‘Hawaii Five-0’ & ‘Magnum P.I’ Star Taylor Wily Dies at 56

Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. actor Taylor Wily has died. The performer who was also known for his sumo career in the late ’80s was 56 years old.

Wily’s death was confirmed by KITV 4 Island News in Hawaii, where shocked hosts spoke lovingly about the late star, who was a friend to them.

Tributes poured in to wife Halona’s Facebook page from family members, friends and fans.

Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. executive producer Peter Lenkov shared a photo of himself on Instagram alongside Wily with the caption, “I am devastated. Heartbroken. I’ll post some detailed feeling in a few days. Just too hard right now.” It’s unclear what happened to Wily at this time.

 

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Best known for playing entrepreneurial local informant Kamekona on CBS‘s former procedural reboot of Hawaii Five-0, Wily appeared in  171 episodes during the show’s 2010 to 2020 run. Wily then went on to feature in seven installments of the Magnum P.I. reboot starring Jay Hernandez and Perdita Weeks from 2018 to 2020. During his stint on Magnum, Wily reprised his prior role as Kamekona from Hawaii Five-0.

In addition to his more substantial TV roles, Wily’s other credits include an episode of the MacGyver reboot as part of a Hawaii Five-0 crossover installment from 2017. He played a bartender in the short-lived series North Shore which aired on Fox between 2004 and 2005 in addition to an episode of One West Waikiki and two installments of Marker. Wily even has an uncredited role in the original Magnum P.I. series from 1982.

Meanwhile, in 2012, Wily made an appearance on The Amazing Race during one of the show’s stops in Hawaii. On the film side of things, Wily made an impression as Kemo in the 2008 comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall which featured Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, and many more.

Wily previously had a sumo career, achieving success in the field of Japanese sumo wrestling. He competed under the name Takamishu and won his first 14 official matches, later becoming the first foreign-born wrestler to win the championship in the third-highest Makushita division. From there, he went on to compete in UFC 1 before transitioning to acting, making history as the first UFC fighter to make such a move.