 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live at the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. Today's special guest is a model, hula dancer, lifeguard, and now the famous actor of the big blockbuster movie Aquaman. He is Kekoa Kekumano, and today we are going beyond movies. Hey, Kekoa. How you doing, Rusty? Good. It was so much fun being a judge with you in the Miss Cosmos pageant a couple of weeks ago. For sure. That was awesome. I've never been a judge before. Yeah, first time. It was fun. And then I didn't know that you and I both grew up in Mililani. Mililani town. Yeah, you like growing up there. Yeah. Represent. What did you go to? So I went to Kamehameha schools, Kalpalama, and I got in in sixth grade, I was on the waiting list. Okay. So I tried out fourth grade, got in sixth grade, and I was just pretty much just so stoked to get in. My parents were crying. We had a party. Oh, yeah. It was huge. And then I graduated 2016, which was about two, three years ago so far. So yeah, two, three years out of high school right now. So how was your experiences at Kamehameha? Well, I mean, Kamehameha really grew me as a person because as far as I'm concerned, all my friends in public school were kind of just like, kind of skipping class and you know, they're doing their own thing. And I was like, I wanted to, you know, I wanted to kind of be like them, but I couldn't because we're on a mountain. There's like 10 guard shacks, there's like hundreds of security guards and there's like cameras watching you. You know, it definitely disciplined me, made me stay in school, and it made me really just kind of focus on my schoolwork and study and try not to get in too much trouble. Good. And then what college did you end up going to? So right after high school, I got into Grand Canyon University and that's located in Phoenix. About 20 minutes away from Arizona State. And when I went there, my whole other reason why I went there wasn't a reason that most people, you know, like parents wanted to hear, but I went there because it was like a fun party school, it was close to, you know, a lot of just, just the action. And I went there with seven other of my classmates that we graduated all together. And so all of us, eight Hawaiians, we all go, and we all stayed in the same dorm. We had like four of us in one dorm room, four of us in the other, and right next to each other. So it was just like, I only lasted a semester. I came home and it was like, it was crazy. It was definitely a fun experience. And I had so much fun. I mean, yeah, it was definitely fun. It was a fun time. So Kiko, tell me about your family. So I'm the oldest. I got two younger brothers. And so they're still in school, still in high school. My mom and my dad, they met in college. So my mom was going to, I think, HBU at the time. And my mom is actually from, she was born in Singapore. She was raised in Canada. And my dad is from here. So he's born and raised from here. And so that's my, that's kind of where, you know, we kind of come to. And we live in Milani. And I just moved out recently to Kaimuki for work. Got it. Yeah. They still live over there. And yeah, I mean, we grew up pretty normal, happy family. And everything was smooth sailing with us. Nice. OK, now Kiko, what was your first job that you ever had? My first job for me was when I was a construction, I worked construction. OK. And my neighbor, my uncle chief, he has his own construction company, chief builders. And so I, as a little kid, I always wanted to just go to work. I always wanted to have my own money for some reason. It was just, it was just a weird thing that inside of me, I like to be like, you know, a worker. Yeah. And I asked my uncle, I said, hey, uncle, you know, I was 15 years old and I was just about to get my license and I wanted to buy my own car. So I said, uncle, can I work for you? And he goes, yeah, I'll put you to work tomorrow. So I never forget the first day of work. I have a 3XL construction shirt on because that's the only one that fit me. So I got, you know, hanging down to my knees. I'm wearing cargo shorts down to my ankles. And I'm coming to work and I'm talking started all the construction guys. And I had, you know, and they just made me, you know, set up the work site and, you know, just do things around pick up rubbish and, you know, give them the tools or whatnot, you know. It was so, I was so exhausted by the end of that day where we ended half day. It was only a half day, so it was even a full day. We got home at like one o'clock in the afternoon. I was so tired as soon as I got home. I fell down in a front yard and I just went to sleep. I went to see how I was that tired. And then the only time I woke up was at eight o'clock at night. My dad's coming out the house telling me that sprinklers are on and get inside the house before you get all wet. So I was like, you know, I would never forget how much hard work that was. It was definitely