Jason Momoa. The man. The mountain. The unstoppable cackle-machine!
You might have witnessed him for the first time as Khal Drogo in the first season of Game of Thrones, or may have been known him during his dreadlocked days as Ronon Dex of Stargate Atlantis, or perhaps you saw him more recently as Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe movies, but we can guarantee that you could not forget him once you were exposed to his screen-burning presence and his leonine charisma.
Did we mention he's a Leo? He is!
So, if you have been dying to know more about this sultry Game of Thrones stud, here are 26 facts about Jason Momoa that will immediately make you reach for your phone so you can follow him everywhere! Especially on Instagram!
But before you start reading this list, here's a word of caution. The following can send you spiraling down a Jason Momoa internet blackhole where you may end up spending countless hours (or days) obsessively watching every single interview of his on YouTube and then binge-watching the entire Season 1 of GOT all over again! (Believe us, we were surprised by our rabid transformation too.)
So, don't say we didn't warn you! ;)
26 He Was Born In Hawaii But Raised By His Single Mother In Iowa
What happens when you take a native Hawaiian painter and put him together with a mixed-European-Native-American photographer? You get Jason Momoa. After all, when mommy and daddy are so exotic, the kid has to turn out gorgeous too!
But his parents split soon after his birth, causing his mother, Coni, to move to Norwalk, Iowa with little Jason in tow.
When asked about his upbringing in Iowa in an interview with CNN, Momoa said, "I was raised by a single mother. I was raised by a woman. I'm a strong alpha male but sensitive. I can access my [expletive] feelings."
He later reconnected with his father, Joseph Momoa, on a break from college before he completed his degree; a decision that would change his life forever.
25 He Would Have Become A Marine Biologist But Fate Had Other Plans
After finishing high school, Jason took up Marine Biology as his college major in Iowa. He even went down to the Florida Keys to do some field research as part of his coursework. So, if you thought he was just another Hollywood pretty face with wind between his ears, you are wrong!
Jason later transferred his major to Wildlife Biology at the Colorado State University but did not complete his degree since he moved back to Hawaii to reconnect with his father.
He was discovered as a model during that time by Takeo Kobayashi and even won Hawaii's Model of the Year in 1999. It was also around this time that he got his first big break as an actor in Baywatch: Hawaii.
24 He Got His First Acting Break In 'Baywatch: Hawaii'
At 19, between modeling and surfing, Jason Momoa auditioned for the role of Jason Ioane on Baywatch: Hawaii. "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."
He was cast as Jason Ioane and had a recurring role for two seasons until the show was canceled in 2001.
He was the best lifeguard in the cast because of his real-life experience as a Baywatcher.
But he says that he only got the role because he lied to the producers about modeling for Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
While landing a lead role in Baywatch: Hawaii did start off his acting career, he also faced a lot of stigma because of it.
In an interview with Movieline in 2011, he said, "I love that it gave me the opportunity to fall in love with acting, but it also really, really hurt me, being on it. Just because it's Baywatch, people don't think you can act."
He struggled to find an agent for almost five years after that. But in the end, things turned out fine!
23 He Is Married To Lisa Bonnet Who Is 12 Years Older Than Him!
The story of how Jason Momoa and his wife, Lisa Bonet, got together is right out of a fairytale!
It all started when 8-year-old Jason, while watching The Cosby Show on TV, pointed at Denise Huxtable (played by the then 19-year-old Lisa Bonet) and told his mother, "Mommy, I want that one!" Eighteen years later, the two were introduced to each other by mutual friends at a jazz club in NYC, and Jason clearly remembers feeling fireworks explode inside his head when he turned around and realized who she was. In fact, he had dreaded his hair at that time because she had dreadlocks too!
The two later sat down for a meal in Cafe 101 where she promptly ordered a Guinness, which happens to be Jason's favorite beer in the whole wide world. The rest, as they say, is history!
