#AlexOLoughlin of #H50 talking to @PacBleu – Transcript of Interview

This is the transcript on the video from PacBleu which we posted yesterday

You can follow PacBleu on their Instagram and their blog.

Transcript: 

(We do not know what their first question was, but it looks like they asked where Alex’s interest to become an actor and telling stories came from)

Alex: Thanks for having me guys – First of all. It’s really nice to see you both.

Luke: Yeah.

Alex: I think … I think when I was a kid …. I think one of the things was, my mom used to read to me when, I was small. She really went out of her way to make sure that happened all the time.

Luke: Yeah.

Alex: And it has since translated to me with my kids. You know, I read to my … my boys every night and … 

And there was something about that, as opposed to films and television and stuff that … that forced me into my own imagination, you know. And she would do funny voices for the characters and stuff like that as well, so. But it like …  it started a relationship between me and my imagination and my capacity for it, like, envisioning story.

And  … and I think … so I think books were … the answer is really books were the beginning of it all, you know.  My … and which is really how we … we first told stories, was … was the pictures on walls … cave walls. And then … then writing and documenting stories and stuff. And so the concept of story came … that’s how my relationship started with the concept of story.

And then I realized that ….. and also clowning around; being a bit silly … like I  was always a bit of a showoff and stuff.

My family would allow that, and sort of support that. And so, I think … when the time came, that I was like, “Hey, maybe I’ll do …. maybe I’ll try to do this”, or try to get into school for it – or something. And it sort of just made …. it made some sense. And, I don’t know.

I also think that the … exposure to like theater and films and stuff …. was big as well though.

Luke: Yeah

Alex: You know, like mom used to take us to the theater and to … you know. So we had  ….we were always exposed to all those  …. to those arts. And that all sort of … it was part of it. But the first … the beginning, really started with books.

Luke: Every time that we’ve been around you, in Hawaii, or out here in the mainland, you’ve been super positive and stuff –  grounded and motivational. What do you do; or what helps you to keep that spirit up?

Alex: Uhm … positive, grounded, and motivational are …. look, I think, I don’t know about motivational –  Thank you for that, by the way.

I think that, like, I’m a pretty motivated person, like …. I… I’m always kind of moving and getting things done. And I think that can be motivational, to be around. That energy, you know.

I was just thinking about balance, actually. Like …..the thing I strive for most is balance. And I sort of always have. ‘Cos I’m either going one way or the other, you know. I’m either like 100 miles an hour and … or I’m just like, “Ah, whatever! I’m not going to do anything”.

And so, there’s that middle ground, you know.

Luke: Yeah.

Alex: But I’m pretty motivated to keep moving, which is good. But it can be burdensome on the people around me, sometimes. I feel like …. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve have been more negative and ….  It doesn’t serve me, you know. It just doesn’t …. I don’t know, it doesn’t … What’s the end game for it? You know, you get to kind …

So, I try to be positive, because it feels better and I enjoy my life. And I enjoy the people around me. And the people around me, most importantly, enjoy me more, you know, when I’m positive. So that’s really just a choice that I make.

Grounded – I think I can give the appearance of being grounded, but I’m not really [Laughs] … I’m not really that grounded.

Uhm … but uhm … I don’t know, I think that … What I would say about being grounded is that …. because, you know, you guys, we’ve spent quite a lot of time together on diving. You know, we spent a lot of time together in Hawaii. And you guys know me personally. So, I would say one of the things that …. just staying in the moment is really important, you know. 

And that sounds a little kind of airy-fairy, I guess, as I say it. But what I mean is, it’s really easy to future-trip. It’s really easy to sort of …. It’s quite difficult to be in the moment. For me, anyway, you know … I mean thinking about what hasn’t happened yet, comes more naturally. And thinking about what sort of already happened, than just sitting peacefully.

So that’s … that’s … that’s also a practice of choice.

Luke: So especially in Covid, since we need to be staying active – we know that you’re super into fitness and activities like Jiu-Jitsu. What are some things that you’ve been doing during Covid to stay active and healthy, and .. mentally and physically?

