‘Hey, they were in Game of Thrones’—Where else have you seen these 50 GoT cast members?
42) JASON MOMOA
When Khal Drogo first came growling onto our screens, we didn’t suspect he would soon become part of one of the greatest and sweetest love affairs on the show, but it happened.
Momoa got an early start in TV, appearing in series such as North Shore (2004-2005), Stargate Atlantis (2005-2009) and The Game (2009). He jumped to films in 2011, the same year he portrayed Drogo on Thrones — he took the title role in Conan, picture above. More starring roles followed, with feature parts as Keegan in Bullet to the Head (2012) and Connor in Wolves (2014). He also appeared in TV series like The Red Road (2014-2015) and Frontier (2016). Finally, Momoa snagged the role of Aquaman in the Justice League movie series, with his own feature coming in 2018.
The Hawaiian-born Momoa’s first big break was playing lifeguard Jason Ioane on Baywatch Hawaii (1999-2001, above), which was partly the result of being named Hawaiian Model of the Year for 1999. Momoa had a struggle ahead when his ethnic look (he’s half-Hawaiian, half-German) didn’t fit the parts he wanted in Hollywood. But his hard work has paid off with Aquaman, as he told The Daily Beast in 2015:
"Aquaman is especially cool because being a Kanaka Maoli—being Hawaiian—our Gods are Kanaloa and Maui, and the Earth is 71 percent water, so I get to represent that. And I’m someone who gets to represent all the islanders, not some blond-haired superhero. It’s cool that there’s a brown-skinned superhero … It’s a trip. I spent 15 years trying to dig myself out of the Baywatch hole, and now I’m Aquaman. Life is very good."
Momoa’s 2017 releases include Once Upon a Time in Venice, Braven and Justice League (with Thrones castmate Ciaran Hinds, who played Mance Rayder).