22 He Has Two Children And They Both Have Awesome Names
Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet have been together since 2005 but only got married in October 2017. In between those years, Lisa gave birth to two children.
Their first child was a daughter, born on July 23, 2007. They named her Lola Iolani, which is a Hawaiian name meaning "royal hawk".
Their second child was a son, born on December 15, 2008. They named him Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha.
Yup, it's a mouthful! But it has a beautiful meaning. Let us break it down for you.
Nakoa means "warrior", which makes perfect sense since this warrior wolf's daddy is the mighty Jason Momoa. Manakauapo can be broken down into Mana, which means "spirit", Kaua, which means "rain", and Po, which means "dark".
And it was given to the boy since he was born on a dark, rainy night.
The last bit of his name – Namakaeha – is a middle name he shares with Jason and grandpa Momoa.
21 He Can Play The Guitar, Drums, And Is Now Learning To Play The Piano With His Daughter
Jason Momoa might play hulking, blood-thirsty warriors on screen and might look like he could easily cudgel your brains on the sidewalk, in reality, this leonine hunk is actually a softy with an artistic heart!
From learning how to paint pastels in France to play the guitar and drums, Jason is an alpha male completely in touch with his sensitive, romantic side. Plus, he is now learning to play the piano with his daughter!
Can this man be any more perfect? And can someone please order a few hundred more of these on Earth, like right now?
20 He Hated Filming The Racy Scenes In Season 1 Of 'Game of Thrones'
Yes, you read that right. But why does that surprise you? We just said he's a total softy! Plus, he and Emilia Clarke (the actress who plays Daenerys Targaryen) are very good friends in real life. No wonder when MTV News asked him about his experience filming the graphic post-wedding scene in the first season of the show, he said,
"It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do because I love Emilia, she's someone that I love and adore to this day. You have to kind of separate [yourself from] it."
Of course, he made up for it afterward with "lots of kisses and 'I'm sorry'". Plus, there was the incident with the pink, fuzzy sock, because if Jason's going to be uncomfortable, he's going to make everyone else on set uncomfortable too!
19 He Got His Trademark Left-Brow Scar In A Bar Fight
It happened in 2008 at an LA bar named Bird Cafe.
A guy named Dominic Brando got into a heated argument with Jason and decided he didn't want to stick to verbal sparring (probably because he wasn't as smart as Jason, but we don't really know). So, he picked up a pint bottle and smashed it on Jason's face.
Paramedics had to be rushed to the scene after that and the actor needed 140 stitches and reconstruction surgery, which left him with his trademark left-eyebrow scar.
Thankfully, the police apprehended Brando and he was put behind bars for five years for the violent act.
18 He Loves Extreme Sports
If all the talk of music and painting has made you think Jason Momoa is too soft for trouble, think again. This alpha male is a diehard lover of extreme sports.
From surfing in rough, shark-infested seas to snowboarding and mountain climbing, this man likes to live on the edge.
In fact, you might say his love for surfing lies in the very marrow of his Hawaiian bones because in an interview with ESPN he once said this about wanting to surf 20-foot waves, "Dropping in on that, you have to know what you're doing. I'd never done that. Your legs are just shaking, it's just so much adrenaline."
17 He Nailed The GOT Audition By Performing The Haka, A Māori War Dance
Jason Momoa knew that with Baywatch: Hawaii on his resume, the casting directors of Game of Thrones might find it difficult to see him as the ideal candidate for the role of the ruthless Khal Drogo. So, he went in and performed the Haka during his audition.
The Haka is a Māori war dance that was ceremonially performed before battles to intimidate the opposition by crowing about the strength and prowess of the defending warriors. So, you can imagine the impact it must have had on the casting team when a 6'5'' tall hulk of a man walked out before them and then started stomping on the ground and screaming war chants at them in an unfamiliar language!
The casting directors were so bowled over by the powerful performance that they called in Jason a second time just so they could catch him on tape!
