Filipino American and Hawaii-born actor Kimee Balmilero is best known for her series regular role as Medical Examiner Dr. Noelani Cunha on Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. In 2022, she joined ABC’s pilot Josep, shining as comedian Jo Koy’s sister, Geraldine. Josep was the first TV pilot centering around a Filipino-American family produced by a major network. Her screen credits also include Disney+’s Doogie Kamealoha, M.D., Hallmark Channel’s Two Tickets to Paradise, and the Daytime Emmy-nominated children’s musical series Hi-5.
Kimee started performing on stage at the age of nine under the tutelage of famed Hawai‘i director and theatre teacher Ronald E. Bright at Castle High School in Kaneohe, Hawai‘i. The day after her high school graduation, Kimee joined the Broadway National Touring Company of Miss Saigon, and in 2001, Kimee made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Mamma Mia!
After moving to Los Angeles in 2003, she sharpened her comedic skills at Hollywood’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, studying sketch and improv. She performed with her sketch comedy troupe Drug Puppy in venues like iO West, Second City Hollywood, and UCBTLA. She has most recently been seen performing with the Asian AF and Filipino AF shows whenever she’s in Los Angeles.
Since returning to Hawaii in 2012, Kimee has been a driving force in the local comedy scene. As the self-proclaimed “Head Sillypino” of Improv Hawai‘i (aka improvhi), she has championed improv and sketch comedy in Honolulu. She founded the Hawai‘i Comedy Festival in 2015, which has since expanded with a junior festival in 2020, and created and produced original comedy variety shows like Two Scoops Funny, Polynesian AF, and AAPI AF, celebrating Pacific Islander and Asian American creatives.
In 2018, she launched the Honolulu-based theater company Stage Fish with a production of The Last Five Years and, in 2020, Kimee and her husband John opened Tiny Stage Hawai‘i —a small but mighty creative hub in Kakaʻako.
When she’s not performing, producing, or directing, Kimee enjoys karaoke, hunting for garage sale treasures, watching Bravo, and staring at her husband’s face.