Extra Extra

My friend Sabrina went to a casting call for extras in the movie "The Hunger Games" which will be filming here in North Carolina from May-August.  She asked if I wanted to put in my cover letter and family picture since they are looking for families, and I said SURE!  She told me to put down that I have acting experience.  Little do these casting people know that I come from a father of expert "extra" acting, and years of credible experience.

You could pretty much call my dad a movie star.  He was in 2 movies- Johnny Lingo and Hawai'i.  He was about 15 yrs old in Hawai'i (and met Julie Andrews) and I think 19 years old (or maybe 21...I can't remember) in Johnny Lingo.  When watching these movies growing up, my siblings and I would get really close to the screen, and at that moment when he'd appear we'd yell out- THERE HE IS!!!

1. Hawai'i- he had a couple parts being a royal guard holding one of the feather kahili staffs with his twin brother.  Check them out here at time 4:41.  I can't remember the other parts in the movie and don't feel like watching it all to find him :).
2. Johnny Lingo- this one was fun because I would tell my friends my dad was in Johnny Lingo, and the first thing they would ask was, "is he Mahana's dad!?"  Heck no!  He wasn't old enough to be her dad!  Plus my dad would have looked a whole lot better sporting that ugly lavalava they used.  Then in seminary or church when we'd watch the movie I would still get up to the screen and yell- THERE HE IS! and we'd pause it and rewind and play it again a couple of times.  Check him out here at time 2:43 in the window.

So where does my acting experience spawn from?  Yup, stake plays back in the day.  Our stake did the play "South Pacific."  Surprise!  my family were the Polynesian dancers on the island- I was probably 7 years old?  Well, my sister was Liat so I guess that was a big part.

The next play we were in was "Promised Valley" when I was in 9th grade.  It was pretty much a story about the Mormon trek west.  Being Polynesian always meant we got to play the American Indians in all things western.  Our part in the play lasted about 5 minutes in the 80-90 minute play.  This was my part- I would run on stage yelling a Lakota/Sioux word "WASI'CHU!!!!" a couple of times, which means "GREEDY PERSON (aka WHITE MAN)!!!" where there were a couple of teepees set up with my mom holding a baby (she was from Chilean heritage), my sister pounding corn, my brother and friend sharpening their machetes or something of that sort (his friend was a haole (white dude) that was painted brown), and my dad with this massive feather headdress thing standing around acting tough.  All the women ran into the teepee while my brother, dad, and painted friend stood outside waiting for the Mormons to come.  My dad would then ask the Mormons, in Samoan (which he doesn't know because he is Hawaiian- he just memorized what my mom told him to say), what they wanted.  They spoke in English about giving us Indians some blankets and act all nice to us.  My brother performed one night and Painted friend the other night, so when my brother performed he was supposed to tell my dad in Samoan something to the extent of- no, we don't want the blankets!, but instead told my dad, "Le'ai!  Palagi maka pua'a!"  which means, "No! The white guy looks like a pig!"  My uncle and aunt were in the audience that night and my uncle laughed his head off at that part because he and my aunt were the only ones who knew what he was really saying (yeah, we didn't tell the director of the play what we were saying in Samoan).  When Painted friend performed he spoke to my dad in Zulu (he served a mission in South Africa) about something (who knows what HE said!), but my dad spoke to him in Samoan about taking the blankets and being nice to the Mormons.  So my sister and I, understanding everything Samoan, Zulu, and English, went and got the blankets from the Mormons.  My dad does an arm clasp hand shake with Mormon dude and the curtain closes- 5 minute of fame in the University of Utah Gardner Concert Hall.  We even made it in the October 1997 New Era church magazine for our superior acting abilities (ha ha).

So watch out casting people of "The Hunger Games," you don't know who you are dealing with.