Alex: Yes, it’s been a bummer during Covid for people who like it … Jiu-Jitsu is pretty up close and personal, you know. It’s not like … there’s no six-foot rule applicable to that particular martial art. But … we …. at the beginning, we sort … we set up the … the … we have a little gym in the garage, with mats and stuff. And we bought a bunch of other stuff that …. and started doing like, baby boot camps for the kids and…
We sort of started working out as a family, really. And putting on some music and .. and … and doing that stuff. That was really cool. And … because we were going to go crazy, we realized that you know. So we started doing that and … That was pretty regular. We also live, you know our hill – we have quite a steep hill at the front of our house. And so we started like, running the hill and incorporating that. And we have  … like, we have a pool. And so, we like swimming and doing laps in the pool.

And, I think what … one of the things that … we realized, early … early on in this pandemic, is that, keeping moving, physically keeping moving is actually going to help the psyche as well, you know. Because we were all just going to go crazy if we just sat here. And then slowly the beaches opened up a little bit, and they closed down, and then they opened up.

And so, we’ve … we’ve got to go …. we’ve been able to sort of run down and go surfing, or run down and go for a quick little dive, or speared some fish and run home or … So it’s been a … It’s been a sort of mishmash of things, just putting things together each day. And coming up with a new plan each day. But they are the main things that we … we would be sort of focused on.

And also, bike rides with the kids. Like, we’re a family that really …. we love going on rides. We love, you know, going to the beach together. Going surfing together, going diving together, doing this and lots of stuff, and so…

Oh, and we’ve also … we’ve all got bows and arrows now. And so we’ve all been doing like archery,  in the back.

Luke: Yeah.

Alex: And that’s been pretty cool.

Luke: Yeah, I actually got my first fish, on my new speargun.

Alex: What was the fish? You’ve got to tell us about your fish, Luke.

Luck: It was a sheepshead. I got it down south.

Alex: Good fish. How big?

Luke: About two feet. Tasted super good … nice

Alex: Was it like, bigger than the screen?

Luke: Yeah.

Sebastian: Yeah, I think he is being a little modest. It was pretty big.

Alex: Nice!

Sebastian: Yes. So you do Jiu-Jitsu more than meditating. Do you meditate a lot, or at all?

Alex: That’s like a call out right now. Because my … my … I’ve been really lazy with it. I get …I’ve been … and I learn how to meditate, and I learn about the concept of meditation – which I thought was ridiculous, by the way, when I learned about it. A friend of mine had been to India and studied. And done it, and like she was really serious. And I was like, “This is really nonsense”. 

I was 19 years old, maybe I was 18. And … and so I learned about it back then. But then I did some classes and I first …  that’s when I first got to see how incredible it can be, you know. And so once you …. once you know, you know! Like you can’t unknow something like that.

And so it’s been a part of my life, on and off  … ever since then. And there’s been times in my life when it’s been much more … when I’ve had a much …. when I’ve had a formal practice, I guess, is what you would say, you know. There’s been times in my life, when I’ve been much more committed to a daily practice.

And I’m not in one of those [giggle] times right now.  I haven’t …. it’s been in a minute. I meditated last week, and it was really nice. But my consistency is off at the moment. But I will say that …. I will say that meditation is …. when I’m meditating regularly, my life is …. not only calmer, but better. That like it’s sort of higher quality life because…

Sebastian: Yeah, I know. I’ve been kind of like wanting to get in meditation. I’ve been like, I just don’t really know where to start.

Alex: Well, I can help you. After the interview, I can give you a couple of … I can give you a couple of… like … apps to look at and stuff like that. Because it’s actually …. there’s a lot of stuff out there, that you can get to help you out…

Sebastian: Yeah

Alex: Simple stuff, that is a really great place to start. But that’s sort of what I need to do, again, I think as well. Because I need to get back to my …  like headspace app and …

Luke: Yeah…

Alex: And just commit, you know. But that’s … isn’t that funny? Because we live in this age of immediacy, right. Where everything is a … like a five-second video. Or it’s like …. quick, we’ve got to quick. Everything is quick, quick … quick. And it’s like the average attention span is like five seconds, or whatever. And the thought of, like sitting … God forbid 20 minutes. But even for five minutes and just … just sitting. Is … Why is it so daunting to us? Just to, like, exist for a minute?