my first job, hard work all the way from the start. Yeah. And then let's talk about Aquaman. How did you end up getting that role in Aquaman? Well, the, the, what had happened was there was a casting director, agent. Her name's Rachel. Yeah. And Rachel really, really does, you know, takes care of me and she really likes me. And so she ended up giving my agent a call, LaShawna from Bliss. And she says, you know, there's a role coming up, a big, big movie role. They didn't tell me what it was. So I was just kind of like, okay, I'll do it. So they give you a little script, right? To read off of and audition for it. And I, I read it and I was just like, sounds like, like I'm going to be in like a medieval times movie or something. I was like, I didn't want to do it. Yeah. I was like, I didn't even know what a trident was. And then, and then I auditioned for it. And then I auditioned and they called me back and they kept calling me back. And I'm like, these guys probably got the wrong guy. I don't even know if they got the right number, you know, calling me back. I'm like, what the heck? Finally, they call me back and then I got called back about at least like five, six times to keep auditioning, giving me new scripts every time. Finally, I was at work one day and they call me like, you know, Kiko, you got, you got Aquaman, you go with Jason Momoa. And she actually the first time I auditioned, she told me, this is Aquaman, Jason Momoa. And then I was like, okay, now I really want to try it. You started, you know, every audition after I was trying a little bit harder and then I ended up getting that role. So, Kiko, what did you do to prepare for that role? Well, when I found out I got the role, I was like, I got it. I want to look like, you know, solid, you know, I want to look good on screen and I went to the gym every day, two times a day and I was working out training and I just wanted my physique to be good. Cause for me, you know, if I feel good, then, you know, I everything goes well and so I'm more comfortable. So I wanted to make sure, you know, my physique was in shape. I was, I was ready to go and that was a lot for me was the training. I was training a lot and I was definitely getting my mind right to go off to Australia to film. So how was your experiences with Jason Momoa? Well, Jason Momoa is just, he's a larger than life guy. When you first meet him, he's just like, he's just the most welcoming person and I think cause he knew I was from Hawaii, he was even more like, oh, what's up brother? So it was real like, it was real easy going to get along with him. And he definitely took me in and he just kind of just talked story with me, invited me over to his house. You know, we, we had barbecue, we cruise and this is all in Australia. So he definitely took care of me and he was just all around, just very welcoming, friendly, nice, just an awesome guy. Such a real guy. Oh yeah, for sure. He's real down to earth. Like, you know, you could really talk to him about anything and he definitely has been all around the world and he knows a lot of stuff. So, you know, he was definitely super like, just cool to be around. Yeah, cool to be around. How, how was it behind the scenes, you know, when you had to prepare for stuff behind the scenes, how was that like? Well, behind the scenes, there's a lot of stuff going on that you never see on the, in the movies. Yeah. So behind the scenes, let's say I did the first, first scene that we shot was on the beach. And right as soon as they said cut, the camera shut off. There's about, you know, I felt like it was like 100 people rushing into me, just, you know, you got my hair lady, you got my makeup lady, you got my voice coach, you got the guy showing me how to, you know, fight and you know, yeah, you got the contacts, you got people touching you, poking you, you know, doing all these things to you and you're just like, holy crap, you're getting all kind of just tossed around. And, and that's kind of a, it's kind of overwhelming because you're not used to it. And that's why a lot of the times I gave a lot of credit to actors because, and it's not easy, you know, I mean, unless you like getting touched by 50 different people at once, you know, it's definitely an experience because you got to just stay calm. You got to just listen, you know, just let them do their thing because they want what's best for you in a sense. So they want to make you look number one. So you're, you know, at the same time, you're like, okay, thank you, just do whatever you got to do. So, okay, Koal, what was the, what did you learn most about that experience in Aquaman? Well, I learned a lot, but I probably say the thing that I learned most was kind of, it was kind of for me, it was kind of just like, just stay calm through everything, you know, and especially when a lot of things are, and there's a lot of pressure on you and a lot of just things that you're not used to, you're not comfortable