Jason Momoa

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 his portraying Ronon Dex on the Syfy science fiction series Stargate Atlantis (2005–2009), 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.

Outside of television, Momoa has portrayed Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) since 2016. He headlined an eponymous 2018 film, and will reprise his role in the 2022 sequel. Momoa also played Duncan Idaho in the 2021 film adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune.

An only child, Momoa was born in 1979 in Nānākuli, Honolulu, Hawaii to Coni (Lemke), a photographer and Joseph Momoa, a painter. His father is of partial Native Hawaiian ancestry and "he has stated in interviews his mother has Pawnee ancestry" along with German and Irish heritage. He was raised in Norwalk, Iowa, by his mother.

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 title 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.

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 theatrical 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 series 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.

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 are 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[s] [his] 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 30 October 2020, Momoa was featured in the song "Doom" by black metal band Scour.

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 glass during an altercation at the Birds Cafe, a tavern in Hollywood, California. He received approximately 140 stitches during reconstructive surgery and the scar through his left eyebrow is apparent in his later work. The assailant was sentenced to five years in prison for the attack.

Film

Key

Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes	Ref.
2004	Johnson Family Vacation	Navarro	Christopher Erskin
2007	Pipeline	Kai	Jordan Alan
2010	Brown Bag Diaries: Ridin' the Blinds in B Minor	Mikey	Himself	Short film Also director and screenwriter
2011	Conan the Barbarian	Conan	Marcus Nispel
2012	Bullet to the Head	Keegan	Walter Hill
2014	Road to Paloma	Robert Wolf	Himself	Also director, producer and co-writer
	Debug	Iam	David Hewlett
	Wolves	Connor	David Hayter
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	Arthur Curry / Aquaman	Zack Snyder	Cameo
	Sugar Mountain	Joe Bright	Richard Gray
2017	Once Upon a Time in Venice	Spyder	Mark and Robb Cullen
	The Bad Batch	Miami Man	Ana Lily Amirpour
	Justice League	Arthur Curry / Aquaman	Zack Snyder
2018	Braven	Joe Braven	Lin Oeding	Also producer
	Aquaman	Arthur Curry / Aquaman	James Wan
2019	The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part		Mike Mitchell	Voice
2020	Gather	-	Sanjay Rawal	Documentary film Also executive producer
2021	Sweet Girl	Ray Cooper	Brian Andrew Mendoza	Also producer
	Dune	Duncan Idaho	Denis Villeneuve
2022	Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom	Arthur Curry / Aquaman	James Wan	Post-production Also co-story writer
	Slumberland	Flip	Francis Lawrence	Post-production
TBA	The Last Manhunt	Big Jim	Christian Camargo	Post-production

Television