KEN, from kenton county, kentucky.
the story of "tHE aMERIKEN"
First off, I know. This site far from "pristine." It's a very hapdash update to my old acting site.
I made some simple updates since my profound Spiritual Awakening.
So if you were led here as a result of an appearance on a spirituality podcast, head over to the Spiritual Resources section to connect with those that can take you to new levels of Spiritual growth.
I kept a lot of my old humor (attempting) copy writing here, even though I am more about non-judgmental, unconditional love and less about the vulgarity these days.
I just don't have the time to edit the whole site.
Anyways, with that caveat out of the way....
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And in case someone wants to know what I really did for 7 years as a director, producer, marketer and B-list actor in Korean entertainment, fast track to that story here.
Okay. Okay.
C-list.
Summary:
Ever seen that episode of Family Guy where Peter finds out Quagmire was a famous white guy actor in Korea back in the day?
They called him "American Johnny."
I was "AmeriKen" Johnny.
(Kicking 큰 엉덩이 and taking 이름!)
Then I went to prison there, they froze all my assets and deported me.
And for a crime I didn't commit. (Really)
False confessions are the real deal when your getting tortured by four undercover police detectives in the back of an unmarked van just outside a Korean action movie set near the DMZ.
Here's some solid life advice: Don't break up with a girl who doesnt take break ups well in a country where any ex can make up a story about you being a drug dealer knowing damn well you, as a foreign national, won't have the right to a phone call or a lawyer and where said country's law enforcement loves locking up famous people - regardless of innocence - in an effort to spread fear to the law-abiding masses with juicy news reports.
(See also dubious arrests of countless KPOP semi-stars).
Then came my massive Spiritual Awakening and experiences in Samadhi and Unity Consciousness which helped me make sense of it all.
Currently, I founded a startup called Dreamscribe that is an AI-powered platform that streamlines the entire authorship process, helping users map out and create professional-grade biographies and novels effortlessly.
My goal is to make quality authorship an accessible endeavor for all, regardless of time, talent, or treasure. Everyone has a story to share, and we want to empower all people to be able share it.
Questions about Spirituality, you can email me at the.storyteller.ken@gmail.com.
Wanting to finally write that novel or autobiography that has been kicking around in your head for years? Head here:
My News Reporter Days
Once upon a time, at the beginning of my storytelling career, I was a news reporter whose investigative, breaking and feature news pieces were republished in over two dozen national news outlets.
Wouldn't ya know it, at some point the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Times Record News liked me enough to even let me contribute to the op-ed section, too.
A fearless young cub reporter with no regard for either his personal safety or the comments section.
Ah, those were the days.
("News Clip" section totally gone now. Not functioning, and too tired to try to find out why. 죄송합니다!)
And in case someone wants to know what I really did for 7 years as a director, producer, marketer and B-list actor in Korean entertainment.
Okay.C-list.Summary:Ever seen that episode of Family Guy where Peter finds out Quagmire was a famous white guy actor in Korea back in the day?They called him "American Johnny." I was "AmeriKen" Johnny.(Kicking 큰 엉덩이 and taking 이름!)Then I went to prison there, they froze all my assets and deported me.It was a crime I didn't commit. (Really)False confessions are the real deal when your getting tortured by four undercover police detectives in the back of an unmarked van just outside a Korean action movie set near the DMZ.Here's some solid life advice: Don't break up with a girl who doesnt take break ups well in a country where any ex can make up a story about you being a drug dealer knowing damn well you, as a foreign national, won't have the right to a phone call or a lawyer and where said country's law enforcement loves locking up famous people - regardless of innocence - in an effort to spread fear to the law-abiding masses with juicy news reports. (See also dubious arrests of countless KPOP semi-stars).Then came my massive Spiritual Awakening and experiences in Samadhi and Unity Consciousness which helped me make sense of it all.There are no mistakes.But I am getting ahead of myself.Scroll down for that story, and hold on to your kimchi, its a doozy! Now, the boring part (I suck at websites, btw, so forgive the mess):
I also do an insane of math wizardy and tech mumbo jumbo. Currently, I founded a startup called Dreamscribe that is an AI-powered platform that streamlines the entire authorship process, helping users map out and create professional-grade biographies and novels effortlessly.
