2019, he started the podcast Urgent Care with Joel Kim Booster + Mitra Jouhari with comedian Mitra Jouhari under Earwolf. Booster appeared on the December 8, 2020, episode of The George Lucas Talk Show with fellow guest Eliza Skinner. 2022–present: Hollywood breakout and mainstream success Booster wrote and starred in the 2022 romantic comedy film Fire Island, streaming on Hulu and inspired by Pride and Prejudice. It is one of few mainstream gay films with a predominantly Asian American cast, and co-stars Margaret Cho, Bowen Yang, and Conrad Ricamora. The film received positive reception and was noted for its cinematography, faithfulness to Pride and Prejudice, and depiction of a loving friendship between Howie and Noah (played by Yang and Booster). In 2022, he released a stand-up special on Netflix called Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual. Abbey White of The Hollywood Reporter described the special positively: "...Psychosexual offers a hilariously biting deconstruction and reconstruction of Booster's identity onstage; a repudiation not only of himself as a representative or "role model" for his various communities, but an affirmation that as a comedian, his only job is to tell jokes — regardless of whether that speaks to any community at all." In September 2022, Booster performed alongside EDM DJ / Kawaii Metal Idol Freya Fox and Atsuko Okatsuka at Life is Beautiful in Las Vegas, CA. A clip of Booster's comedy game at Life is Beautiful "Joel Kim or Kim Jeong Un" vent viral on Freya Fox's TikTok, amassing over 500,000 views. In June 2025, it was announced that Booster would be performing at Belly Laughs, a new comedy and food festival in Los Angeles. In November 2025, Booster made it to the final round of the "8 Degrees of Jane" episode of Celebrity Weakest Link. Accolades Booster was called a Comic to Watch by Variety and one of Vultures 20 Comedians You Should and Will Know, and was named a Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment. ==Filmography==

Film Television ==Discography==

• 2018: Model Minority ==Awards and nominations==