Young Mazino
Young Mazino | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mazino at SXSW 2025 | |
| Born | Christopher Young Kim August 27, 1991 Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2012–present |
Christopher Young Kim (born August 27, 1991), known professionally as Young Mazino, is an American actor. He had his breakout role in the Netflix series Beef (2023), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. As of 2025, he stars in the HBO drama series The Last of Us as Jesse and he is set to star in the upcoming first-person shooter game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 as Private Park Hyun Jun.
Early life
Christopher Young Kim was born in Maryland. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, raised by 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, Baltimore County, 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]
Prior to his breakout role in Beef, Mazino was Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at LVMH's Fresh for six years.[5]
Career
Mazino chose the moniker "Young Mazino" as his stage name in 2018.[6][7] The name is a combination of Mazino's Korean middle name and the name of a comic book character, Urek Mazino from Tower of God created by Korean Manhwa artist S.I.U.[6][7] 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.[6]
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 Award 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.[8]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Digging | Young Man | Short; credited as Christopher Kim |
| 2015 | Beneath Paradise | Khal | Credited as Christopher Kim |
| 2016 | The Destined King | Sanggun | Short; credited as Christopher Kim |
| 2017 | Foundation | Matt | |
| 2018 | Fish Bones | Peter Kim | Credited as Christopher Kim |
| 2022 | Good Boy | Joon Kim | Short |
| 2023 | Trinity's Triumph | Father Kim | |
| 2025 | Opus | Kent | |
| 2026 | Via Negativa | Dan | |
| Steps | Gef (voice) | Post-production | |
| TBA | October | Post-production[9] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | My Crazy Love | Jamie | Episode: "Beth and Noah"; Credited as Christopher Kim |
| 2016 | Blindspot | Armored Guard #2 | Episode: "Any Wounded Thief"; Credited as Christopher Kim |
| 2018 | New Amsterdam | Bilingual Intern #4 | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2019 | Blue Bloods | Officer Andy Chen | Episode: "Behind the Smile" |
| 2020 | Tommy | Jun | Episode: "The Ninth Girl" |
| Prodigal Son | Alex Wu | Episode: "The Job" | |
| 2023 | Beef | Paul Cho | Main role; 10 episodes |
| 2025–present | The Last of Us | Jesse | Main role (seasons 2–3); 6 episodes |
| 2026 | Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi | Nawaam (voice) | 4 episodes; English dub |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Private Park Hyun Jun | Voice and motion capture |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Role | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | "Snooze" | Love interest | SZA |
References
- ↑ Zuckerman, Ethel (April 19, 2023). "Young Mazino Sizzles in 'BEEF'". Netflix: Tudum. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
- ↑ Kwon, Victoria. "Young Mazino: On embracing challenges, representation, and chasing dreams". Timid. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
- ↑ "Christopher Kim". Martial Arts & Action Entertainment. November 13, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ↑ Rebecca, Ford (April 13, 2023). "Beef Breakout Young Mazino Crafts Paul in His Own Image". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
- ↑ "Fresh Beauty Instagram". Instagram. August 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
- 1 2 3 Jae-Ha Kim (April 25, 2023). "Go Away With … Young Mazino". Retrieved April 14, 2024.
- 1 2 Stivale, Shelby (April 13, 2025). "Who Plays Jesse in The Last of Us Season 2? What to Know About Young Mazino". Us Weekly. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
- ↑ Otterson, Joe (January 10, 2024). "Last of Us Season 2 Casts Beef Star Young Mazino as Jesse". Variety. Archived from the original on January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
- ↑ Grobar, Matt (October 17, 2025). "James Badge Dale, Matty Matheson & Imogen Poots Latest To Join A24's Fugitive Thriller 'October' from Jeremy Saulnier". Deadline. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
External links
- Young Mazino at IMDb