American actor

Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa (born August 1, 1979) is an American actor. He made his acting debut as Jason Ioane on the syndicated action drama series Baywatch: Hawaii (1999–2001), which was followed by portrayals of Ronon Dex on the Syfy science fiction series Stargate Atlantis (2005–2010), Khal Drogo in the first two seasons of the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2012), Declan Harp on the Discovery Channel historical drama series Frontier (2016–2018), and Baba Voss on the Apple TV+ science fiction series See (2019–present). Momoa was featured as the lead of the two lattermost series.

Since 2016, Momoa portrays Arthur Curry / Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), headlining the eponymous 2018 film and its 2023 sequel. Momoa also played Duncan Idaho in the 2021 film adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
• 3 Personal life
  • 3.1 Facial scar
• 4 Filmography
  • 4.1 Film
  • 4.2 Television
• 5 Awards and nominations
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Early life

An only child, Momoa was born on August 1, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Coni (Lemke), a photographer, and Joseph Momoa, a painter. His father is of Native Hawaiian ancestry and he identifies as having maternal Pawnee ancestry along with German and Irish heritage. He was raised in Norwalk, Iowa, by his mother.

Career

Momoa during the filming of Stargate Atlantis in 2006

In 1998, Momoa was discovered by designer Eric Chandler and Takeo Kobayashi, who encouraged his modeling career. At 19 years old, he also worked part-time in a surf shop before being cast in the action drama series Baywatch Hawaii, where he appeared as Jason Ioane (1999–2001).

In addition to his appearances in Johnson Family Vacation (2004), and Stargate: Atlantis (2005–2009), Momoa was cast as Roman in four episodes of the comedy-drama television series The Game (2009). He portrayed the *le protagonist in Conan the Barbarian (2011), a reimagining of the 1982 film of the same name and a role made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Momoa gained his role of Khal Drogo on HBO's Game of Thrones through his audition, in which he performed a Haka, one of many intimidating Māori dances traditionally used to convey a challenge to an opponent, or a welcome to a visitor.

Momoa directed and co-wrote Road to Paloma (2014), an American drama thriller film, together with writers Jonathan Hirschbein and Robert Homer Mollohan. The film stars Momoa, Sarah Shahi, Lisa Bonet, Michael Raymond-James, and Wes Studi. It premiered at the 2014 Sarasota Film Festival in April 2014. The film had a limited theatrical release on July 15, 2014, in New York City and Los Angeles and a VOD release.

Momoa in 2014

In March 2014, Momoa joined the dark comedy/thriller indie Sugar Mountain alongside Cary Elwes and Haley Webb; its principal photography was done in Alaska. He also starred as Phillip Kopus, a Ramapough Mountain Indian, on the SundanceTV drama series The Red Road (2014–2015).

In June 2014, Momoa was reported to have been cast in the role of Aquaman. He first played the role in a cameo in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, marking Aquaman's live action film debut. Momoa played the character in a leading role in the 2017 ensemble film Justice League. He then starred in the Aquaman solo film, which released in late 2018. He also reprised this role in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

In 2014, Momoa portrayed Connor in the Canadian horror action film Wolves, and starred in the Sci-fi horror movie Debug; it was written and directed by Momoa's former Stargate Atlantis co-star, British-born Canadian actor David Hewlett. In February 2015, it was announced that he would portray a cannibal in the drama thriller film The Bad Batch. In 2015, Momoa was cast in the Canadian action film Braven, which was released on February 2, 2018.

In early 2017, he signed onto the official Just Cause movie series.

Between 2016 and 2018, Momoa portrayed Declan Harp in all three seasons of the Canadian historical drama television series Frontier and was an executive producer on the show. The series chronicles the North American fur trade in late 1700s Canada, and follows Declan Harp, a part-Irish, part-Cree outlaw who is campaigning to breach the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly on the fur trade in Canada, which has become corrupt and engages in illegal activities to enrich itself.

In July 2018, Momoa was cast for Apple's post-apocalyptic drama series See.

In February 2019, Momoa was cast as Duncan Idaho in the Denis Villeneuve film Dune.

In February 2020, Momoa appeared in a halftime commercial for Rocket Mortgage for Super Bowl LIV. He also appeared in the teaser for "Scary Little Green Men" by Ozzy Osbourne from his album Ordinary Man.

In January 2022, it was announced that Momoa would join the cast of the tenth Fast & Furious film *led Fast X as the villain, which is produced by and starring Vin Diesel.

In April 2022, it was announced that Momoa will star in the film adaptation of Minecraft, with Jared Hess directing.

Personal life

Momoa in July 2017

Momoa began a relationship with actress Lisa Bonet in 2005. Although it was previously believed that Momoa and Bonet had married on November 15, 2007, the couple did not marry until October 2017. In July 2007, Bonet gave birth to their first child, a daughter. Their second child, a son, was born in December 2008. In January 2022, Momoa and Bonet announced they were ending their marriage.

Momoa learned martial arts for his role as Ronon in Stargate Atlantis. In 2017, Momoa started practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

He is a fan of heavy metal music and has noted that he "build characters off of metal songs". He has invited members of Archspire for cameo appearances in the first episode of the TV series See, and he also practiced proper screaming technique with the vocalist of Archspire, Oli Peters, for a significant scene in the series. On October 30, 2020, Momoa was featured in the song "Doom" by black metal band Scour. Momoa is a hobby musician and plays b* guitar, mandolin, ukulele and guitar in his spare time, the first of which he took up after listening to Tool's song "Sober".

Momoa has numerous tattoos, including a halfsleeve on his left forearm, a tribute to his family god, or "aumakua".

He participated in protests against the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, a holy spiritual site for native Hawaiians.

Facial scar

On November 15, 2008, Momoa was slashed across the face with a broken beer gl* during an altercation at the Birds Cafe, a tavern in Hollywood, California. He received approximately 140:s*ches during reconstructive surgery and the scar through his left eyebrow is apparent in his later work. The *ailant was sentenced to five years in prison for the attack.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Jason Momoa at IMDb