Thirty-three year old, Tanoai Reed, flops on to a dining room chair with a grateful sigh. “Vevela, hot,” he says.  The well-known Samoan stuntman (a stand-in double for Tongan actor, Tyler Tione, in the new NBC television series Life) lets fall from his shoulders the straps of a sagging, sweat-stained body suit. He has the physique of a 100-yard dasher. But with the padded prop, he looks every bit the robust Tyler. Everything from the hefty midsection to the winged goatee and shoelaces is a dead-on match. Fingers intertwined on top of his fake belly, Tanoai leans back on his chair to allow a make-up artist to re-attach a portion of his goatee. Observing from a few feet away are Samoan talents, Sam Puefua, and Setu Williams. The two young men play Tyler’s delinquent relatives. Dressed in “gangsta” attire, the young actors seize the moment to grill the stuntman about another famous Samoan. “What’s the Rock like?” one asks. Tanoai smiles.

    Married with a seven-year old son, Tanoai attended the University of Hawaii. He played football and studied to be a child psychologist. Destiny, however, had a different plan. While part-timing for a construction company in Hawaii, Tanoai met and befriended a Hollywood stuntman. The meeting led to a career. His new friend invited him to perform a small stunt in Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. Not one to turn down a challenge, Tanoai agreed. As one of the smokers (bad guy), he traded blows in a fight scene, took a few falls, and rode a jet ski at breakneck speed—all without experience. Studio personnel so loved his performance they asked him to stay for the duration of the movie.

    Waterworld didn’t do too well at the box office for Costner. But for Tanoai, it provided a springboard for additional employment. That year, he made a decision and never looked back. He dropped college to pursue a career in movie stunts. Even with their inherent risks, stunts offered a one-shot opportunity. It helped Tanoai’s decision that he was a judo champion and an all-star offensive lineman.

    Initially, it was bumpy ride for the college dropout. For the first couple of years, he struggled to make rent. After he married Personal Trainer Suzanne, Tanoai made another big decision. He and Suzanne left his childhood home in Hawaii and relocated to Los Angeles to be near work. His first year in the mainland, he moved movie props for his uncle Leo Reed (revered leader of Local 399) while Suzanne bombarded Hollywood with his résumé and headshot.

    Tanoai’s first real break came in 2000 when Universal Pictures put out a call for a stuntman for Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson. The studio wanted a look-alike. Thanks to his decision a year earlier, Tanoai found himself at “…the right place at the right time.” He was also a dead ringer for the former Samoan professional wrestler. On his first day at work, he surprised even the Rock. “I went to work six o’clock Monday morning,” he recalled, “and Dwayne looked at me and took a double take. He said, ‘Wow man, they really found me a good double.’ We started talking. He told me about his family. I kinda knew that we were related. But I didn’t want to come out and say, ‘We’re aiga (family).’ He found that out for himself after he spoke with his mom. When I returned to work, he said, ‘Hey, we’re family.’”

    Scorpion King began a close working relationship between the two relatives. On the set, Tanoai learned his craft on-the-spot. He rode a camel, scaled a castle wall, leaped through fire, and dodged horses. After Scorpion, he doubled for the Rock in Rundown. The role turned out to be his most dangerous up to that point. He drove a jeep off a cliff, and catapulted down a hill. For the stunt, he won the coveted “Overall Stuntman of the Year” award. That and a second award earned him a place in the exclusive stuntmen and doubles’ association. The awards also opened additional doors.

    Today, Tanoai is one of a handful of Pacific Islander stuntmen (along with New Zealander, Sala Baker) in the movie industry. Though his line of work is laced with danger, he seldom turns down a call. In Tinseltown, word gets around fast. “I don’t want to be known as a ‘no’ man,” he said. “It’ll take a ridiculous stunt for me to say no. Besides, I’m Samoan. I’m pretty tough.”

    Tanoai has the scars and stitches to prove it. Since turning stuntman, he has suffered broken ankles and wrists and undergone a surgery for a dislocated shoulder—not exactly the glamorous job his fans and friends envision. The stuntman is also a realist. Though he loves his job, he knows he can’t carry it forever. “Your body can only take so much beating,” he said.

    When age won’t permit him to drive off cliffs or take a 60-foot plunge, the next step up is stunt coordinator. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of full-time acting either. For now, he has a dream—to be a director. En route there, he wants to raise the bar for young aspiring Pacific Islanders and set up a talent agency for them.         

    “There are more opportunities for Pacific Islanders now in the movie industry,” he said. “I know many of our youths feel that acting is unreachable. It is not. Look at Setu (Taase). His first movie was with the Rock. Setu took no acting classes, but he did a great job.”

    The make-up artist attaches the last stray strand of the goatee. Hours later, Tanoai gets a call from the set. The stunt for Tyler calls for him to race down a darkening alley with police officers in pursuit. It also requires him to leap over a fence, dash across the neighbor’s backyard and break through a bolted door. All routine. But as with other stunts, it carries some risks. For the Samoan stuntman, it is all part of the job.

 

Acknowledgment: Iafeta Peleti for his assistance