Tim Kang Exclusive Interview THE MENTALIST
by Christina Radish
Posted: January 2nd, 2011
The hit CBS drama series The Mentalist follows Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a track record for solving serious crimes by using his unconventional skills of observation. His role in cracking tough, high-profile cases is greatly valued by his fellow agents, which include Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney), Kimball Cho (Tim Kang), Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti), who all think Jane is a loose cannon, but admire his charm and knack for clearing cases.
Actor Tim Kang plays Kimball Cho, the straight-arrow, by-the-book agent who has a respect for Patrick Jane, but doesn’t quite understand his approach. Before joining the CBI, Cho was in juvenile hall as a kid and then in the military, giving him a different insight into the individuals they are investigating and the crimes they are working to solve. In this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Tim Kang talked about his unusual path to acting, how much fun he has working with the ensemble on The Mentalist, his enjoyment of the acting process and that viewers will get to learn a bit more about the supporting characters throughout the remainder of the season...
... How do you see Kimball Cho’s relationship with Patrick Jane (Simon Baker)?
KANG: Because of the necessary things that we needed to do, I haven’t been able to work with Simon, almost at all, in the first half of this season. Last season, me and Simon would have some cool scenes together in each episode, which I thought was great. There is that idea that Jane and Cho are perfectly matched, in terms of the way they each go about getting the job done. Jane uses his antics and wild shenanigans and thinks outside the box, in his approach to solving these crimes. Cho is very well within that box, but is not afraid to go outside the box, in order to get the job done.
I think there is a mutual respect between the two. There’s a lot of eye rolling going on, in Cho’s mind, but he’s going to give Jane the benefit of the doubt because he recognizes that Jane has a gift that Cho doesn’t quite understand yet. Basically, Cho just wants to be a better cop and improve his skills, and he’s going to do anything that gets him closer to that goal. If Jane’s craziness gets him closer to that goal, he’s not going to discount it, at all. The one or two times that Cho has smiled, it’s because of a joke that Jane said or a point of view that he expressed and, in his own way, Cho agreed with that point of view with a little smirk. But, we parcel out the smiles for Cho...
The Mentalist airs Thursday at 10/9C on CBS.
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