with. The number one thing I always tell myself is just stay as calm as possible because when you, at least for me, when I start to freak out, things just kind of start getting a little crazy. Other people are freaking out and it's like a whole fiasco. So like for me, I was like, hey, you know, I can't call just stay calm. Everything's gonna be okay. You know, you train hard for this, you know, you, you make sure you got your lines down and just be yourself. But at the same time, you got to act, perform and just, you know, do, you do your best, you know, but and have fun. Exactly, that's the number one thing, you know, I'm gonna have fun. You're a fun guy. So Kikoa, you know, when you got into Hawaii Five-O, how did you get that role in Hawaii Five-O? So when it started off, from the very beginning, I was never really into the acting thing at all. And I kind of was just like, I didn't want to do that. But my mom was like, no, I want you to be in movies. I want you to do this. I was like, okay, I'll do it for you. You know, so my cousins are MMA fighters. They own a gym. And one day this, this, this director of a movie he went to film, he came in looking for a teenage MMA local fighter. And my mom made me audition for the role. And through that, I ended up getting the lead role for that. And it was the first thing I ever got. And through that, the connections I met Brent Anbi, casting director, casting director. And he remembered me when a role came up for Hawaii Five-O. I don't even think it was a reoccurring role at the time. He told me, hey, you know, Kikoa, there's a role I think you'd be great at auditioning for. And once again, I was like, I don't really want to do it. You know, I was just like, I'd rather go hang out with my friends and crews. I got to go to this audition. So my mom's like, no, you're going, you're going. I don't care what, dragging me by my ear. I'm like, okay, we'll do it. So I ended up doing it. And then I got the role for that. It's like crazy sometimes. I don't even like, it was really weird because I was just, I felt like I was just reading the lines. And they're just like, that's so awesome. I was like, really? Cause I just feel like I'm reading, you know, I was like, oh, okay, thanks. How many episodes were you on? Oh, as of right now, I think I've been on about three or four seasons. Yeah. And I think out of those seasons, probably about 10, 11 episodes, I might be wrong. But yeah, I think it's a lot. It was because after the first episode, they, I guess they made my character reoccurring. Yeah. So I was just like, oh, sweet. I didn't even know what that meant. I was like, okay, we do it. So what, what do you think is the biggest difference between acting in movies and TV shows? For me, the biggest difference that I noticed was the everything, the fast pace. Cause TV shows are quick. Yeah. They got so many episodes, so many seasons, so many peoples and extras and all these things going around that, you know, when they shoot a scene, they're like, okay, we'll shoot it a couple more times, but we're not going to waste a time on it. You know, it's just, it's quick, quick. The movie is like my scene in the movie was about like a minute and a half, maybe two minutes long. It took from five o'clock in the morning till, you know, eight o'clock at night just to film just that. And so a lot of times TV shows, they can, they can do their filming, you know, and they can knock out weight, like a lot more scenes than a movie can. So that's like the big difference. TV shows are quick, movies take a longer time. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. And Kiko, you're, you're becoming a famous model now. How did you first get into modeling? So I, is through acting. So there's a lot of like, you know, through, through acting, a lot of connections. And I feel like, you know, the connections really help because people remember you and you make a good impression on them. And a modeling kind of just came through with some of my friends were like, Hey, you know, you want to do like a fashion show. And I was like, I'll do it if there's money, you know, like if there's money, okay, let's do it. Is there girls, you know, like my mindset is totally different, you know, it's like offset. So like, there's like camera, just try them out. Try them out. I'm like, okay, I kind of keep the close. So, you know, it was like, definitely it was cool to do the fashion shows and the photo shoots are cool. And I look at the pictures. I'm like, Oh, that's pretty sick. I'm going to post that one. You know, like it was, it's cool. Definitely a cool. Well, everyone thinks that it's glamorous, but there's so much hard work that goes into it. But you, you prefer doing fashion shows? Yeah. For me, fashion shows, they're a lot more fun. They're kind of upbeat, you know, you can kind of just play it off and at least the ones that I did and, and, and all the people around there, it's, you know, they're, they enjoy