Luke: So what would you say your favorite stunt from Hawaii Five-0 was? And what was your most challenging?

Alex: [Giggles]

 Luke:  I know that’s, that’s definitely a question I want to know.

Alex: Alright …. uhm … well, first of all, like … like I’m an actor; and I’m not a stuntman. And the fact that I went onto that show, you know, I think … I think I did the pilot of that show, 11 years ago now. And from what I could sort of do, any of them … was kind of crazy. And I think a part of me …  so I’m prefacing this answer, because I want to make it very, very clear that my stuntmen on the show, are the guys that were the real heroes.

You know, they’re the guys that, you know … you probably don’t even know their names. Justin Sandquist and Paul Lacovara. You know, those guys are …. they’re the real … they’re hard dudes, man. They’re really tough guys. Much tougher than I will ever be. And … they take the really, really big hits.

And …. look, I took some hits, and I … I just I don’t… I think it was bad … in hindsight, I would have done it differently, you know. But at the time, like, I wanted to please people. And I wanted to make it as good as I could make it. And I wanted to … there was a bunch of different reasons why I did the amount of stunts that I did do.

And I also liked the thrill of it. Like, I like going fast. I like … I’ve always had motorcycles. You know, I like … the adrenaline.

And I think if you’d have asked me this in, like Season 2 or something, I would have been like, well, “definitely this and that”.

And now it’s just such a blur of, like, chaos, that I can’t give you a specific. Like, “Oh, when … when I smashed through that window, I went through that wall or jumped off that building” or, you know, “fired a gun riding that horse, that quickly”. Or whatever it was.

But … I’ll tell you what, they’re all challenging. Like the big of the stunt, the more the challenge. But I think the problem is like when you’re someone like me, who’s not as talented as those stunt guys, and you think you can just do it. And then you keep working and you don’t have time to recover. And you end up with injuries. That’s when it starts to get really challenging.

And you try to push through them. And you think you’re doing the right thing. And so, it’s sort of … it ultimately culminated in a …. in a bunch of bad choices for me.

But, to get back to sort of 10 plus years ago, it was really exhilarating. Like any time, I got to sort of free fall through something, or dive through windows, or whatever it was. It was like, “Oh my god.  I can’t believe I did that and I don’t have to go to hospital”. But sometimes I did have to go to the hospital – [giggles].

Sebastian: Uhm, so we have like a couple … just quick questions to end it off.

What’s your favorite smell?

Alex: What did you say?

Sebastian: I said, what’s your favorite smell?

Alex: [Whispers] I thought you said. My favorite smell?

Luke: Yeah

Alex: You know what? I love the smell of fresh water. And this is … it might sound weird, but it’s like, I have a shower outside here. You know, the shower I have out by the pool. And, I really get the smell there. Because I think it’s … because I’m surrounded in stone …. the stone walls around it and the wood underneath. But there’s something about the smell of fresh water, with nothing in it, that reminds me of when I was a kid. Because I was landlocked when I was … when I was little. And we used to go swimming like in freshwater rivers and stuff.

Luke: Yeah.

Alex: And it just, I don’t know …. So the smell of fresh water is very …. and it’s also the smell that you get when you’re out in the mountains. Like when you’re in a wilderness. And the smell of that water and the rivers and streams up there. 

Luke: Yeah. So, what is your biggest hope or biggest dream for yourself? After being an actor.

Alex: Yeah, I mean … I mean… it’s all. My biggest hope and dream is that I don’t suck as a dad, really. It really is, you know. It’s .. it’s ..

Luke: We’ve seen you as a dad. You’re pretty good!

Alex: Well, thank you, mate. That’s awesome. I really appreciate it.

But it really is …. It becomes…. When you have kids, the beginning and the end of every day, you … you .. it’s just always … “How did today go? Did I … did I do it right?”, you know.