16 He Is 6'5'' Tall!
When Jason Momoa walks into a room, conversations usually tends to dry up for a moment. After all, what else do you do when someone who is at least a head taller than most, if not all the people in the room walks in? Even his wife looks miniature beside him, although granted, she is kinda on the short side of genetics, to begin with!
But here's a funny fact: the internet cannot agree on Jason's height.
Some say it's 6'4'' while others say he is 6'5''. But then we did some digging and found out the man himself think he is 6'5''. So we are going to stick to that figure.
15 He Raises His Children Without TV!
If you gasped in surprise and then tssked in sorrow for his children, you might want to rethink your expression because Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet have a very good reason behind keeping their home almost electronic free.
It's because they believe in letting their children run in the sun, play in the rain, and learn from the world around them, rather than remain glued in front of the TV or iPad all day long. Plus, Jason believes in passing down the hobbies his mother exposed him to – skateboarding, climbing, and art – because they had such a positive impact on his life and led him down the unconventional path he now is on.
And if you have seen the way his kids climb mountains with him, you would know they do not think they are missing out on anything!
14 He Doesn't Own A Phone Or A Computer
Well, it doesn't take a leap to believe this considering the fact that the man refuses to raise his children around television! And though it might seem almost barbaric in this modern world, according to Jason, gadgets don't add anything to his simple life, so he shuns them.
But he does enjoy heading off to the movies. “I get my popcorn and my hot tamales and I love when the lights go down and I watch the previews. To me that's my tradition, that's my childhood. That's when I escaped and went into different worlds," he said in an interview with totalfilms.com.
He feels there's something extra special about watching a movie at a theatre.
"It's a communal thing and you go there with like-minded people to see something which you love."
Believe us, Jason, if we had you in our life, we would have happily given up electronics too!
13 He Cut Off His Dreadlocks After Season 4 Of 'Stargate: Atlantis' Because They Were Giving Him Headaches
You may not know this but Ronon Dex originally was not supposed to have dreadlocks. But since Jason Momoa already had a headful of them when he was selected for the role, and because he looked gorgeous with them, the producers of the show allowed him to keep his dreads.
It was a great move because Jason's character in the show soon became associated with his dreadlocks.
Unfortunately, dreads are quite heavy, and so by the time the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis was done, Jason had had enough of them! So he approached the producers and told them he wanted to get rid of his dreadlocks since they were giving him frequent headaches.
The producers initially thought of incorporating the shearing off in the fifth season's storyline, but then they dropped the plan. So, Jason chopped off his dreads and switched to wearing a dreaded wig for the rest of the show!
12 His Aquaman Tattoos Were Inspired By The Actual "Shark Teeth" Tattoo On His Left Arm
Jason Momoa with his Hawaiian roots, his surfing ability, and his interest in marine biology, seems perfect for bringing Aquaman to life in the DC Extended Universe movies. But when Zack Snyder approached him to audition for the role, he was not sure of it at first. After all, Aquaman is a white dude in an orange and green leotard in the comic books!
Thankfully Zack Snyder had other plans for the movie.
"Zack told me that he wanted the Aquaman in this film to be an outsider. I was born in Hawaii and raised in Iowa, and basically grew up an outsider, so I could definitely identify with that," Jason told Hindustan Times.
And it was a perfect fit, down to the "shark teeth" tattoo on his left forearm, which happens to be his Hawaiian family crest!
In fact, it was so perfect, they fit right into the Polynesian theme of the full-body tattoos Zack Snyder wanted on Aquaman. And so the makeup artists drew direct inspiration from his tattoo and gave him a matching one on his right forearm, before adding the triangular pattern elsewhere!
11 His Favorite Beer Is Guinness
Jason Momoa's loves beer just as much as any other man. But he doesn't drink just about any beer. He loves a specific one – Guinness.
Don't believe us? Check him out on Instagram. He shares his love for this originally-from-Dublin dry stout on there quite often!
