“Hawaii Five-0” star and former UFC fighter dies at 56
Taylor Wily, a former sumo wrestler and UFC fighter who played entrepreneur and informant Kamekona for ten seasons in the CBS remake of “Hawaii Five-0,” has died.
He was 56.
His manager Michael Henderson confirmed to USA TODAY on Friday that Wily died on Thursday, citing “natural causes.”
Honolulu’s KITV4 Island News first reported Wily’s death.
“Hawaii Five-0” showrunner Peter M. Lenkov paid tribute to Wily – real name Teila Tuli – in an Instagram post on Thursday.
“I am devastated. Inconsolable. I will post my feelings in more detail later. Right now it is just too hard,” he wrote under a photo of the two.
In a follow-up post featuring photos of the actor from years past, Lenkov wrote, “T, like I’ve told you many times, I fell in love with you at the first audition. You walked in with a towel on your head, wiping away the sweat, and I was blown away. You made me want to make you a regular… on the show… and in my life. You were family. And I will miss you every day, brother.”
He added, “PS: When we spoke last week, we laughed about how right you were from day one. Five-0 was our dream job. And I was so lucky that we got to experience that magic together.”
In his Instagram stories, Lenkov revealed that he “never got tired of watching Wily and that he was an incredible actor.”
According to IMDB, Wily also made several crossover appearances as Kamekona in seasons 1 and 2 of Magnum PI.
Wilys Kamekona – the task force’s confidential informant and an entrepreneur who ran Waiola Shave Ice, Kamekona’s Shrimp Truck and Kamekona’s Helicopter Tours – made his debut in the premiere of “Hawaii Five-O” in 2010. He remained in the role until the CBS series ended in 2020.
Wily also appeared in the 2008 romantic comedy Forget About Your Ex, playing Kemo, a hotel clerk who becomes a confidant of Peter Bretter, played by Jason Segel.
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