Peter Tuiasosopo

Peter Tuiasosopo
Peter Tuiasosopo
Born	May 24, 1965 (age 59); San Pedro, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–Present
Spouse	Cheryl D. Leonard
	American football career
No. 68
Position:	Center
Personal information
Height:	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:	285 lb (129 kg)
Career information
High school:	Phineas Banning (Wilmington, California)
College:	Utah State
Undrafted:	1987
Career history
	St. Louis Cardinals (1987)*; Los Angeles Rams (1987-1988);
	* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career NFL statistics
Games played:
Games played:	3
	Player stats at PFR

Peter "Navy" Tuiasosopo (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor known for his roles as E. Honda in Universal Pictures Street Fighter and Manumana in the Paramount Pictures film Necessary Roughness. He also played custodian Yoshi Nakamura in the Disney TV show Kickin It. He is a former American football center in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams. He played college football at Utah State University.

Early years

Tuiasosopo attended Taper Avenue Elementary and Phineas Banning High School in the Wilmington section of Los Angeles. He lettered in both football as an offensive/defensive lineman and on the track team as a shot-putter. He accepted a football scholarship from Utah State University.^[1]

Professional football

Tuiasosopo was signed as an undrafted free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals after the 1987 NFL Draft. He was waived on August 1.^[2]

After the players went on a strike on the third week of the 1987 season, those games were canceled (reducing the 16-game season to 15) and the NFL decided that the games would be played with replacement players. In September, he was signed to be a part of the Los Angeles Rams replacement team. He started 3 games at center and was released after the strike ended.

On March 7, 1988, he was re-signed by the Los Angeles Rams.^[3] He was cut before the season started. On July 29, 1989, he was signed by the Los Angeles Rams.^[4] He was released before the start of the season.

Acting

Tuiasosopo is perhaps best known for playing the role of E. Honda in the live action movie Street Fighter along with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raúl Juliá.

His first motion picture film role was Manumana "the Slender", the committed and respectful center on the fictional reconstructed Texas State "Fighting Armadillos" football team in the 1991 film Necessary Roughness. Tuiasosopo took a leave of absence from McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach, California for the film. Shortly afterwards, he co-starred in his first television series with original television Batman Adam West as the strong-armed detective Al Hamoki for the Fox network called Danger Theatre. Tuiasosopo had another film role as Willie Dumaine in 12 Rounds along with WWE wrestler John Cena. He also had a part in the NCIS season 10 episode "Hereafter" as Charles Kang / Chucky Bang. He also played in the Disney TV show Kickin It as a custodian and an ex-sumo wrestler named Yoshi Nakamura.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Necessary Roughness	Laikai Manumana "the Slender"
1993	Danger Theatre	Detective Al Hamoki
1994	On Deadly Ground	Worker #1
1994	Street Fighter	E. Honda
1996	The Jamie Foxx Show	Jackie Chin
1997	Batman & Robin	Observatory Guard
1998	BASEketball	Ed Tuttle
2000	Charlie's Angels	Pink's Body Guard
2001	The Fast and the Furious	BodyGuard
2002	The Scorpion King	Night Gate Guard
2008	Speed Racer	Fuji Announcer #2
2009	12 Rounds	Willie Dumaine
	A Perfect Getaway	Supply Guy
	The Slammin' Salmon	Miami Dolphin #1
2011	Kickin' It	Yoshi Nakamura
2011	The Young and the Restless	Koaa	Unknown episodes
2012	Fun Size	Mr. Mahani (Samoan Man)
2013	NCIS	Charles Kang / Chucky Bang	Episode: "Hereafter"
2013	New Girl	Big Bob and Steve S2Ep10
2013	Mob City	Big Oso
2015	Ray Donovan	Samoan Guard
2015	Black-ish	Officer Tuiasosopo
2018	Mayans MC	Afa

Personal life

Tuiasosopo was born and raised in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. His father was U.S. Army (27 years) and U.S. Postal Service retired Manavaalofa Petelo "Sgt. Pete" Tuiasosopo (1935–2008) of Fagatogo, American Samoa and mother Registered Nurse (30 years) retired Silaulala "Sheila" Lealoa Alofaituli (1927–2007) of Vatia, American Samoa. He is one of seven children: Brothers Mike Tuiasosopo, the professional football coach, Andrew Tuiasosopo (Carson, California) and sisters Jean Redondo (Long Beach, California), Aavonda Gonzales (San Pedro, California), Aaleslie Speake (deceased), Aaona Speake (deceased) and Adaline Aure (Bellingham, Washington).

Tuiasosopo's uncle is Bob Apisa. His cousins are Manu Tuiasosopo, John Tautolo and Terry Tautolo. His second cousin is Marques Tuiasosopo.^[5]^[6] His niece is American rower Lanea Tuiasosopo.^[7]^[8]