When I was cast in this Five-O episode, Target-A Cop, I was acting in an outdoor Shakespeare show, “Twelf’ Nite O’ Wateva,” and in another one called “Flash Gordon Conquers The Planet Of Evil,” in rep, at night. In the episode, a sniper is targeting, and shooting, cops responding to domestic calls. I was playing one of two undercover cops who are to set up in an expensive condo and play a lot of loud music so the tenants will call the police, thereby luring the sniper so Five-O can nail him.
In the scene, which was shot in a high-rise condo twenty or so stories up, my partner and I are setting up a stereo system on the floor, and McGarrett and Dano, McGarrett’s second-in-command, are standing near us discussing the plan to lure the sniper. Then, I have a line, and in a voice honed by weeks of Shakespeare and Flash Gordon in an open, outdoor theatre, I say, from the floor, a bit loudly, perhaps, “What if he doesn’t buy it?” There’s a pause. Then, from his great height, Jack Lord looks down at me and says, “Just talk to me, kid.” And we did another take. Nailed it.
A tip from a pro. As basic as it gets. I never forgot it.
http://www.ronnakahara.com
Ron is a New York City based actor/director originally from Hawaii.
He studied at the University of Hawaii with Glenn Cannon from NY, Terry Knapp from The Royal Shakespeare Co. and with noted voice teacher Kristen Linklater. While there he also studied Kyogen theater with Japan National Treasure Nomura Mansaku and performed in Kabuki.
Selected acting:
NY–Man In Snow (LaMama,) Ping Pong (The Public Theatre,) Ching Chong Chinaman, Rashomon (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre,) Earth and Sky (Second Stage,) The Three Sisters (Pan Asian,) Romeo And Juliet (NYSF/Public Theatre,) As You Like It (NYSF/Public Theatre,) Danton’s Death (LaMama E.T.C.,) The School for Wives (NATCO,) Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pan Asian) REGIONAL– Wild Swans (debut), (Young Vic, London, and A.R.T., Boston,) Snow Falling on Cedars, The Merchant of Venice (Hartford Stage Co.,) Comedy of Errors (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.,) The Screens (The Guthrie Theatre,) Othello (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta,) The Empress of China (Cincinnati Playhouse,) Cyrano (ACT, San Francisco,) Taming of the Shrew (ACT,) Diary of a Scoundrel (Hawaii Public Theatre) FILM–Isn't It Romantic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepwalk With Me, I Think I Love My Wife, College Road Trip. TV- can be seen currently recurring as Hirochi in Netflix's Daredevil Season 2; Madam Secretary, Elementary, NYC 22, The Good Wife, Fringe, 3 LBS., Whoopi, Cosby Mysteries, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, One Life to Live, As the World Turns, All My Children, Pearl, The Miniseries, Hawaii 5-O (the original).
As a director, Ron has worked at theatres and Universities around the country. He was one of the first 6 recipients of the NEA-TCG Director Fellowship Award in 1987.