Karate Expert Eyes Movie Career

In his living room, amid trophies, awards and autographed pictures of celebrities, Sam Alama Kuhoa, 40, talked about the times he acted as a bodyguard for the likes of Bob Hope, Richard Nixon and country singer Tom T. Hall.

And then there was the time about nine years ago when Kuhoa was a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy and broke his neck while pursuing a speeding motorcyclist on a country road.

The accident cut his police career short but gave him a new insight on life. After all, Kuhoa’s 6 1/2 years of martial-arts training in Honolulu as a youngster prepared him for just about anything.

Now Kuhoa is taking life easy. “I’ve calmed down a lot,” he said. “I was a little sour after my accident. My whole career as a cop went down the drain. But I’m in the process of writing a book about my experiences with the force. I’m hoping it will eventually be made into a movie.”

Kuhoa move to East County more than 18 years ago and now teaches karate in the garage of his Blossom Valley home to troubled kids and martial arts aficionados.

“A lot of my students were sent by county psychologists,” Kuhoa said. “I try to teach them through karate to be outgoing and a whole person. My mother sent me to the temple because she knew I was going to turn out no good. The temple saved me. So I suppose in a way that’s what I’m trying to do with these kids.”

He has set up karate studios all over the United States and in Mexico City. He performs karate comedy skits all over the world, coordinates karate scenes for movies, and recently has become involved in acting--that is, while he’s not training dogs in the kennel in his backyard.

And then there are the daily workouts. Kuhoa starts his day at 5:30 a.m., working out with weights for two to three hours, six days a week. He also swims four days a week.

This month, Kuhoa; his 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Ka’imi, who also happens to be last year’s Little Miss California, and his wife, Dana, who acts as manager for her husband and daughter, will be in Florida to shoot a film. Kuhoa will play a supporting role to Tommy Lee Jones and Margot Kidder. The film, which was originally titled “Karate Girl,” is now going through a name change and is being produced by British film maker Bachoo Sen.

“This is a pretty big break for me to have a starring role,” Kuhoa said. “I don’t want to get stereotyped as a karate man. I’ve been acting all my life, it just took me a while to figure out that I was good.”

Holder of a black belt, Kuhoa holds the world record for breaking 4,950 pounds of ice with his hand and 1,500 pounds of ice with his forehead. Kuhoa, who has a short, stocky build, made his living, for a while, by protecting famous personalities. Kuhoa was one of those who escorted then-President Nixon to church while Nixon was visiting San Diego. Hall asked Kuhoa to protect him on stage during a local concert. Since then, every time the country star is in Southern California, he offers Kuhoa a job as his bodyguard.

While performing martial arts skits a few years ago in Mexico City, Kuhoa was given his first cinematic break. Asked to help choreograph fighting scenes for some of Sen’s films, he was given a part in a film that never made it to the screen.

“I don’t feel too bad about that film,” Kuhoa said. “It gave me the chance to show Sen what I can do. He knows that I have potential and says that someday I’ll be a big star. But it’s still hard to think of myself as an actor.”

Kuhoa said he has four more movie parts lined up in addition to the one he is working on now, and that not all of them are martial arts movies.

Turned to Comedy

Kuhoa was performing long before he was discovered. After observing bored patrons at martial arts shows, he decided to make the routine kicks and bows into more of a spectacle, and he devised comedy skits using karate moves.

“At first, martial artists were outraged,” he said. “They thought I was mocking the art form. Then it broke loose and everyone is doing it. But it started here.”

Kuhoa has also managed to get his karate pupils and the dogs he’s trained into movies. Eighteen of his students will be stunt people in the locally made “Return of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.” Shadow, a large German shepherd who was trained by Kuhoa, will attack several people in the film.

“I hope that within three years, we’ll have one of the top dog training programs for the motion pictures,” he said. “My philosophy for my dogs and for my students is that you can take a human being, just like you can take a dog, and build confidence and make them learn how to protect. By praising them, you can build up their courage.”

Kuhoa holds 2 1/2-hour teaching sessions four days a week for his students. During these classes he utilizes the Ki philosophy.

“Ki stands for internal energy,” he said. “It gives you the power to do anything you want to do. It teaches you a lot of things you would want to apply to everyday life.”

It is this spiritual confidence that got Kuhoa through an abusive childhood, a bad marriage and a fire that burned down his Lakeside home several years ago.

Kuhoa also credits Ki for his incredible knack for winning carnival games. He donates the stuffed animals and dolls he wins to needy children.

“All I want to do is give now,” Kuhoa said. “Now that I’m remarried, Dana has taught me so much about being happy and just letting things pass. My family means everything to me.”