"I don't crave it as much as I'm called to it." Jason Mamoa breaks down his tattoos. From the "On the Roam" arm tattoo he got with his team to his signature shark-tooth head tattoo, the actor shares the stories behind his ink.Director: Kristen DeVoreDirector of Photography: Ricardo PomaresEditor: Phil CeconiGuest: Jason MomoaProducer: Sam DennisLine Producer: Jen SantosProduction Manager: Andressa PelachiProduction Equipment Manager: Kevin BalashTalent Booker: Lauren MendozaCamera Operator: Nick MasseySound Mixer: Cassiano PereiraProduction Assistant: Fernando Barajas; Ariel LabasanPost Production Supervisor: Rachael KnightPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Rob LombardiAssistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 It's always funny when I see it, I'm like, "Whoa, that's so... a lot."
00:03 It's very a lot, but I don't ever see it.
00:06 I look in the mirror, I'm like, "I can't see it."
00:08 Aloha GQ, I'm here to take you through some of my tatas.
00:11 They really talk about, like, these things live inside of you,
00:17 and you're just, like, touching it to, like, bring it out.
00:20 I don't crave it as much as, like, I'm called to it.
00:22 I've never felt like, "Oh, I need to get that on me."
00:24 It's always been like, "Well, this needs to happen,"
00:26 or, "This is, like, the definitive moments that needed to happen in my life."
00:29 And it just feels like I have more of a calling than me choosing stuff
00:32 and just putting random shit on my body.
00:34 The first tattoo was this one right here.
00:37 Took about eight hours.
00:38 It's an amakua, it's a guardian, and that's the shark.
00:41 It's the manu.
00:42 I had this done right before my daughter was born,
00:44 so I was 26 and I have this, I'm 44 now.
00:47 That was my first tattoo.
00:48 Pretty gnarly, because it's the biggest one I have,
00:50 and it's the first one I did, so...
00:51 I did it, this extension of it, for this character that I'm playing on Chief of War.
00:56 It really fit with that, so I've only really worn this
00:59 with one character right now.
01:00 The next one I do on Minecraft, it'll have to be covered up.
01:02 I didn't originally do this all the way down,
01:04 because I wasn't making it as an actor.
01:05 This was for me.
01:06 And, you know, you don't want to have a bunch of tattoos on it.
01:09 You're not going to get a lot of jobs.
01:10 And then, now that I'm me, I can have the things I'd like to have now.
01:15 So, I'm very thankful for that.
01:17 I guess when we did the Dorthraki stuff,
01:19 I mean, it's funny, because they wanted to cover this up,
01:21 and they always had, like, long bands.
01:22 But I was like, "Guys, there's tapestry behind me that has this design on it.
01:26 Why wouldn't it?"
01:26 And they're like, "We don't want your tattoo."
01:27 So I was like, "Fine."
01:28 And then when I did these, it's just sitting in the makeup trailer.
01:31 I just become obsessed with all that kind of stuff
01:33 when you're building a character.
01:33 So I just kind of came up with that.
01:34 I came up with putting all the black around my eyes.
01:36 You just get obsessed with playing a character, and I just enjoy that.
01:40 When they design the sets that are amazing,
01:42 and they're not blue-screen,
01:43 when you actually get to walk into those sets,
01:44 you're like, "Wow, it's beautiful to coexist with these other artists."
01:49 And then wardrobe and props, and you get to see all these things,
01:52 and you get to bring your work in with their work.
01:55 And yeah, you feel huge.
01:56 When I put on Aquaman, it's like, there's no doubt about it.
01:59 When I'm in the suit, the eyes go in.
02:01 I could just be talking to you, and then I'll step out,
02:03 I'll come back in, and I'll just look at you,
02:05 and you're just like...
02:05 Like no eye contact.
02:09 It's like looking at a pit bull staring at you.
02:11 You know, I don't really act regal at all.
02:14 So, you know, there's a certain thing when you put on something,
02:17 you want to change the way you feel.
02:18 Very important, that wardrobe.
02:20 And makeup.
02:23 Obviously...
02:23 Sorry, Jen.
02:27 Charles Baudelaire quote, "Etre toujours ivre,"
02:32 which was, "Always be drunken."
02:34 With wine, with poetry, with virtue,
02:36 with the idea of always being happy and being intoxicated with life.
02:40 I'm pretty giddy about life, so it made sense.
02:43 Pride of Gypsies.
02:44 It's just my handwriting.
02:45 I have shitty handwriting.
02:46 So it's just all...
02:47 When you're like, "What does that mean?"
02:48 One of those scratches, that's just my handwriting.
02:50 And so Pride of Gypsies, because a lot of my friends were Leos,
02:52 and they are lions, and we were all very houseless, I should say.
02:57 And I still am.
02:58 So we just kind of always moving in a very nomadic lifestyle of filming.
03:02 And obviously joining the circus as an actor,
03:05 it just kind of felt appropriate for our production company.
