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 centered 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 began performing on stage at age 9 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, at venues such as iO West, Second City Hollywood, and UCBTLA. She sometimes performs 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. She founded Improv Hawai’i (aka improvhi), the longest-running consecutive improv company in Hawai’i, offering ongoing shows, classes, and workshops for every level. Even in 2020, improvhi kept its community strong by producing shows and leading classes online.
She recently performed her own comedy at The Hawai’i Theatre as part of the Ronny Chieng and Friends Show. Kimee brought the sold-out house down with her original parody songs “Kaka’ako” and “What’s Up Wit Da Rail” and was thrilled to share the stage with Ronny Chieng, Shen Wang, Simu Liu, and Dylan Adler.
In 2014, Kimee founded the Hawai’i Comedy Festival with their first show premiering at The Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre in March 2015. In 2020, they expanded to a junior festival. The festival is focused on supporting and highlighting local creatives through comedy. Throughout the show’s history, Kimee has executive-produced, directed, and co-written over 40 original musicals and comedy sketches.
In May 2019, Kimee Balmilero conceived and founded Polynesian AF, a Pasifika-centered comedy variety show, in partnership with Will Choi, lead producer of Asian AF. The show premiered with its first live performance at the 2021 Hawai’i Comedy Festival and continued a successful three-year run there. In May 2024, she co-founded AAPI AF (again with Asian AF) and produced a special show celebrating both the 10th anniversary of the Hawai’i Comedy Festival and AAPI Heritage Month. The show was the first to bring all of Asian AF‘s productions together, including Filipino AF, Southeast Asian AF, Polynesian AF, and Gaysian AF, in one landmark event, and was a tremendous success. In September 2026, Kimee and a cast of Hawai’i comedians will perform Hawai’i AF at The Asian AF Festival in Los Angeles, marking the first time one of her original shows will be showcased outside of Hawai’i.
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.
Currently, Kimee is working on her original TV Pilot Aloha Disco, a show loosely based on her father’s stories about the disco life in 1970s Honolulu.
When she’s not performing, producing, writing, or directing, Kimee enjoys karaoke, hunting for garage sale treasures, watching Bravo, and staring at her husband’s face.
Keep up with her on Instagram – @kimeebalmilero