Could a starring role as a serial killer catapult Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau into the Hollywood spotlight nearly 17 years after he left Hawaii to chase his dreams as an actor?
If it does, he’ll have Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife and an NFL star to partially thank for it.
Lyman-Mersereau, 33, plays convicted murderer Jackson Shea opposite Denise Richards in “American Violence,” an action-drama directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. and set for release Friday in select mainland theaters and video-on-demand streaming.
Richards’ character, Dr. Amanda Tyler, seeks to get into Shea’s mind and determine if he truly deserves to be on death row. By the end of the film, Lyman-Mersereau said, he thinks most audiences will be rooting for him.
“I never thought Jackson would think of himself as a serial killer,” Lyman-Mersereau said by phone from Santa Monica, Calif., where he lives. “He’s just an ordinary guy who was put in extraordinary situations.
“It starts off with this guy being a real scumbag, but as the film unfolds you kind of fall in love and you’re really rooting for him because you get to hear his story, what really happened and not just what the justice system is saying. So the audience kind of becomes the jury.”
The 2002 Mid-Pacific Institute graduate landed the “American Violence” role last spring, with filming taking place in Los Angeles over two months starting in May. Lyman-Mersereau said he was “blown away” by the script and “couldn’t stop reading it,” so he got in touch with Woodward and successfully lobbied for an audition.
Growing up in Hawaii, Lyman-Mersereau was an avid surfer and also played water polo, paddled outrigger canoes and studied Brazilian jiu jitsu. He also studied close-up, sleight-of-hand magic, which led to him discovering a passion for performing on stage. Four years of participation in Mid-Pac’s School of the Arts only motivated him more to relocate to Hollywood as soon as he finished high school.
“Ever since I was really little, I always strived to be the center of attention,” he said. “I did all theater in Hawaii but as soon as I moved to California it was only film. I haven’t done theater in the last 15 years, but film is where my passion is. That’s where it was always going.”
Along with Richards, “American Violence” features appearances by veteran actors Michael Paré and Bruce Dern. Columbus Short, who starred in the ABC television series “Scandal” from 2012 to 2014, also has a role. But it’s a scene with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski that still had Lyman-Mersereau chuckling on the phone months after it was shot.
For a guy who is “like a big golden retriever” in person, the actor said “Gronk” was able to switch personas once cameras started rolling.
“He’s a really nice guy … and then on-camera he’s playing this badass bodyguard,” he said. “For what he did, I think he did a great job. They kind of make him look like the Terminator in the film. I thought he was brilliant.”
Lyman-Mersereau has landed numerous television roles in recent years, including a 2012 appearance on the CBS made-in-Hawaii hit “Hawaii Five-0.” He has also appeared in HBO’s highly regarded 2016 series “Westworld,” the Showtime drama “Ray Donovan,” TNT’s family crime drama “Animal Kingdom” and the ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat.” His IMDb profile also lists numerous film roles on what appear to be smaller-budget projects.
“Unless you’re that lucky 2 or 3 percent who book ‘Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Twilight’ right out of school, you basically attend the school of hard knocks. It’s a lifelong education,” he said. “Sometimes you’re doing really big roles in smaller projects and smaller roles in bigger projects, and then one day you’ve got a big role in a big project.”
Now married to his wife, Mailyn, with his first child, a boy, due in May, Lyman-Mersereau said while his career keeps him tied to Hollywood in the short term, he hopes like so many others to one day make it back home for good.
“Sometimes the only problem I can find is that I’m married to (Los Angeles),” he said. “My wife is from Brazil, but she grew up between Brazil and Kauai, and I’m from Oahu. So it would be ideal for us to raise our son in Hawaii. When the time is right, that will definitely be something on the table.”
