Christina July Kim Biography

Christina July Kim (born July 12, 1987) is an American actress. She began her film debut working on indie films that were screened at the annual LA Shorts Fest, Cinema City International Film Festival, and S.F. Frozen Film Festival to name a few. After guest appearances on the television show Easy Money, her break came when she was given a Taft-Hartley for her role as Xiu in Doc West (2009) a Spaghetti Western starring Terence Hill and Paul Sorvino where she gained international recognition.

Biography

CJ was born in Monterey Park, California and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico when she was 6 years old. She grew up in the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque and was the only Korean American girl in her class all throughout school. Although CJ seemed very happy, she was very ashamed of her Korean heritage growing up. She first took a speech and drama class taught by M. Mercer in 8th grade where she landed the role of "Buttercup" in her school's production of The Princess Bride. She escaped racial prejudices through acting and found freedom of expression through the theatre. At La Cueva High School, she continued to study acting and with the counsel of her high school drama teachers D. Keyson and S. Hobbs, she decided to apply to the Bachelor of Fine Arts acting program at the University of Southern California. Out of 500+ applicants, CJ was accepted into the prestigious BFA program. Before graduating from USC, CJ was invited to audition for Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. Initially, her visit went so well that she decided to take a break from USC and moved to Seoul. Things didn't go as planned, but while she was abroad, she landed a gig at Arirang TV as a radio DJ.

Career

2007"2008: Early work

She began her work in indie films, with her very first being the independent short "Remember the Days". The film was accepted into multiple well known film festivals such as the LA Shorts Fest as well as the Vancouver Asian Film Festival and was well received by the audience. Shortly after, CJ filmed her first feature "Internal Behaviors" which was theatrically released on Halloween in 2008

The following year, she filmed "The Cheapest Man in the Room" and was back at the LA Shorts Fest and also to the Cinema City International Film Festival for the screening where the short left audiences wondering "Am I that cheap?" The film went on to be recognized in prestigious film circles winning numerous awards and being recognized as a Merit Winner at the Accolade Competition. This film worked closely with the Screen Actors Guild and was a foreshadowing of CJ's eventual Taft-Hartley into SAG through Doc West which she later filmed at the end of 2008.

Body of Work

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Internal Behaviors	Jessica	Independent feature
2007	Remember the Days	Nancy	Independent short
2008	'	Jenny	Independent short
2009	Freudian Eyebrow	Flip-flop	Independent feature
2009	Office of the Dead	Liz " Project Manager	Independent feature
2009	Baby Amy	Evelyn	Independent feature
2010	In the Minds of Men	Kim Park	Independent feature
2010	Placebo	Melody	Independent feature
2010	2012 Seeking Closure	Kim Vaughn	Independent feature
2010	Ricky	Brigette	Independent feature
2010	Casting Shadows	Shannon	Independent short
2010	To the Brink	Svetlana	Independent short
2011	Caos and Consequences	Evelyn	Independent feature
2011	Strange Hearts	Claire	Independent short
2011	Internal Behaviors 2	Jessica	Independent feature
2012	Friends of the Bride	Meredith	Independent feature
2012	A Simple Touch	MaeLing	Independent short
2012	Dante's Inferno Documented	Speaker - 3rd Circle: The Gluttons	Independent feature
2014	Dante's Paradiso Documented	Speaker: 8th Sphere - Fixed Stars	Independent feature

Television appearances

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Easy Money	Sang Hee	Episodes: "Bags, Bangles and Booty" and "BassMaster"
2009	Doc West	Xiu	Spaghetti Western for "Italian TV"
2009	Triggerman	Xiu	Spaghetti Western for "Italian TV"