Actor Peter “Navy” Tuiasosopo, 59 (some sources say 61), died of a heart attack on Feb. 10. Born in Calif., of Samoan descent, he was a center for the Los Angeles Rams before segueing into acting. His best known films roles were as E. Honda in Street Fighter, and Manumana in Necessary Roughness (his other films included Savage, Batman & Robin, Ill Gotten Gains, The Fast and the Furious, and Austin Powers in Goldmember). Tuiasosopo appeared frequently on TV, with recurring roles in Danger Theater, Hawaii, Easy Money, The Young and the Restless, and New Girl. He came from a noted sports family: his uncle Robert Apisa was also a football player and actor; three of his cousins were football players, and his niece Lanea Tuiasosopo is a rower. The family had a brush with scandal in 2013 when his nephew Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was accused of catfishing fellow football player Manti Te'o by inventing a fake (dead) girlfriend—it’s still not clear if Te'o knew she didn’t actually exist; the whole story has layers of bafflement.
Related Posts
