How playing Aquaman helped turn Jason Momoa into an ocean advocate

Long before he played Aquaman, rightful heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, actor Jason Momoa was an aqua boy. 

His interest formed at a young age. Born in Hawaii, Momoa spent much of his childhood in small-town Iowa, where he lived with his mother. But even landlocked, he was extremely invested in aquatic ecosystems, spending his high school years taking college-level marine biology classes. “We had all these aquariums,” Momoa, 45, says animatedly, recalling the campus’s eels and sharks. “That’s where it all started,” he says. “I was in marine biology, in Iowa.” 

After high school he went to Hawaii, where his father still lived, and planned to get a college degree there. He learned to surf with his father’s family, whom he calls legendary watermen. But then, at 19, he was cast in Baywatch, not an obvious avenue to a marine biology career but a move that was ocean-adjacent nonetheless. A new trajectory opened up, and with roles in Game of Thrones, Dune, and, of course, Aquaman, he became a Hollywood star.  

Momoa’s love of the ocean persists, and these days he sees himself as a megaphone for experts whose voices don’t carry quite as far as his. “I get to meet those scientists, I’m excited to learn, and I think maybe people can relate to that,” he says. “If I can fast-track any of that information to an audience, to people who care or who didn’t even know, that’s about as good as you’re going to get from me. Because I’m not a scientist; I just care and love the planet and want to help.” 

In 2022 he linked up with the UN Environment Programme, becoming its Advocate for Life Below Water. Occasionally he feels out of his depth, so to speak. The first time he delivered a speech for the United Nations, at a 2019 gathering of the delegation of Small Island Developing States, was “in the top two things I’ve ever been nervous about,” he says. “I’m like, Bro, you should have been better in speech class, why are you doing this right now?” But the speech is powerful. Momoa stands before his audience, long hair wild over a sober suit. “As a Native Hawaiian born to a mother from Iowa, I have seen how one place can be oblivious to another,” he begins. “However, with a foothold in two worlds, I quickly began to see how a problem for one will soon become a problem for all.” 

His latest projects—both on-screen and off—reflect his interest in island ecosystems. Momoa recently finished shooting Chief of War, a historical drama series he wrote, executive produced, and starred in, playing Ka’iana, an 18th-century chief who sought to unite the Hawaiian Islands against would-be colonizers. And last year, his aluminum water bottle company, Mananalu, announced a partnership with Boomerang Water, which packages locally sourced water for hotels and other businesses in aluminum or glass bottles that are then sanitized and reused after customers return them. (In addition to encouraging recycling, the program limits the amount of oil fuel used to transport bottles, explains Boomerang co-founder Jerrod Freund.) For Momoa, who started Mananalu after growing frustrated with the plastic water bottles he often saw on planes—“There’s this little ridiculous shot of water that has three kinds of plastic,” he says—the partnership offers an incremental solution to an infuriating crisis. 

Momoa feels fortunate to have the resources to combat his annoyances. “If I’m gonna complain about something, I’m gonna go do it,” he says. “I’m going to invest in it and try to make a difference.” It’s the same impulse that pushed him to make Deep Rising, a documentary about deep-sea mining, and to collaborate with Humble Brands to create a deodorant with biodegradable, plastic-free packaging. “I’m speaking from a place of, I’m trying to make a change,” he says, “and I’m trying to be accountable.”