Kala Alexander (born March 20, 1969) is a Hawaiian surfer, surf gang co-founder and actor. He founded the Wolfpak surf gang on the North Shore of

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

. In addition, Alexander is an actor, playing roles in projects such as ''

Blue Crush ''Blue Crush'' is a 2002 American sports film directed by John Stockwell, written by Stockwell and Lizzy Weiss, and based on Susan Orlean's 1998 '' Outside'' magazine article "Life's Swell". It stars Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, San ...

'', ''

Forgetting Sarah Marshall ''Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Nicholas Stoller (in his feature directorial debut) and starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand. The film, which was written by Segel a ...

'', and '' Hawaii Five-0''.

Early life

Kala Alexander was born on

but moved to Hanalei,

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

, shortly afterwards. He was raised by his mother, Virginia Alexander, who was from

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. He is of Hawaiian, Filipino, Irish,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent. Alexander received a scholarship to attend the private Kamehameha School on Oahu when he was 13 for scoring in the top five percent on statewide tests. However, at the end of his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

year of high school, he was expelled for smoking

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and

insubordination Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying a lawful order of one's superior. It is generally a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations such as the armed forces, which depend on people lower in the chain of command obeying orde ...

. Alexander graduated high school back home in Kauai. 1992 was what Alexander called "the most painful, hurtful year I've had in my whole life." Alexander lost the roof of his house in

Hurricane Iniki Hurricane Iniki ( ; Hawaiian: ''iniki'' meaning "strong and piercing wind") was a hurricane that struck the island of Kauai on September 11, 1992. It was the most powerful hurricane to strike Hawaii in recorded history, and the only hurricane to ...

. His mother was injured in the floods, and she died from her injuries. In addition, his half brother's father's four-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Alexander was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

after beating up a man who ran over his

pit bull Pit bull is an umbrella term for several Dog type, types of dog believed to have descended from bull and terriers. In the United States, the term is usually considered to include the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, A ...

and killed him. He was released after nine months for good behavior, but was readmitted for 16 months after violating the conditions of his parole.

Wolfpak

In 2001, Alexander moved to Oahu in search of job opportunities after he got a divorce from his wife. On the North Shore, he discovered that the popular surfing location,

Banzai Pipeline The Banzai Pipeline, or simply Pipeline or Pipe, is a surf reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore. A reef break is an area in the ocean where waves start to break once they reach the shallows of ...

, suffered from disorganization and lack of respect in the surf lineup. Alexander and Kai Garcia co-founded the Wolfpak, a surf gang, which is mainly composed of surfers from Kauai. Alexander is the enforcer of the group, who believes in preserving the value of respect to the experienced surfers, those who are native Hawaiians, and to protect surfers from the area's life-threatening waves. Alexander has beaten people up on multiple occasions for dropping in on other surfers.

Acting career and recent projects

In 2002, Alexander got his first acting role, playing an angry local in the movie ''

''. He also acted in the films ''

'' and '' Into the Blue 2: The Reef''. Since 2010, he has played a recurring role as Kawika in '' Hawaii Five-0''. Alexander starred in a special for

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

Shark Week Shark Week is an annual week-long programming block on the Discovery Channel focusing on shark-themed programming. It originally premiered on July 17, 1988. The block is featured annually in the summer, and was originally devoted to conservati ...

in 2014. Called "Sharkageddeon," it attempts to explain why

shark attacks A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1 ...

are increasing in Hawaii. Alexander also appeared in an episode of "Shark After Dark," where he discussed his experience filming that episode. Alexander is the Vice President of the Mauli Ola Foundation, an organization for people with

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...

. Alexander visits with children in hospitals in Hawaii and gives them surfing lessons.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Kala 1969 births American television personalities Living people People from Honolulu County, Hawaii Surfers from Hawaii Male actors from Hawaii American people convicted of assault Native Hawaiian surfers Kamehameha Schools alumni