A Hawaii born and raised actor and performer is setting his sights on a career behind the camera.
The Saint Louis grad is back in the islands working on a film set to start production later this year.
A star of stage and screen, Keo Woolford is back home in the islands after making a living as an actor and performer in London, New York and Los Angeles.
"I wanted to be a pop star," he jokingly admits.
The Saint Louis graduate worked as a professional hula dancer in Waikiki and as a member of the local pop and r&b singing group Brownskin until he was offered the role of a lifetime.
"I took over for Jason Scott Lee in The King and I in the London palladium," he says.
After 15 months abroad and close to 400 shows he moved back to the states then wrote and starred in his own one man show and then took it a step further directing and producing a feature film in L.A.
"Lunchtime" a story about a 5th grader overcoming bullying is now hitting the film festival scene on the mainland.
"The work that was being offered to me was stuff that I didn’t really feel connected to and so I felt like the only way to do the stuff that I really felt good about was to create it myself," he explains.
Now back home Keo is in pre-production on a new feature film called Under The Hula about a former hula dancer who is tasked with taking over a halau after the death of his kumu.
"Since gone a different direction in his life and re-discovers the culture through his instructing the boys," he says.
Cast, produced and shot entirely on Oahu. Keo says he wants this movie to accurately portray Hawaiians and their culture.
"It would be fantastic for the world to embrace this story though it is a story about Hawaii and our culture specifically," he says.
A casting call for Under The Hula will be held this Saturday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pa`i Arts & Culture Center in the Kapalama Shopping Center located at 1210 Dillingham Blvd. #21.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
