Our Spotlight Saturday Feature comes from Oahu, Hawaii. Saxon Sawai is the "Karate Kicking Hero Next Door And Hopeful Romantic!" This talented up-and-comer began his acting career only three years ago, but has quickly begun to book roles left and right! But lets start from the beginning.
Saxon was born to Greg and Deborah Sawai along with his sister Lyssa. The young parents worked to sustain the family, so his grandparents helped to raise him. Being Native Hawaiians, his grandparents taught him the ancient art of kaukau, or what islanders know as "EATING!” Rice, poi (pounded taro) and fish made up his food palette throughout the day.
"I could eat that for breakfast, lunch and dinner! And dessert was taro and sugar," he laughed recalling his childhood.
From a young age, Saxon exhibited artistic talent in drawing, graffiti and dance.
"That's how I expressed my creative side...drawing and graffiti. But then, I started breakdancing as a freshman in high school then eventually, created a breakdancing club in college. I later became the president of the hip-hop club."
After college, Saxon became a missionary in Japan for two years. This is how he became fluent in Japanese. He also worked a different variety of jobs. But three years ago, he decided he needed a change. Ready for something out of the box, Saxon challenged himself to try acting. Thinking that it might be cool to be an extra on the hit television show, Hawaii Five-0, he decided his first step would be to find an agent. With the help of some friends already connected to the agency, he decided to audition for the Kathy Muller Agency to see if they'd be willing to represent him. They were! And not long afterward, he found himself being called in for auditions.
"I completely bombed those first few auditions. I was actually really horrible because I didn't know what the heck I was doing."
This prompted Saxon to begin studying the craft. He started with YouTube masterclass videos since he was so new to the industry. A few auditions later, his luck quickly turned.
"I ended up getting called in for two auditions. One was for a documentary and the other was for Hawaiian Airlines. When I got home, I received a call from the agency informing me that I had booked a feature role for the Hawaiian Airlines commercial. After I hung up, I was so excited. But then my phone rang and it was my agency again. This time, they advised me that I had also booked a role in the documentary. This really motivated me to learn everything I could about acting."
If that wasn't thrilling enough, Saxon also ended up landing more roles. Netflix's, "The Naked Director," as an FBI raider. CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" as "Daniel Hong," which was a crossover feature with Magnum P.I. that aired in January 2020. He also received a lead role in the movie "Rescue," which was a Chinese action movie that was filmed in Mexico. This film was a perfect fit for Saxon, since he already had a blackbelt in Karate and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That's right, he is dangerous! Literally, a walking weapon! Since then, he has taken time to truly delve into developing his skill set in acting. He studied with other actors and took classes in New York and Hawaii with instructors like Kimee Balmilero of Improv Hawaii.
"Quick shout out to Kimee and actor, Tim Kang [Magnum P.I.'s Gordon Katsumoto], for the on-scene study training that he did with us while I was working on set!"
With a passion for acting, and the love and support of his family, Saxon continues to pursue his dreams in the Entertainment industry. His aspirations are to play roles in action and sci-fi fantasy films but he is still open to multiple genres. He is currently about to shoot a series of shorts and has attained another agent in L.A.!
He has quite the background in action scenes already, which includes stunt training. We've mentioned his skill in martial arts, but Saxon has also had weapons training (the staff, nun-chucks and samurai sword). Did you hear that Tom Cruise? If you ever want to do a remake of "The Last Samurai," Saxon Sawai is your guy!
Besides busting down doors on television shows, or filming movies in Mexico, where they dropped half of a small plane that was hanging over his head, into a tank of water located directly in front of him!
Saxon is just a down to earth kind of guy. He enjoys traveling and eating desserts every single day! Hmm...perhaps if we learned to kick butt like he does, we could enjoy desserts everyday too!
Please be sure to follow Saxon on social media and see what he’s got coming up next!
Social Media Links
Instagram - http://instagram.com/saxonsawai
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/saxonsawai
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@saxonsawai
IMDB - http://imdb.me/saxonsawai