Because there’s no guide … so yeah … there’s no books. I mean there’s a lot of books, but there’s no ones … You know, there’s not… but there’s no one way to do it. So, I think that, that’s my …. that’s my biggest focus.

Sebastian: Yeah. What’s your favorite food?

Alex: Good question. I think … I think it’s a … it’s a dead heat between good Japanese and good Italian. If you took those two foods out of my life, I don’t know,  if it be worth going on? I think I just have to like, pack it up … and.

I really like traditional Japanese food. Like I love …. when I actually go to Japan, all the different sauces and flavors and the way they do things. Like I love traditional Japanese food. You know, it’s not, …. not everyone likes, you know. And that’s. But I love the flavors of traditional Japanese cooking, especially the … the Kyoto style of cooking. Where they do this sort of … I don’t know how many courses they bring you, like maybe 19, I think. Tiny little bits of this and that. And I love eating that way. It’s amazing.

And Italian – just anything. [giggles]. Anything good, you know. And the funny thing is when you go to Italy, you can eat as much of that wheat as you want. You don’t get, like, lethargic and puffy and… snotty and stuff like we do in America when we eat it here. So, it’s sort of a different experience, but yeah, I’ve been to…

Luke: Ok, so last of these questions.

Alex: Yeah.

Luke: Dream place that you’ve never been to?

Alex: A dream … Did you say a dream place that I’ve never been to?

Luke: Anywhere in the world that you want to go?

Alex: Ahh …. Africa, I think is top of the list at the moment. There’s … there’s a lot of places as well. I really want to go to Patagonia. See what I’m doing? I do this. You say one, and I say seven. But I’ll do it anyway.

Luke: So, why Africa?

Alex: Well, because …. I think it’s just that … amazing, like all those … the big animals that they have, that no one else has. And … and the… That’s sort of where it all started.  … So much history, you know. Ancient and … and … all the …. all the unrest that’s happened.  I don’t know, I just … I just I don’t know. I really want to go to Africa. I really want to learn more about Africa.

But I want to take everyone and I want to wait until the boys are big enough to remember.

(Thanks Bee for reminding us about the edit we did many years ago)

Luke: We are super grateful that we are able to interview you. And ..

Alex: Right on

Luke: And hope to see you guys soon.

Alex: Yeah men. It’s good to see you in the second dimension anyway, here. I …I  appreciate being … you
guys inviting me to be part of this. And you guys are Hānai to us anyway. So, we’ll be seeing you soon. And we love you both.

Luke: Yeah

Alex: And thank you man

Sebastian: Miss you guys

Link to video:

A big Thank You to one of our fellow fans, Marcela, who helped us a lot with getting the bulk of the transcript done. It really helped me to get it out quicker. 

They also posted an short edit clip from the interview earlier, that was not included in the main video.

This is the transcript of it:

The Navy SEALs have a saying as well. (excuse me) …. it’s, “You don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training”. Which is a similar … I think it’s a similar sensibility like mindset you know, as what your grandpa is saying. Just the sort of war fighter version of it.

I just thought it was interesting because you brought it up …. You sent it to me the other day. And, it stuck in my mind. And I think it is really important for all of us to …. If you want, you know, to think about that. That … you know, what … when things … when things go down that matter, like when you need to show up – exactly what you guys were just saying, you know.

And what you were saying, Luke, like whether it’like meeting an important person, who’s is going to become part of your life potentially. Or … or an opportunity. You know, because people talk about luck as well – and I just sidebar here with this for a second. People say, “you’re lucky”. You know, “You’re lucky”. I was always taught that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity, right.

So when the opportunity arises – whether it’s for personal gain or to help clean up a piece of the ocean. Or to help, whatever it is – if you are prepared and, you know, for that opportunity, then you can pounce on that when it happens.

And so, I don’t know, I think …. I think it’s a cool thing your grandpa said and I think it’s a good thing to keep in the back of your mind.

Link to Video:

Thank you again to the boys from PacBleu for doing the interview and making Alex visible for us all at this time.