Legendary waterman Brian Keaulana, who calls Mākaha home, started out in the ocean, surfing and eventually moving to commercials where he found work as a model and actor. It was a part-time gig for the professional surfer. Then, he started doing stunts.
“It's funny because my surfing career was huge and big, and I surfed the Eddie Aikaus and big waves and it's a lifestyle, and it's fun,” he said. “Now, my movie career is actually bigger than my surfing career. And a lot longer, too.”
As a world-renowned actor, stuntman and producer, Keaulana has spent more than 30 years working in the film industry. He provided critical support for movies like “Jurassic World,” “50 First Dates,” “Waterworld” and “Point Break,” as well as television series like “Hawaiʻi Five-0.” Keaulana is also widely recognized for revolutionizing ocean safety practices and using jet skis for high stakes ocean rescues. Recently, Keaulana was a producer for Apple TV’s “Chief of War,” which stars his cousin, Jason Momoa, and Fox’s “Rescue: HI-Surf.”
On Saturday, May 16, Keaulana will be honored by the Waikīkī Film Awards with the Hawaiʻi Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hawaiian Aroma Caffé inside the Outrigger Waikīkī Beachcomber Hotel. The event starts at 6 p.m. and features live music from the Island reggae band Natural Vibrations. Details.
Brian Keaulana revolutionized ocean safety practices by using jet skis for high stakes ocean rescues. (Courtesy Brian Keaulana) 
Brian Keaulana, center, is a world-renowned actor, stuntman and producer, who has spent more than 30 years working in the film industry. (Courtesy of Brian Keaulana) 
Brian Keaulana, who calls Mākaha home, originally was a professional surfer who did modeling and acting for commercials as a part-time gig. (Courtesy of Brian Keaulana) 
A world-renowned actor, stuntman and producer, waterman Brian Keaulana has spent more than 30 years working in the film industry. (Brian Keaulana)
Although his career includes credits in movies like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Godzilla,” and “Baywatch,” among others, one of his favorite productions to work on was “Rescue: HI-Surf,” led by Executive Producer John Wells, in part because the show saved lives, he said.
“The reason why I gravitate to that was it was about lifeguarding in Hawaiʻi on the North Shore,” he said. “That show lasted only for one season, but we did 52 real rescues — rescued people that either would have died or got in trouble.”
To this day, the episodes continue to educate viewers on ocean safety, teaching people what to do "if you get trapped in a rip current,” he said. “Or if you fall off one cliff. Or the process of calling 911. To me, it's what impacts or saves lives — that's the most important thing for me.”
Growing up, his father, Buffalo Keaulana — the first city appointed lifeguard of Mākaha and a pioneer surfer of the 50s and 60s — taught him the language of the ocean and how to “read the weather, the wind, the clouds, the skies, the ocean, the marine life,” he said. His father was also one of the original crew members on Hōkūleʻa’s first historic voyage from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti.
The ocean teaches “how to survive, how to thrive, how to share — all those things — and how to listen ... how to coexist right inside of the ocean and treat the ocean as a living entity, same as the land,” Keaulana said.
Later on, Keaulana had to decide whether or not to move his family to California, but ultimately chose to stay in Hawaiʻi.
“Looking back at my childhood and then having my own family, I told my wife, ʻMan, I don't want to deny my kids the opportunity I had in growing up around culture and family and community,’ ” he said. “And I am glad I did because my kids grew up to be great human beings, and now they have kids. They’re sharing what it is to grow up here at Mākaha, and why it’s so special.”
He is working to help others who call the Islands home find careers in the film industry. In 2023, Keaulana — alongside Angela Laprete and Robert Suka — founded the International Cultural Arts Network, a nonprofit that works to uplift Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders in Hawaiʻi’s television and film industry. ICAN offers master classes and learning opportunities for actors and actresses, as well as writers, directors and producers.
Recently, legislation went before Gov. Josh Green for approval which would increase tax credits by 5% on Oʻahu and Neighbor Islands for productions with at least 80% local hires. The changes would apply retroactively to filming that already occurred in 2026.
“I didn't come from film school,” Keaulana said. “My school was basically just got involved and learned through the industry.”
What else has the ocean taught him?
“Patience,” he said, with a laugh.
“It's something that a lot of people don't have nowadays,” he said. “They want things right here, right now. The ocean for me has been my school. It's been my church. It's been my place to eat. And so much of the ocean has given not only me, but my whole family, our success. Because my father, being who he was, and just putting us out there, he knew that the ocean was safe for us. The land is where people get in trouble. A lot of my friends growing up over here got in trouble and even went to jail. Some of them died. And some succeeded.”
For details about the event, click here.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