My goal is to make quality authorship an accessible endeavor for all, regardless of time, talent, or treasure. Everyone has a story to share, and we want to empower all people to be able share it.
Hungry yet? Contact me below, and let's get to feastin'!
My name is Ken (howdy!), and I have over 15+ years of experience in professional writing, marketing, producing, SaaS development, and acting, both stateside and abroad.
Imagine an all-occasions creator that can handle both creative and technical projects - that's me.
Add a dash of brand development, stir in a few years of smart math shit, sprinkle on a pinch of directing, thow in 3B views of my works, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees of humor, and you got my recipe.
My Photography
Words should be enticing.
And the 1,000 that make up a compelling image can stick to a viewer's memory like crazy glue.
Whether on assignment or on the road, I absolutely love capturing stills of the people and places that make the human experience so darn interesting - for better or worse.
While traveling to 20+ countries, I typically prefer to ditch the Lonely Planet guidebooks and tag along with the first strangers I meet in a new land. This has led to some of my most interesting shots to date.
(Click images below)
News
Travel
Korean Entertainment!
Enough of the boring.
Let's get out the popcorn and talk my weird and exciting life as AmeriKen Johnny in South Korea.
Commercials, feature films, indie movies, kid shows, ad campaigns, shorts and endless other forms of live and scripted media: I have acted in, shot, produced, directed, edited and written content for major brands like Samsung, LG, Kia, Warner Bros, Lotte, and... well, you can see more here.
From the top Korean dramas (yes, that one you've seen), to major KPOP videos (no..never worked with BTS, so stop asking every teenage girl in America!) to working with many top directors and actors, both in Korea and from Hollywood (the main actor from Squid Game and Liam Neeson, were two of my favorite times on set).
All said and done, I worked on 130+ projects, from big budget studio endeavors to being the main actor for four seasons on the longest running TV show in Korean history: MBC Surprise!
Oh, and I had three kids' shows at the end of my entertainment career.
One, called Action English.aired in 2018 and is still airing 4 seasons of reruns.
Think Teletubbies-meets-hip-hop, but shows our faces and we made a lot of hidden sexual, "west siiiiiiide!" and political easter egg jokes.
We helped 3-7 year olds learn English every weekday on KBS2, the most popular TV channel.
Because they had no idea over there what we were talking about or doing - Koreans had no reference nor cared about what the hell we were saying or acting out, so long as their kid was getting A's in Michael Teacher's kindy English class.
(Enter enough "west side" gang gestures that I am certain there is a small army of kiddos walking the streets of Gangnam unknowingly representing Compton to every white tourist they approach and speak with).
Forget Tic-Tac-Toe and Rock-Paper-Scissors.
These kiddos are now officially caught up in a new game in Seoul: the Korean trap game.
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God, we were given waaaay too much artistic liberty.
Man, that was so much fun to film.
It was the dream.
I was Mr. Red (the "clumsy idiot"). The other two white boy actors were Mr. Yellow (the "smart and orderly one") and Mr. Blue (the "gay one").
We washed each other's asses and crotches for the song "Take a Bath" and you can likely guess what we did for the song "My Balls are Big, Your Balls are Small."
My dog Eddy, a Korean Pomeranian, was also an actor on the show for the song, "My Dog is So Cute."
As his agent - err... me - took 100% of his earnings. (sucker!)
I wrote that song, too.
It took 20 hours to write.
Soju is a helluva drink, I tell ya. Really messes with the synapses.
Maybe should have had a PSA song called "Stay Off the Cheap Booze, Kids!"
Ahhh... those were the good ol' days.
What an odd life, eh?
I wasnt diagnosed with ADHD until my mid-30s.
How do I have a math degree and a Master's and then go on to make dick jokes on the most famous kid's show in Korean history?
WT actual F?
Wait... where was I?
Hang on, be right back.
I forgot my Adderral, peach 20s.
.....
......
.......
... mmmmmkay, back and putting the "hyper" back in "hyper-activity" now!