03:07 There's two other people that have Pride of Gypsies.
03:09 My other two partners, Brian Mendoza and Thomas Paul.
03:12 On the Roam.
03:12 A lot of my team has the On the Roam.
03:14 And that's turned into what it is now.
03:16 This is like a core.
03:17 What it all started with and On the Roam now is most of my team.
03:21 And they have those tattoos.
03:22 The O, the T, it's like the crossroads.
03:24 And then R-O-A-M on each direction is Roam.
03:26 And I have a show about that.
03:27 And I use it for a lot of other things.
03:29 This one right here is Diablo, which is after my...
03:33 I guess one of the most important men I've ever known.
03:35 And the most impactful man.
03:36 He died at like 81, I want to say, 82.
03:39 That's what we call him, El Diablo.
03:40 And he was amazing.
03:41 And so it's just those mentors that you meet.
03:45 And he's one of those people that just blew my whole mind.
03:49 And well-read.
03:50 You could just talk for hours and just enjoy every moment.
03:52 Just sitting with them talking.
03:54 So I got my children the most important.
03:56 I saved their name.
03:57 When we first wrote their name, Lola and Wolf.
04:00 So I saved that.
04:01 And obviously they're different in age.
04:02 So I just saved hers and then saved his and put it together.
04:04 So Lola Wolf on my heart.
04:06 I have tons of friends with just the most random crazy shit.
04:11 And that perfectly describes them.
04:13 That's what's great about tattoos.
04:14 They're little giggles and laughs and silly things.
04:17 But yeah, these are all just been the right calling to do it.
04:20 Oh yeah, there we go.
04:21 The one I never get to see.
04:23 It's always funny when I see it.
04:24 I'm like, whoa, it's so a lot.
04:26 It's very a lot.
04:28 But I don't ever see it.
04:29 I look in the mirror, I'm like, I can't see it.
04:31 It always looks pretty intense.
04:32 I'm like, geez Louise.
04:34 These were all tapped.
04:34 So all the Hawaiians ones are tapped the traditional way.
04:37 It has the ihe's right here.
04:38 There's a protection one right here.
04:40 It looks almost like a trident.
04:41 But that's for protection.
04:43 Ihe's the spear.
04:44 I'd rather have it tapped.
04:46 I think it's pretty beautiful because you're going back, you know,
04:49 centuries of humans being, you know, making tatas on themselves and mokus on themselves.
04:54 And that's the sound that they heard.
04:55 It's like, and it's a beautiful, interesting sound.
04:59 It doesn't sound like an annoying, buzzing gun sound.
05:02 And it just, it feels so different.
05:05 I feel like the gun is really like taking a fork and like scraping your skin
05:10 instead of like when you feel that tap, it's, you can cover more ground.
05:13 You know, because there's different lengths and sizes of them.
05:16 So I think it probably moves a little bit faster.
05:18 I think if you're going to have precision in them, they're different.
05:20 Like if with these, when you get them tapped, they'll be like the worst thing ever looked.
05:24 With gun, I feel like that's the best it's ever going to look
05:29 because it'll eventually bleed out and all that kind of stuff.
05:31 What's designed with this is that you'll have spaces, but it will over time, fill that out.
05:36 And if it's done right by a master, it'll only get better and better.
05:40 My uncle, Keone Nunez, is someone who rescued our culture and,
05:46 and then perpetuated and traces our genealogy.
05:48 So my father has like a whole piece that goes down his leg
05:51 that he waited till he was probably 50 to do.
05:52 So I'll have to get that at some point.
05:53 And then I have another one that goes on the chest that I'll probably do it.
05:56 I mean, I've never experienced anything on that level before.
06:00 That was, it was a really beautiful and purifying and, and,
06:02 and like, I've never had that kind of pain before.
06:05 From here to here was, was you get to meet your ancestors for sure.
06:09 You get to meet all of them.
06:10 My Auntie Momi, who's like love of my life.
06:14 And my Uncle Buffalo, I did at his house.
06:15 The moments where I really needed help the most,
06:18 I could just hear her laughing in the background, just doing who she is.
06:21 And then out of nowhere, this hand goes into my mouth.
06:25 As I'm like, just breathing through it.
06:28 So much intense pain, like where you're every pore and every socket,
06:31 just using water to like survive.
06:34 She put salt, Pockay, in my mouth.
06:37 And you just taste those, those beautiful crystals of salt.
06:41 And it totally like rescued me.
06:44 And she just knew.
06:45 And that's what the elders, like she really saved me in that moment.
06:49 And the nice thing about this is it just hair goes back and it's gone.
06:51 And it's for me, you know, when it's shaved like this, you can see it.
06:55 But when it's not, I'm like, you're just covering up a little bit on my neck.
06:57 I don't have any regrets.
07:03 Regretting is not gonna help me now.
07:04 I'm just where I'm at.
07:05 And did I learn from it?
07:06 Fuck yeah, I did.
07:07 So, they're all beautiful lessons.
07:10 [Music]