Grace Park brings a female touch to Hawaii Five-0
September 26th, 2010 Add comment jess
SAN DIEGO – Kona “Kono” Kalakaua is getting a makeover, and it just happens to be in the jaw-droppingly beautiful form of Vancouver’s Grace Park.
The petite, Asian-Canadian actress seems unfazed about inheriting a role made famous by the burly actor Zulu (Gilbert Kauhi) on the original Hawaii Five-0, which aired from 1968 to 1972.
For starters, Zulu certainly could not have pulled off the casual, silver summer dress Park wears to promote her new show at Comic Con in July. Secondly, reinventing an iconic male role is becoming old hat for Park.
Her role as Boomer (Cylon No. Eight) on TV’s Battlestar Galactica was originally played by Herb Jefferson, Jr. in the original, late-’70s sci-fi series.
“Like Boomer, Kona was an important character in the original show, but not necessarily the foremost. . . . For that, there is less attention drawn to the role,” Grace says in dismissing any controversy over her casting.
The hotly anticipated remake of Hawaii Five-0 bows on Monday, and also stars Alex O’Loughlin as Steve McGarrett, Scott Caan as Danny “Danno” Williams and Lost‘s Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly. With Kona at their side, they make up an elite police unit charged with battling the tropical island’s most dastardly criminals.
The new series leans heavily on action over humour, which was an integral part of the original. Park also thinks adding a female to the detective team will take the remake in new directions.
“I think Kona is an interesting element now, because you could have (had) Hawaii Five-0 be a team of four men (again),” she says. “But it’s always good to have more tools at your disposal. So, if you do have a woman on your team, there are things she’ll be able to access, just because of the sheer fact she is a woman.”
Park says her character also has room to grow on the show, given she is a rookie cop when she joins the crime-fighting squad.
“She participates in something she probably wouldn’t be able to do on her own because she would be a newbie . . . just out of the academy,” she says. “With that, she gets thrust into this cutting-edge (criminal) world . . . and (they’re) probably not following all the rules, but they get done what needs to get done. And that’s the nature of the new Hawaii Five-0.”
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The 36-year-old actress is far from new to the small screen. Beyond Battlestar, she’s had co-starring stints on CBC’s The Border and A&E’s The Cleaner. But Hawaii Five-0 may be the project that turns her into a star.
With any luck, Park will soon make viewers forget the original Kona altogether.
One thing’s for certain, the new Kona won’t be afraid of getting her hands dirty.
“She is pretty hands-on, she’s a tomboy, she likes to role with the boys . . . but at the same time, she’s a woman – and that’s not totally lost on her,” Park explains. “Being a little bit younger than her counterparts, she’s discovering who she is. For the most part, you’re going to see her involved in gunfights and one-on-one fights, and a little bit of the technical side of solving the crimes.”
Hawaii Five-0 premieres Monday, Sept. 20 on Global and ABC.