In fact, he loves it so much that the company brewed him his own special Guinness - the first sour "Mano Brew" earlier in 2016.
Plus, didn't we just tell you a while back that he knew he had found his one and only when Lisa Bonet ordered a Guinness to go with the grits for their first meal? Blessed by the brew, that's what's we are calling it!
10 His Knife-Throwing Skills Became A Part Of His Character In 'The Bad Batch'
Do you see a pattern here? First the dreadlocks, then the tattoos, and now the knife-skills. Jason Momoa seems to waltz into roles that were made just for him!
"The first time I met him, I went to hang out with him in Atlanta," said Anna Lily Amirpour, the director of The Bad Batch, during an interview with BUILD Series NYC. "I walked into the backyard where he was hanging out with his bros...his guy friends...throwing knives at a piece of wood. So those throwing knives he uses in the film are actually his."
This initial interaction with Jason inspired Amirpour to add his knife-throwing skills to his character in the movie.
"The butcher knife is a vintage that he had. It was his idea – the holster. Like Taxi Driver? Travis Bickle, though with a butcher knife."
Every time we think we can't be impressed anymore, Jason Momoa goes ahead and proves us wrong!
9 He And Zoë Kravitz Have Got Matching Tattoos
Before you get weird ideas in your head, here's the deal with the two: Zoë Kravitz is Jason Momoa's stepdaughter (she is the first child of Lisa Bonet with her first husband Lenny Kravitz). And the two families are very close. So much so that Jason, Lisa, and Zoë have matching tattoos on their right forearms that read "être toujours ivre", which means "be always drunk". They got the tattoos while he was shooting season 1 of GOT.
Though Jason doesn't get to hang out with his stepdaughter as much, the two are quite close. In fact, Zoë even named her band Lolawolf after her half-siblings!
But this is not the sweetest tattoo story in this family.
8 He Has A Tattoo Of His Children's Names Over His Heart In Their Handwriting
Jason Momoa has gotten himself inked quite a number of times, and some of them, like the shark-teeth crest on his left forearm and the one he shares with his wife and step-daughter, have sweet stories behind them. But the sweetest, by far, is the story behind the tiny red tattoo over his heart.
As a mark of his love for his children, he asked Lola and Wolf to scribble their signatures for him.
Then he got them tattooed over his left pectoral in red ink, thus, symbolically telling the world that they will always come first in his heart.
If that doesn't melt your heart, we don't think anything in the world ever will!
7 He Got A Friend To Break His Nose For His Role As Conan In Conan The Barbarian
Some actors can really go an extra mile for their roles. And while Jason Momoa is not a method actor, he is known to go in pretty deep for his roles. Remember the holster for the butcher's knife in The Bad Batch? Exactly.
So, when he was cast as Conan in the swords and sorcery movie, Conan The Barbarian, he went in deep again, listening to hard metal while he would pound away at the gym and covering his vanity with scandalous pictures of women.
And then he got an idea: what if he had his nose broken? Wouldn't he would look more authentic as Conan?
Unfortunately for him, one of his friends who was there while he was ideating thought he actually wanted his nose broken and so went ahead, threw a right hook, and broke Jason's nose! You can still see the bulge from that if you look at his nose carefully.
6 He Loves Mountain Climbing
If there's one sport Jason Momoa loves and respects above all else, it's mountain climbing. It's because it helped him develop a strong mental fortitude as a child and also helped him overcome his fears.
“Climbing made me face my fears and my doubts, explore the impossible, problem solve through movement. I learned to trust my hands, find my feet. I found balance," he said in a short documentary by Carhatt Handmade Films on his life after becoming a father.
“For an anxious young man, it finally allowed me to be everything that I wanted to be.”
No wonder Jason is eager to pass down his love for climbing to his children. He does so by often taking them with him on his climbing adventures around the world!