the same things as you and they're real. And everyone's kind of cool and nice. And like, for example, Hinano, I love doing the Hinano fashion shows and just mainly because I love the Hinano clothing line. I, as my favorite Hinano is like what I rep, I love. And so when I get to do those, I'm just totally stoked. I'll do it for free. Honestly, you know, just, you know, have my face next to such a great brand like Hinano. Another reason when I did was Hawaii's Finest. You know, Hawaii's Finest is such an awesome brand and the owner of Hawaii's Finest, he's just a such an awesome guy. And it's just all these local brands. I like doing it the most because it's, it's real. It's what I wear. It's what I am, you know, so I'm not really, you know, faking it. It's the real deal, man. It's the real kickball. I love it. Yeah. I'm going to wear this on the street, going to the restaurant. So, yeah. Now you also dance hula. Oh yeah. And you love dancing hula. I do. Tell me about that. It all started off, I was in high school. My senior year, football season ended. And my friend goes, hey, you should dance. You know, you should try the chant and dance class that we have at Komeveno Schools. Kumu Kaleo Trinidad, he runs that, those classes. And I was just like, I don't really want to do that, you know, and he goes, no, you can pull plenty girls. And you can pull so much girls. Like hula is the one, you know, you look good, you're all flexing and stuff. So I was like, OK, I'm in. Let's do it. So I'm like, OK, let's do hula. So I started off dancing and then I just kind of fell in love with it. I really enjoyed the culture and everything behind it. And I danced for Kumu Kaleo's class in high school. And when I, when I graduated, you know, I I ended up going to Tehati's. Oh, yeah, they're very great. Yeah. All right, Kekoa, we're going to take a quick break. And then when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond movies. For sure. All right. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest Kekoa Kekumano. We will be back in 60 seconds. Aloha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Keisha King. You can catch me every Wednesday, live at five. I'll see you there. Aloha and mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii. With Think Tech Hawaii, we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich and lighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, maraming, salamat po, mabuhay and aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. If you've seen the big blockbuster movie Aquaman, you will definitely recognize my special guest who played the teenage Aquaman. He is Kekoa Kekumano, and today we are going beyond movies. Kekoa, you're also a lifeguard, and that's what you're doing now. How did you get into being a lifeguard? Well, I auditioned, or you have to try out to become a Sydney County Ocean Safety Officer. So they hold the tryouts at Alamoana Beach Park. OK. And I got word that they're they're holding a trial and I just immediately started training for the trial because the trial itself, it starts off as a physical. So you have to do three tests and it's a thousand yard run, thousand yard swim. You got to do under a time limit. You got to run 100 yards, swim 100 yards, run 100 yards under a time limit. You got to do a board paddle 400 yards under, you know, four minutes. So I was always in love with the water. And I just thought, you know, this would be perfect for me because I was a beach boy in Waikiki. I was working as a beach boy in Waikiki. And I thought to myself, you know what, if I could, you know, I do rescues as a beach boy, you know, people take out the boards. They can't come back in. So I was doing rescues already. And I thought, you know, I might as well, you know, get get paid for it and you know, go there. So I was like, and I really want to become a lifeguard. And I trained and I ended up getting in. And we just are my recruit class graduated this past May. So we're coming up on about a year now, close to a year of maybe being with the City and County Ocean Safety. Have you saved anybody? I did. Yeah, I saved a few. We had a few rescues I had. We I'm based on a Waikiki, Waikiki all the way on the side. So District One. And probably like I would say it's very common for a lot of the tourists to come to, you know, Waikiki and not think there's any, you know, dangers or whatnot. But there is actually a bunch and there's strong currents, you know, there's sudden drop offs, there's, you know, slippery rocks. And there's a lot of things. And especially in the summertime, we had these big salt swells that come in. And it's just the thing about Waikiki is there's just so much people. The amount of people on that beach, that stretch of beach is just crazy. It's the most populated beach in the entire world. And so the lifeguards, we all the lifeguards that I work with, they do an awesome job with keeping everyone safe. And just the District One itself, we