My work had garnered billions of views.
....shit.
The soju memories are fading again.
There has to be more...
...I need a nap...
... and another Addy.
Let me get back to you, later, actually.
In the meantime, drop me an email below if you want to work with me on a future project.
And if it's a kids' show, I took a bunch of balls from the Action English! set we can use.
LFG!
- The AmeriKen
P.S.
Full disclosure.
I once did a Sex and the City-style, late night, "adult" mini-series where I played an American fitness instructor who transferred to a Korean gym and just worked out and slept with girls that came to the fitness center.
There was lots of low-brow sex jokes, some nudity from some very ... err..."risque" Korean actresses, and my character, "David," cheated on his Russian girlfriend.
Said Russian gf bit David's wanker off, as an act of revenge.
The best part was, four hours after finishing the final, wanker-biting take from my very-naked Russian acting co-worker, I was up, bright and early, to spend 18 hours beat boxing easy English phrases to 400k Korean kids, telling them how big my gym balls were.
I went to college for 7.5 years and run a tech company now.
화이팅 화이팅!
화이팅!
(Click below to get a small taste of what I was up to over there. I also founded and ran a casting agency and a translation business, but that's soooo 지루한. Let's see the weird stuff!)
What My Clients Say
"
Infectiously friendly and humorous. Wonderfully talented. Looking for an excuse to work with him again.
-Sonny Lee, Production Director, KBS Studios
"
Reliable. Fast. Always on tone. My "go-to" guy for getting the project done, in any role we asked.
-Soohyun Kim, Art Director, IMD Agency
The kind of writer and producer that isn't afraid to role up his sleeves and get dirty. Inventive, resourceful and always there. My business would not be where it is today without him.
-Danny Kim, Speaking Max TV
"
Let's Talk More, eh?
Instagram: the_ameriken
Email: the.storyteller.ken@gmail.com
Overall, I'm a friendly guy with a cute Pomeranian, who loves foods that are conduits for hot sauce and enjoys the outdoors.
All jokes aside, invite me as a guest on your podcast.
Send me a note if you wanna chat more spirituality.
I'll warn you though if you have Korean kids.
They might fan boy out, and I have three very strict reasons for why I hate being in that scenario:
1) I don't take selfies with minors.
2) I don't like kids.
3) I will likely be drunk on soju when they meet me.
Naaaaah.
I'm just kidding!
I'll be drunk on bourbon.
안녕, 양키 세키스!
- Mr. Red
Listen, I am very much joking here in case you hadnt got my humor yet.
I love kids, I love being sober and I love that joke.
"You just can't take this Maya stuff too seriously." - Tom Campbell
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Wait, I just realized I never explained the prison story from above and how my entire career came crashing down in an instant from a vindicative ex! It's quite the doozy actually. This true story is actually better than any story I ever wrote in my entire career. It's a tale of nasty lies; 12 root canals; nuero-toxic metal implants; frozen assets; lengthy interrogations; "killing" my character off my kid show; it involves Jennifer Ehle of "Mission Impossible: III" and "Pride and Prejudice" fame, for some reason; a horse rope; and blatantly racist "it is literally written down" formal penal codes that pit foreigners into a sub-group of national Korean law, where we 외국인 have different (a.k.a marketably worse) law protections than Koreans do and so you never had a shot at a fair trial, or a right to a lawyer or to at any given moment prove your innocence to those nasty detective bastards and she knew that going in to her false police report and her plan was enacted out perfectly." After torturing me and raiding my hotel room and apartment and never finding any drugs, they grew infuriated that they wasted their time and resources as it slowly started to dawn on them that this whole ordeal was turning into a big, fat nothingburger of a police hunt (in a society where authority being "wrong" is not a thing)...they then looked down at my lil Eddy - as they continued to tear open my couch and rip apart my pictures on the wall - looked back over at me and said "tell us where the drugs are or we will kill your dog." Shit. I just realized that's not even half of the story. Well. Looks like you'll have to bring me on that podcast after all. Head over to the "Podcast" section where I tell the full story on other podcasts.
That's my dog, Eddy.
I told you he's cute. :)