Christopher Young Kim (born August 27, 1991), better known by his stage name Young Mazino, is an American actor best known for his role as Paul Cho in the Netflix series Beef, for which he was nominated for the 2023 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.

Early life

Christopher Young Kim was born in Maryland. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, raised by two Korean immigrant parents.^[1] He has two older sisters. His father immigrated to the United States from Korea at the age of 16.^[2] Mazino has a first-degree black belt in taekwondo.^[3]

He attended the University of Maryland, but dropped out and moved to New York City in 2014 to attend the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where he trained for a year.^[4]

Career

Mazino chose the monicker "Young Mazino" as his stage name in 2018.^[5] The name is a combination of Mazino's real middle name and the name of a comic book character, Urek Mazino from Tower of God created by Korean artist S.I.U.^[5] Mazino explained that he decided to take a stage name because there were too many actors with his real surname when he was registering with the Screen Actors Guild in 2018.^[5]

He played roles in several short films and television shows before being cast in a break out role as Steven Yeun's younger brother, Paul, in the hit Netflix series Beef, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.

In January 2024, it was announced that Mazino would join the cast of season 2 of the HBO series The Last of Us as Jesse.^[6]

Filmography

Film and television

* Asterisk indicates he was credited for his role as Christopher Young Kim (his birth name)

Music videos