Interview by Carol Wright | Photographer: Kelsey Edwards | Finding ‘Ohana stills Courtesy of Netflix
We got to chat with actor Owen Vaccaro who can soon be seen in the Netflix film Finding ‘Ohana.
What initially got you interested in acting?
When I was in first grade, I tried lots of different things like lacrosse, swimming, and soccer. I didn’t like them at all but gave them my best shot. My first-grade teacher recommended theater, so I started acting with MZ Stageworks in Atlanta. I did nine plays with them and then branched out to film.
What about Finding ‘Ohana interested you?
The main thing that caught my eye was how similar it was to The Goonies, which is one of my favorite films. I liked that I would get to film in Thailand and Hawaii, two places I had never been before. I loved the story, and it had a good message and I thought it would be fun!
Are there similarities between you and your character Casper?
We have a lot of similarities as we both love to study biology and ecosystems. I think we are both kind of dorky. How much I related to Casper was another thing that attracted me to the film.
In Finding ‘Ohana you go on a journey to find treasure. Do you have a favorite scene you shot?
I loved all the scenes we shot underwater. We shot in Erawan Falls in Thailand, which was gorgeous. It is a national park and has all these emerald pools. Something else I thought was cool was that while filming in Thailand, we had a snake wrangler that would come to location and clear all the snakes out. They took a king cobra away before we were filmed in the caves.
You all got to shoot on location in Hawaii. What adventures did you and the cast get up to when not filming?
We had dinners together a lot and got to snorkel a few times – Queen’s Beach being one of the places. There was this really cool man-made beach near our hotel, and on the night that there was a full moon, we did a night swim. The moon was so bright that it felt like it wasn’t late at night at all! Plus, there was the best taco place next to that beach and we ate there a lot!
What advice do you have for aspiring actors?
You are not going to book everything you audition for. You have to go in with mental armor and not get bummed when you don’t book something because that will happen a lot. It can be a disappointing process but worth it in the end. Just have fun with it as auditioning can get a little laborious.