Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa was born on August 1, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of Coni (Lemke), a photographer, and Joseph Momoa, a painter. His father is of Native Hawaiian and Samoan descent; and his mother, who is from Iowa, is of German, Irish, and Native American ancestry. Jason was raised in Norwalk, Iowa, by his mother. After high school, he moved to Hawaii, where he landed a lead role, beating out of thousands of hopefuls in the TV series Baywatch (1989) (known as “Baywatch Hawaii”” in its 10th season). When the show ended, he spent the next couple of years traveling around the world. In 2001, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to pursue an acting career. In 2004, after the short-lived TV series North Shore (2004), he was cast as the popular character “”Ronon Dex”” in the TV series Stargate: Atlantis (2004), which achieved a cult-like following. In 2010, he appeared in the Emmy-nominated HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), playing the Dothraki king, Khal Drogo. To illustrate to the producers that he was Khal Drogo, he performed the Haka, a traditional war dance of the Maori of New Zealand. The audition was with the same casting director who was casting the titular role in the reboot of Conan the Barbarian (2011). Four weeks after being cast as the popular Robert E. Howard character, Momoa began shooting in Bulgaria. His approach, like that of the filmmakers, was to pull from the eight decades of comics and stories as well as the Frank Frazetta images rather than the hugely popular 1982 movie. Jason has a production company, Pride of Gypsies, in which he is expanding his career from actor to filmmaker. He has directed a couple of short films and is working on his feature film debut Road to Paloma (2014), which is pulled from a series of stories that he’s been developing over the years, which he calls the Brown Bag Diaries: Ridin’ the Blinds in B Minor (2010). Jason lives with his wife, actress Lisa Bonet, with whom he has two children, Lola and Nakoa-Wolf.”
Jason Momoa
Movies
Bullet
In New Orleans, hit men James Bonomo, a.k.a. Jimmy Bobo, and Louis Blanchard execute dirty cop Hank Greely in a hotel room. But they are betrayed and Louis is stabbed in a bar by a mercenary named Keegan while waiting for the payment of the contract. Meanwhile, Washington D.C. police…
Fun Facts
Won the 1999 Hawaii's Model of the Year.
Participated in the Governor's Fashion Show and Liberty House fashion show.
Hosted the 1999 Miss Teen Hawaii USA contest.
Enjoys rock and ice climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, long-board skateboarding, and roller hockey. Spends his free time on Buddhist studies.
In his mid-teens he became the youngest lifeguard in the history of the Gulf Coast.
Proposed to girlfriend, Simmone Mackinnon, in Hawaii, in June 2004.
Nephew of famed surfer Brian L. Keaulana.
Was engaged to Simmone Mackinnon from June 2004 until mid-2006.
He and Lisa Bonet welcomed their first child, a daughter, born on July 23, 2007; named Lola Iolani Momoa.
He and his wife, Lisa Bonet, welcomed their second child, a boy named Nakoa-Wolf, in mid-December 2008.
On November 15, 2008, Momoa was attacked with a broken beer glass in West Hollywood, California. According to an AP news article, 140 stitches and subsequent reconstructive surgery were required.
He shares one middle name, Namakaeha, with his father.
His father is from a Native Hawaiian family, with a small amount of English ancestry, from Massachusetts. His mother, who is from Iowa, is of three-quarters German descent. (Her maternal grandfather was adopted.).
In Stargate: Atlantis: Epiphany (2005), co-star David Hewlett calls Jason's character Conan, the name of a character Jason would later play in the Conan the Barbarian (1982) remake, Conan the Barbarian (2011).
Second husband of Lisa Bonet.
Stepfather of Zoë Kravitz.
Momoa is frequently cast as warriors: Ronon Dex in the science-fiction television series Stargate: Atlantis (2004), Conan in the 2011 reboot, Conan the Barbarian (2011), and Khal Drogo in the HBO fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones (2011).
In Polynesian, the word "momoa"" means dry.
Said in an interview that during the filming of Game of Thrones (2011)
Quotes
I was 19 and folding T-shirts in a surf shop. And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a leading role on 'Baywatch Hawaii'. I didn't even know how to act. It took me five years to get an agent after [that]. No one would take me seriously after 'Baywatch'. I lived in the shadow of that for a long time.
My favorite movie is 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.'
I love carbs, but denial is good training for the mind.
I think a man needs to be a man. To hold a woman the way she wants to be held. Just do whatever your woman wants, and you'll be fine.
I'm raised to actually think, to use my brain.
I'm one of those freaky people that actually reads books.
I got called 'pretty boy' my whole life.
I was born in Hawaii, but I was raised in Iowa.
I love life and if there's something that I'm playing that I love, I'll research it.
I grew up with artists.
I grew up rock climbing.
I'm not a big fan of just doing weights. Anything more physical is infinitely better.
I'm kind of ADD in that sense where if I start liking something, I'll just learn it to the absolute max.
I'm half Hawaiian and the haka is a very sacred thing, something your family teaches you - my father taught me.
I'm a huge art buff.
I'm not a barbarian.