Laurent Grillet-Kim was born in Bordeaux, France where he started playing the violin at the age of eight. After graduating from the Bordeaux conservatory he went on to study in Lyon and Boulogne-Billancourt for a short time, then returned to his native city and took private lessons with Prof. Micheline Lefebvre (violin) and Prof. Pierre Lefebvre (viola).
Before moving to the United States to study viola with Prof. Arad and Prof. DeVeritch, and violin with Prof. Agostini, Grillet-Kim worked on cruise ships and traveled around the world for 10 months.
While at Indiana University, he had the opportunity to play chamber music with the faculty members of the music school and was principal viola of the Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. He also was part of the Kuttner Quartet, the student resident quartet. Grillet-Kim was regularly invited to play with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during his last year of studies.