Jason Momoa looks almost unrecognisable in recently unearthed promotional photos for Baywatch: Hawaii.
The shirtless shots show a 21-year-old Momoa in character as lifeguard Jason Ioane, who he played on the spin-off show from 1999 to 2001.
The Aquaman star looks dramatically different without the long hair, beard and tattoos that have become his signature, although his smouldering expression has remained the same.
As well as starring in Baywatch: Hawaii, Momoa also appeared in the 2003 TV movie Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding, which saw cast members David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson reprise their roles.
The actor recently revealed that he was forced to tell a few white lies in order to land his debut acting gig at an open casting call.
“[The casting agents] were like, ‘Dude, have you ever acted?’ I was like ‘No’, and they were like ‘Have you modelled?’” he told Square Mile. “I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m a big model. I do Gucci and Louis Vuitton’ […] just kind of making it up on the spot.
“We just kind of b********** our way in and then I met some managers down there: they kind of made up some stuff for me like, Hawaii Model of the Year.
“We basically just did head shots of me and said, ‘Hey he’s the model of the year.’ We just made it up.”
Momoa’s fabricated modelling career has stayed on his CV ever since and even featured on his Wikipedia page. “It kind of stayed on there. It’s like, when I finished Baywatch, all I had was Baywatch, and you’ve got to have something more credible,” he said. “So we just left it on.”
