Everything You Need To Know About Damon Herriman, Who Plays Kim on ‘Secret City’

The Netflix crime drama Secret City premiered last week. An Australian crime procedural, it stars Anna Torv (Mindhunter) as a newspaper reporter in Canberra who comes upon a story involving conspiracy, murder, and the escalating tensions between world powers China and the United States.

Torv’s character, Harry Dunkley, is fleshed out partially by her semi-adversarial relationship with Kim, a transgender woman who also was, once upon a time, married to Harry. On the wide and international canvass of Secret City, Kim is, for better or for worse, one of the most intriguing characters in the new series. Here are the answers to a few burning questions:

Who Is Secret City‘s Kim?

Kim Gordon (no, not the Sonic Youth rocker) is an analyst at the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), which is essentially Australia’s version of the CIA. She’s keeping tabs on Harry as she follows the story of the death of a college student. She’s also Harry’s ex-spouse, from back before she transitioned. Kim’s identity as a trans woman and her relationship with Harry intertwine themselves with the job that Kim’s doing for the Australian government and the secrets that she’s keeping for them.

Who Is the Actor Playing Kim?

Cisgender male actor Damon Herriman plays Kim.

Where Have I Seen Damon Herriman Before?

Herriman has starred in everything from films like Nash Edgerton’s The Square Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, and Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger. But by far, Herriman’s best-known performance to date was on FX’s Justified, playing lowlife criminal Dewey Crowe for 22 episodes across the show’s six seasons.

What’s Up with a Cisgender Actor Playing a Transgender Character?

It does certainly feel retrograde to have yet another cisgender actor portraying a trans woman on screen. That said, Herriman’s performance has gotten strong reviews and praise. The series, which premiered in 2016 in Australia, had already earned Herriman an AACTA award — the equivalent of Australia’s Oscars/Emmys — for best performance by a supporting actor.

Stream Secret City on Netflix