Jason Momoa might play one of the most famous Dothraki leaders of all time in Game of Thrones, but it turns out his foray into acting wasn’t always so smooth.
The 30-year-old started his career playing Jason Ioane in the series Baywatch Hawaii. At nineteen years old, his character was the youngest of the lifeguards at the beach who was very in touch with his Hawaiian heritage.
But despite playing the character for around three years, it didn’t do much for Jason’s career post-Baywatch.
Talking to Radio 1’s Ali Plumb about his career, Jason said that her started the role in his teens, and despite the whole thing being a bit silly, he credits it for igniting his love of acting.
‘I got my start on Baywatch. [It was] very crazy, ’cause I was a college student in Colorado… I was 19 and running around with no clothes on and saving people. But it gave me my passion for acting, which I fell in love with.’
But after he left the show, he found it pretty hard to get roles in anything else.
‘It lead to getting no respect for about 4 years and I couldn’t get an agent to save my life. I just became a rock-climbing bum and I spent the little money I got from Baywatch and travelled the world.’
Well, that doesn’t sound all bad does it?
After rock climbing all over the world, Jason finally got his breakout role as Khal Drogo in HBO’s Game of Thrones by performing the Haka, a Māori war dance, during his audition.
But despite our love of Khal, we’ll still always have a soft spot for the singing teen on the beach.
Long live Jason Ioane!
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