Naomi Kahoilua Wilson
Naomi Kahoilua Wilson played one acting role in her life and is still well known for it. She was cast for the role of “Mahana” in the short film “Johnny Lingo” at the last minute. Her audition didn’t even include reading from a script.
- “Judge didn't give me a script,” she said. “He just told me to stand on one side of the room and walk slowly toward him.”
- Whitaker gave Wilson various "scenes" to react to, noting the subtlety of her expressions and body language.
- “Right before getting to him, he said, 'Now look up and pretend you see the face of the Savior,’” she said. “I was surprised, but when he said that, my dreams came flooding back.”
As a little girl growing up in Hilo, Hawaii, she had had a recurring dream that she was walking across cobblestones toward a light, struggling to see the face of Christ. “I knew I had the role. It was very spiritual.”
Since that time, she has been asked to speak continually about her role in the film and believing in oneself, and she never turns down the requests.
“I don't have a secret formula to good self-esteem,” she said. “It simply will come to you as a natural extension of following the commandments.”
She also reminds her listeners to be open to extraordinary, unexpected possibilities. “The Lord has a plan for each of us, and it is always so very much more than we would have ever imagined for ourselves.”
Wilson has received letters from places like Ghana and the Philippines, asking her about Mahana. “I went for a long time not understanding that this was my role, that years later I would still be talking about her,” she said.
- Once at an airport, Wilson met an LDS man who worked at the Pentagon. He told her the U.S. Army has shown “Johnny Lingo” to communities in Third World countries that are trying to rebuild after enduring some disaster.
- “The psychology of the film speaks to people,” Wilson said. “They can identify with Mahana, with feeling worthless but realizing they can rebuild their inner strength.”
She said the role has been a lodestar for her life’s choices. She was once offered a role in a TV commercial for a local beer company. The pay was tempting enough for her to think about accepting, but she said she immediately thought “Mahana can’t do that.” So she turned it down.
Her careers in life have included mothering the three children she has with her husband, Brent, and working with advanced classical piano students to help them prepare for college juries that will determine whether the students will be accepted into music programs or receive prestigious scholarships.