pride ourselves in, you know, making sure everyone that visits the islands can go home safely. And it's a pretty, it's a pretty awesome feeling. I remember one time I was working at Waikiki and it was a it was a day where we had King Tide. So the tide was really high. And like there was a Japanese couple swimming right in front of my tower. And, you know, there's about 100, 200 other people in the water. And then you just hear, help, help, you know. So I look at them and run down, sprint out out there. And there's people, you know, kind of separating away because when people start to drown, they start to drag other people with them. So a lot of people try and kind of distance themselves. I get there. And so I got the the wife on the board. I got the husband on top of her, then I'm on top of the husband. And I paddle all of them back. And, you know, I think I was the first rescue I ever had. And I saved two of them at one time, go on to the beach and everyone's clapping and yelling. And the Japanese couple were so grateful, you know, they tried to give me money after. And I told them, I said, you know, I said, I don't want, you know, there's no need for that. You know, I appreciate it. But this is Hawaii, you know, I want to make sure that when you guys come here, you guys are safe. This is all about a law. And I said, you know, thank you so much. But, you know, it's from the heart. You know, so it means a lot, you know, both ways for both parties. Oh, that's impressive. Yeah. And Kiko, I have to ask, what irritates you lifeguards? Oh, man, you know, the lifeguards, we're always here for, you know, if you ask any questions and for preventatives and stuff. A lot of times we get a lot of, you know, questions that kind of be right in front of people's faces kind of just like, you know, is there jellyfish today? And there's three sides right in front of them and say there's a jellyfish. You know, that one kind of like gets, it's repetitive, especially working in Waikiki, talking to them and it's just over and over. Or a lot of times we, we tell people like, hey, don't go over there. There's a, there's strong short break. What do they do? Go over there and then they get hurt. So it's like, you know, the preventatives when people don't listen to them and we constantly tell them, tell them, and then they get hurt. It's just like, come on, man. You know, now you're making our job a little bit more difficult when easily you could have just walked away. So that's something that kind of gets to us sometimes. But no matter what the situation is, we're always there for the public and just keeping everyone safe. No, and that's awesome. Keiko, what is your passion? What, what do you want to really pursue in your life? Well, my dream, and I guess you can call it a passion too, would be to be a firefighter. Wow, that's great. I think since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to be a firefighter and, and, and I think a firefighter to me is a real hero, a real life hero. Not too many people in this world would go into a burning house or a building that's falling down, you know, but these firefighters, they have so much bravery that it's just something that I can't, I cannot, you know, I just admire so much that I can't look away from. I just, and I want to be those people because I feel like that is where I feel the most happiest is when I help out other people. It's just, especially, you know, as a start off being a lifeguard, you know, when there's big waves, you know, most people will, you know, swim away from it. But if there's someone in distress, we swim out to it. And I think, you know, being a lifeguard and a firefighter, they both have a lot of similarities. And firefighting to me is something that is just a dream of mine. Well, you know, with your character and your values and your disciplines, it wouldn't surprise me if someday you become the fire chief. Oh, I'd be sick. I can't, I mean, you have firefighter in general. I'd make my dream come true be a chief. I don't even know. I just, there's nothing greater than that, you know. Now, Keiko, who is somebody that impacted your life the most? Somebody that impacted my life would probably be my great-grandfather, my papa. And I actually never got to meet him before. He passed away a long time before I was born. But the thing about him is I hear stories that are passed down to, you know, my dad and, you know, my uncles. And they all tell me what kind of a person he was, how awesome of a person he was, how friendly. You know, he's like the mayor, you know. And the legacy that he left for my last name, the Kecomanos, is huge for me. And, you know, my tutu always tells me, you know, don't shame our name. And for me, I take a lot of pride in being a Kecomano. There's not much of us left. In fact, I think it's just me and my two brothers, we're the last ones to carry that name. And so I think it's an honor to hold something like that. And for me, I want to carry that legacy down. And when people hear the last name, Kecomano, they're, you know, they shake their, you know, they're like very approved, they approve of it. And they're proud, you know. Well, I'm sure that he's very, very proud of you right now. I hope so. Yeah. I mean, you're doing some great stuff. You've achieved a lot of stuff already. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Now, I know that you're working on my book, Beyond the Lines. Yes. How are you liking it so far? Well, I really enjoy it because I have, I can really connect to it. But there is one part in the book where I read where it came across. It's you, you wrote, a leader is not born, but it's made. And I think that's pretty true. And then you pulled a fact saying how Bill Belichick, the, you know, head coach of the Patriots, he, such a great coach. Yeah. All of his assistant coaches, they, he brought them up and, you know, they went their own ways and they had their own success as far as becoming their own head coach of a team and whatnot. And I think those coaches fooled things from Bill Belichick and pulled things from other people to make themselves successful. And that's what I try and do is I pull things, you know, from my dad, how he worked so hard. And I pull things from my uncles. I pull things from my mom, how she's so caring. And I pull things from people on the TV show. I'm just like, I think that's pretty cool. I try and make it myself. And I really related to that in the book when you're, when I, as soon as I read it, I was like, holy cow. I thought I was the only guy to do that, you know, but, you know, it was, it was cool to, it was cool to read something like that. When I was like, man, I really have a connection to that. Okay, cool. That's what I did. I know, I was like, geez, man, this is, this is awesome. I think a lot of leaders, you know, they, through the past experiences, they recognize what some good leaders do, what some bad leaders do. And then they, they use that for themselves. And then you put your own twist on it when you become a leader. Exactly. And I think that's, that's just awesome that, you know, we're able to do that. Yeah. And Kekoah, success is, is a, you know, everyone defines success in a different way. Yeah. What do you think success is? Well, you know, to me, I would say success is just being happy with yourself, not caring about what, you know, others think. I mean, a lot of people, I feel like look at success and say, man, that guy's successful because he lives in this nice big house, got 25 cars and a lot. But if that person in there is unhappy and how successful really is he, you know, but when a guy who's living in a small little shack and he, he rides a horse to work every day, but he's the happiest guy in the world, he's, he's more successful than anybody because he's happy with himself and he's content with life. And I feel like success isn't measured by all the things that you have, but more or less kind of like inside of what, you know, you feel and how you feel, you know, ah, for me, that's just how it is. No, that makes sense because there's a lot of people that have a lot of material possessions and they're miserable. Exactly. And some people that really don't have much at all, but they're the happiest. Yeah. I think so. Okay, before we wrap, I want to ask you one more thing. Okay. What's something that you want to do that you just haven't been able to do yet? Oh, okay. I would say for me, I've always wanted to go to Italy. Okay. Why? My dad is half Hawaiian, half Italian, so I'm like a quarter Italian, but I feel like I'm a hundred percent Italian sometimes, you know, so I'm like, I want to go to Italy. I want to experience the culture. I see how beautiful it is. And I haven't ever been to Europe before, so I've always wanted to go back and check out the Vatican, the Rome, Venice, all these cities and stuff. I've, that's just something I really got to do. And I think I might, I'm going to try to do it sometime soon because Yeah. Yeah, it's about time. Yeah, it's about time I should go. Okay, cool. I've been to Italy. Yeah. And I loved it. And I just know you're definitely going to love it. You're definitely going to love it. Yeah, I never heard any bad things about it, so I'm just like, I want to go. Kiko, I want to thank you for being on the show today. Yeah, thank you for having me, Rusty. I appreciate it so much. You are a great guy. Thank you. I want more Kikoas in the world. Oh, that's awesome. The world will be a better place. I really appreciate that, man. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you, Kiko. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii, and a special thank you to my clothing sponsor, Ilani Incorporated. For more information, please visit my website, RustyKamori.com, and my book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all Costco stores in Hawaii. I hope that Kikoa and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.