Born in Seoul, South Korea in 1985, Claudia Kim's father moved the family to New Jersey for his job when she was five years old. She spent the next six years learning English, in addition to Korean, before the family moved back to her native country where Kim began getting work as a model. She first landed a job as an actress on the drama "Queen of the Game" (SBS, 2006-07). Torn between acting and modeling, Kim took a break from the screen, but returned a few years later, again appearing in various Korean TV series.
In 2012, she came to Hollywood and quickly landed in the sights of casting agents. She landed a recurring role on "Marco Polo" (Netflix, 2014-16) and a supporting part in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015), playing Dr. Helen Cho, who was instrumental in creating Vision. Even after her success in the U.S., Kim returned to work in Korea, as a series regular on the series "Monster" (MBC, 2016). In 2017, she had a significant role in the tentpole feature "The Dark Tower" (2017), starring Idris Elba, based on the novel by Stephen King. She became part of another major franchise when she joined "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" (2018) to play Nagini, the Maledictus who would eventually turn into a serpent and a horcrux of the wizard Voldemort.