5 He Was Officially The Youngest Lifeguard In The History Of The Gulf Coast
Now that we have talked about all the juicy Jason Momoa facts, here's a throwback fact to his early days in Hawaii right when he decided to skip college and set up camp close to his dad. He used to work part-time at a surf shop and part-time as a lifeguard then. The latter made him officially the youngest lifeguard in the history of the gulf coast!
No wonder he edged out all those 1300 applicants for the role of Jason Ioane in Baywatch: Hawaii. He had real-life experience as a Baywatcher along with some modeling credentials in his portfolio! And though Jason considers his role on Baywatch: Hawaii as a blackhole for his career as an actor, if it had not been for that role, the world would have probably lost him forever to academia!
4 He Is The Nephew Of Two World Famous Hawaiian Surfers
Well, every surfer in Hawaii does not become world famous, so the fact that Jason Momoa is related to not one but two of them adds more weight to the theory that he was born to play Aquaman, the king of the seven seas!
Who are these famous uncles we are talking about here? They are Brian and Rusty Keaulana.
Among the two of them, Rusty Keaulana is more famous because of his record of winning the ASP World Longboard Tours back-to-back from 1993 to 1995, while Brian is famous for his extensive water stunts and his work as the stunt coordinator in many major films.
Convinced yet that Jason was born to rule the seas? We are!
3 He Is A Buddhist
Yes, you read that right. Jason Momoa, the hunkering giant of a man with his left eyebrow scar and his tendency to play violent, blood-thirsty warriors in movies, is actually a peaceful Buddhist! But that should not surprise you given the fact that he is such an artistic softy on the inside.
So, when did he become a Buddhist? Well, it all started once Baywatch: Hawaii was canceled. Since people thought the actors on that show could not really act, no agent wanted to sign him up. "I couldn't get a job afterward. No one would take me seriously," he said in an interview with Movieline. "So I went, [expletive] them—I went to school, trained, I traveled the world and finally got in there a little bit."
It was during these years that he traveled to Tibet and was exposed to Buddhist teachings. He describes his time in that country as his "best life experience".
2 He Almost Didn't Make It On The Set Of Conan The Barbarian
We have already mentioned that Jason Momoa went in quite deep for his role as Conan in Conan The Barbarian. But what you may not know is that the actor nearly died during the filming of this movie!
It happened in a high-speed scene where Jason was on horseback. "I almost died on one stunt when I nearly got crushed by a horse. The horse lost its footing and flipped over. Its [butt] went over its head and it landed about two feet away from me at full speed," he told Metro in an interview.
Even after his close brush with death, Jason dutifully got back onto the horse for a retake. But the horse threw him off again, causing him to break a few ribs.
He sustained other injuries on set too. "I was constantly bleeding from somewhere. I broke my ribs, my spine got cracked up doing some stunts and I pulled my groin and elbow."
Ouch!
1 He Tried To Stop His Wife From Watching Season 1 Of GOT, But Failed
Jason Momoa truly loves his wife, and there is no doubt about that given how respectfully and mushily he speaks about her. Maybe that's why he is not comfortable watching her explicit scenes in her hit show Ray Donovan or why he tried to stop her from watching his scenes in season 1 of GOT with Emilia Clarke.
"We were supposed to go to the premiere for the first two episodes, I was like… 'Nah, we're not going.' She was like, 'You're not gonna stop me from watching it'," he told Entertainment Tonight Canada.
And Lisa was right! He really couldn't stop her because eventually, she managed to get her hands on a DVD of season 1.
"She stayed up all night, watched the whole thing, and was obsessed!" said Jason. "First time my wife ever told me I was amazing."
Believe us, our Sun and Stars, you really are that amazing!
References: Popsugar, Dailymail, WhatCulture, Nicki Swift, TheThings, MTV, LAD Bible, Fatherly, Irish Central, Hindustan Times, Bustle, Nerdist, BUILD Series, Daily Star, Metro
