Beulah Koale

New Zealand-born Samoan actor Beulah Koale won critical praise for his turns as intense young men on the popular TV soap "Shortland Street" (TVNZ 2, 1992- ) and in the feature "The Last Saint" (2014), which led to attention from America and a series regular assignment on CBS's long-running "Hawaii Five-0" (2010- ). Born in 1992 in the Auckland suburb of Otahuhu, New Zealand, Koale and his five siblings were raised in a religious household in the South Auckland community of Otara. He began acting in church productions before joining Massive Company, a theater group in Auckland. Through them, the teenaged Koale began appearing in secular productions, and made his screen debut in the 2010 short "Grande." That same year, he appeared in "Manurewa" (2010), a short based on a real-life robbery that resulted in the death of a Sikh store owner; the project, which envisioned the incident through the eyes of various ethnic groups, won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival.

Two years later, Koale earned his breakout role as Jared Afeaki, a sympathetic gang member, on the long-running primetime soap opera "Shortland Street" (TVNZ 2, 1992- ). He remained with the series until 2013 and returned briefly in 2014 before again striking out on his own; from there, he won critical praise as a young Polynesian teenager dealing with crime, drugs and an extended family in crisis in the feature drama "The Last Saint" (2014). More work in New Zealand television followed before Koale made his American feature film debut in "Thank You For Your Service" (2017). The drama, about American soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress as a result of their combat experiences in Iraq, cast Koale as an American Samoan soldier whose unwavering belief in the military is challenged by his condition. While awaiting that film's release, Koale was cast as a former Navy SEAL who joined an elite police task force in the eighth season of "Hawaii Five-O."