
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumnus Brutus La Benz has long been a familiar face on Hawaiʻi television screens appearing in commercials for everything from Texaco and 7-Eleven to Kona Brewing Company and the Hawaiʻi Quit Tobacco campaign. But his big break came this spring, when he debuted as Lilo’s kumu hula (hula teacher) in Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch, a box office hit that soared past the $1 billion mark this July.



Before landing a role in the major Disney film, La Benz’s earliest acting stage was his family’s living room in Kailua. As a kid, he and his brother would spend hours performing scenes from hit flicks Wayne’s World and Tommy Boy after summer fun.
“A lot of times we would just kind of memorize lines and reenact them. And I always thought that was fun,” he said.
That early love for performance stuck. The Olomana native can still recite skits from the late, beloved Hawaiʻi comedian Rap Replinger—classic jokes he proudly calls “scripture.”
La Benz, a Punahou School graduate, earned degrees in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) and Hawaiian studies from the UH Mānoa Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. It was in those ʻōlelo classes he says a passion for acting truly began to grow.
“In order to help us learn the sentence structures and the new vocabulary, some of them would ask us to do a lot of mini skits, just so that we could memorize the lines and patterns,” La Benz added. “Once I figured out we can make these funny skits and still learn, that was really cool.”
That energy led him to the stage in 2004, when he starred in Kamapuaʻa, a Hawaiian-language stage production directed by Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, founder of UH Mānoa’s Hawaiian theatre program. It’s there he learned how to tell stories through action, not just words.
“Because many didn’t understand Hawaiian language, the words needed to come across in the way we acted. And so that was challenging, but also I think that’s what made us all really, really fun and decent actors,” La Benz said.
Seeking permission
In 2023, when Disney offered him the “kumu hula” role, La Benz actually hesitated. A trained ʻōlapa hula (hula dancer) under Kumu Hula Snowbird Bento, he wasn’t sure if taking the role of a kumu hula on screen was appropriate.
“My initial reaction was I better call my kumu first to make sure that it’s okay to portray a kumu,” La Benz said.
With her blessing, he stepped into it.
“He Mele No Lilo” (A song for the lost)

Filming for the lively scene took place at the Kokokahi YMCA in Kailua, and La Benz, who has a 9-year-old daughter, said it felt natural.
“It was just like having a bunch of my daughters there. They were super goofy. I felt more like I was being a parent and modeling after how I see my kumu interact with her students at those ages,” he said.
In addition to his role as Lilo’s kumu hula, La Benz also served as the body double for the alien character Jumba, performing the character’s physical movements on set.
His daughter, Kealaleihōkū lit up at the film’s Hawaiʻi premiere.
“She was just staring into the screen, but when I came on she said, ‘Oooh! Daddy!!’”
Guiding life moments
Outside of acting, La Benz pours his heart into work as a kahu (officiant). He’s spent more than a decade overseeing weddings, blessings and farewells.
“Honored to be a part of different celebrations…making people feel safe and comfortable enough to celebrate or grieve in a way that they need to,” said La Benz.
He expressed deep gratitude for the opportunity to serve as a kahu and looks forward to taking on new acting roles but says above all, being a dad is the role he cherishes most.
—By Moanikeʻala Nabarro