Only Murders In The Building Season 3: Why Kimber Looks So Familiar
With every new season of "Only Murders in the Buildings," we get more famous guest stars, all of whom ultimately join Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as they try to solve whatever murder happens in the Arconia this time around. Sometimes those guest stars are the subject of the murder mystery, and sometimes, they're suspects — which is the case for Ashley Park's Season 3 character Kimber.
During the first two episodes, the Season 2 finale's cliffhanger ending is re-examined and explained — after Oliver Putnam's (Short) new play is brought to a screeching halt when his leading man Ben Gilroy (Paul Rudd) apparently drops dead on stage, at which point Oliver's best friends and cohorts Charles Haden Savage (Martin) and Mabel Mora (Gomez) get involved. Ben ends up getting resuscitated at the hospital, even though he says he was legally dead for an hour... but when his body drops from an elevator shaft in the Arconia later, there's yet another murder that needs solving.
So where does Kimber fit in? She's also an actress in Oliver's play and she's a TikTok star — but beyond the character's importance in Season 3, you've probably seen Park before. Here's why Ashley Park looks so familiar.
Ashley Park plays a huge role in Emily in Paris
If Ashley Park seems familiar, it might have something to do with a little show called "Emily in Paris." The Netflix original has become one of the streamer's biggest hits since it premiered in 2020, telling the story of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), a marketing executive who moves from Chicago to Paris and is predictably, tragically American about every single French hurdle she encounters. Early in the show, she meets Park's character, Mindy Chen, an au pair who's been living in Paris for years.
Mindy quickly becomes Emily's best friend and even moves in with her, and in the grand tradition of the romantic comedy sidekick who is basically always available for the main character, Mindy is perpetually available to grab a cafe créme or a glass of wine with Emily and break down the latter's latest romantic foibles. Mindy does get storylines of her own, though; the show takes advantage of Park's excellent singing voice (more on that later) and gives Mindy an arc where she becomes a lounge singer and busker, and she gets her own romantic plotlines during the show's third season. "Emily in Paris" might center on Emily herself, but the charisma Park brings to Mindy means she steals almost every scene she's in.
Joy Ride was a major leading role for Ashley Park
In 2023, "Crazy Rich Asians" writer Adele Lim marked her directorial debut with "Joy Ride," a delightfully filthy comedy that gave Ashley Park her first true leading role. Park stars as Audrey Liman, whose parents adopted her from China when she was a baby — and who becomes childhood friends with Chinese-born Lolo Chen (Sherry Cola) when they meet on a Seattle playground. As adults, Audrey and Lolo couldn't be more different. Audrey is an extremely driven lawyer trying to earn a partner spot at her firm, and Lolo is an aspiring artist struggling to get her career off the ground.
When Audrey has to go to Beijing for work, Lolo and her cousin Vanessa (Sabrina Wu), an oddball who goes by the nickname "Deadeye," tag along, and they meet up with Audrey's college roommate Kat Huang (Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu), now a famous actress. Along the way, Audrey decides to try and find her birth mother... and the quartet gets into some truly deranged adventures in the process. "Joy Ride" is a funny, dirty, and unexpectedly heartfelt ode to finding your roots and close female friendship, and Park shines in every single moment, whether she's hooking up with two guys at once or discovering the real truth about her birth mother.
Ashley Park has racked up a few supporting roles in big shows
Beyond "Emily in Paris," Park has racked up a few recurring roles on other buzzy shows. She appeared in a supporting part in Netflix's hit "Beef" alongside Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, where she plays Naomi, who lives near Wong's character Amy. After Amy gets into a road-rage incident with Yeun's Danny, which sets all of the events of the show into motion, Naomi doesn't quite buy Amy's story and starts investigating... at her own peril.
Park also pops up with some regularity in the quippy comedy series "Girls5Eva," which aired its first two seasons on Peacock and will make the leap to Netflix for its eventual third season. Within the story of an aging pop group trying to reclaim their teenage glory, Park plays a member of the group, Ashley, but only in flashbacks; as Sara Bareilles' Dawn notes early in the show, Ashley died in a tragic infinity pool accident. During Season 2, though, the rest of the group starts to suspect that perhaps Ashley isn't dead after all, and nothing comes of their search at first, but maybe Park will return to the show for future seasons in the present timeline alongside Bareilles, Paula Pell, Busy Phillips, and fellow Broadway queen Renée Elise Goldsberry ("Hamilton").
Musical theater fans definitely know Ashley Park
Beyond her film and television work, Park has a truly impressive Broadway resume, which is precisely why her vocal talents are put to good — if perhaps too much — use on "Emily in Paris." If you're familiar with Park's Broadway career, you're probably aware that she's worked with her "Only Murders in the Building" co-star Tina Fey before, as she originated the role of Plastics member Gretchen Wieners in the "Mean Girls" musical. Thanks to the role, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2018, and she's set to appear in a cameo role in the upcoming "Mean Girls" movie musical.
Park's other notable stage roles include a leading turn as MwE in the 2017 Broadway hit "KPOP," and she appeared in a 2019 run of "Lady in the Dark" as well as the crowdsourced 2021 project "Ratatouille: The Musical." Park is a stage actress first and foremost, but clearly, she's been able to translate her considerable talents to the big and small screen as well.