‘‘ My evolution has been more of a personal evolution. I’m growing as a person and all my experiences from then until now have led up to the person I am now’’
‘‘When I was a kid, I had a lot of extra energy. I really loved imitating people, and especially singers. It was mainly Celine Dion that got me into it because I was imitating her accent,’’ Kimiko recalls, laughing. After her dad suggested to put this energy into the artistic field, she auditioned for a musical in a children’s theater. When it came time to apply for colleges, Kimiko felt she was destined to be a performer. ‘‘It was one of those things where I got in and I didn’t think twice about it. I kept doing it and kept auditioning for the next show, and the next show, and the next show, because I was having so much fun,’’ she adds. ‘‘On stage I was able to step into someone else’s shoes, and do stuff that I thought I’d never do. It allowed me to express myself in that way. I found that really helpful, and I gained a lot of confidence. I think my evolution has been more of a personal evolution. I’m growing as a person and all my experiences from then until now have led up to the person I am now.’’ Initially, Kimiko admits she didn’t expect to do TV and film. ‘‘I thought that some TV actors were separate from theater actors,’’ she mentions. Nevertheless the actress who is now based in New York City has become a familiar face of the industry through her multiple on-screen roles leading her to explore a wide range of worlds. ‘‘They all have been life-changing in some ways because I take away something from every experience. And every experience has its own challenges, and its own amazing moments in it,’’ she assumes. ‘‘Artistically, I really took away a lot from this show that I did back in 2012 called Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The storyline was this girl
Yoshimi finding out she has cancer. In sequences you see her fighting the cancer physically. It was such a beautiful show and a beautiful message. When I walked away every night doing that show, I felt like I had moved someone. I thought that was pretty life-changing.’’ Along with her projects in front of the camera and on stage, Kimiko is renowned for her voice work, lending her voice to Netflix’s BoJack Horseman, DuckTales, and Voltron: Legendary Defender, among others. ‘‘I always knew that I had a unique voice, so I’m so glad I have this little thing going with the voice industry because I feel like it’s everything I would want to do,’’ she says. Nevertheless, Kimiko reveals that voicing Peni Parker in the highly critically acclaimed Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse was a new experience for her. ‘‘It was a bit different than some of the other projects I’ve worked on for animation. We did a lot of improv in the booth. A lot of the time you have to stick to the script, and I really felt that they loved when I’d kind of veer from the script which was very playful.’’ Shortly after the movie release, viewers were curious to know more about Kimiko’s high-spirited character Peni Parker and her high-tech robot companion, SP//dr, and we can only hope to have more stories with them. Represented in a manga style, Kimiko didn’t know how her character would turn out until she saw the end product at the premiere in Los Angeles. ‘‘The whole time, my boyfriend and I were sitting next to each other, and we were like: ‘Oh my gosh, this is amazing, this is everything I’ve ever wanted in a movie.’ The whole thing
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