Taylor Wily, Hawaii Five-0 Actor and Former Sumo Wrestler, Dies at 56

The talented Taylor Wily has passed away.

By Timothy Adams

Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., and former Sumo wrestler Taylor Wily (Teila Tuli) has passed away at the age of 56. KITV 4 Island News in Hawaii confirmed the news of Wily's death, though a cause of death is not known at this time. Friends, family, and former coworkers have taken to social media to pay their respects to Wily, including Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. executive producer Peter Lenkov, who wrote on Instagram, "I am devastated. Heartbroken. I'll post some detailed feeling in a few days. Just too hard right now." Along with Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I., Taylor Wily's resume includes roles and appearances on the recent MacGyver reboot, North Shore, One West Waikiki, the original Magnum P.I., The Amazing Race, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Taylor Wily played Kamekona on the CBS reboot of Hawaii Five-0, appearing in 171 episodes during its 10-year run on the network. He also played the character in the Magnum P.I. reboot as well as MacGuyver. 

During his career as a sumo wrestler, Wily competed under the name Takamikuni. He took part in the first bout of the UFC 1 and wound up losing a few teeth in his match against Gerard Gordeau. However, Wily (under the name Teila Tuli) could say that he did break Gordeau's hand when Gordeau struck Wily in the head.

Along with the tributes to Taylor Wily comes one from his sister, Alyssa, who changed her Facebook profile picture to an image of Taylor superimposed on her family. One post includes a video of the family gathered around a table with the caption, "Mourning and celebrating our favorite brother and uncle the way he would want us to. Family, Food, Music and Good Vibes. Aurrrrrrighhhhh (in his voice)."

Another post features Alyssa's sons singing a song in Taylor's memory with the caption, "Singing for their uncle tee."

Photo credit via Darryl Oumi/Getty Images

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