Growing up on Kaua’i raised by a mom who surfs and paddles outrigger canoes gave Sanoe Lake the perfect background for her role in the new summer romance movie “Blue Crush”. The teenage-focused film is ready for national release, and
Growing up on Kaua’i raised by a mom who surfs and paddles outrigger canoes gave Sanoe Lake the perfect background for her role in the new summer romance movie “Blue Crush”.
The teenage-focused film is ready for national release, and a Kaua’i premiere, on July 12 by Universal Studios. Its plot tells the story of a trio of surfer girls living in a beach shack in rural Maui. With time on their hands the girls turn to surfing and become part of the surfer crowd. That’s where Lake’s surfing expertise comes in.
Lake is now 23 and currently in Tahiti on a location modeling assignment for Australian surf wear manufacturer Billabong. She made her mark as a teenager as one of the original models for the wildly successful Roxy line of girl’s surf wear from Quiksilver.
In an e-mail sent prior to departure from Los Angeles for Papeete, Lake told about how she got into surfing.
“I grew up surfing on Kaua’i, and left the island to go to school on O’ahu when I was 13,” she said. “Within a year I was out at the North Shore feeling it out and getting aquatinted with surfing out there. By the time I was 15 there wasn’t a spot that I wasn’t comfortable with surfing. I lived to surf. If the North Shore had a swell, I was there.”
Her big break came unexpectedly on O’ahu’s North Shore.
“A manager by the name of John English approached me right as I got in from surfing Rocky Point one day,” she said. “Truly I don’t know what he saw in me…I had just surfed for hours, was all sunburnt, with a rash from my surfboard all over my stomach and knees. I looked like a drowned rat. Anyhow, he began managing me and my first jobs included Shape, Elle, and several teen magazines. Later that year Roxy approached me and I did several campaigns for them. Eventually I ended up with Jet Set (a modeling agency), where (former Kaua’i resident) Cindy Kauanui began representing me.”
Lake’s mom Laola Aea, a South Shore resident, said she is proud of her daughter for excelling as a model, and for moving ahead with her long time desire to be an actress, and for standing up for what she believes and speaking her mind on the movie set. She said the young actress stood by her Christian beliefs when she asked the moviemakers to remove curses and swearing from her lines, though she knew it was a risk to speak up.
Aea said it was remarkable that her daughter, without any acting experience, was chosen for a lead role in “Blue Crush.” She said the producer and director of the film were very supportive of Lake when the final casting was being done due to her natural abilities and screen presence.
“…God has opened doors for her, shut peoples eyes, opened peoples eyes, and her talents have developed along the way,” Aea said of her daughter’s non-traditional career track.
She said Lake’s first-hand knowledge of surfing in Hawai’i also helped in adding an authentic touch to her lines in the film, and in her skills in the water in surfing scenes shot for “Blue Crush” by famed surf photographer Don King and others.
Aea said the film should be interesting for its the f first Hollywood feature to portray the female surfing scene which is now a major sector in the world of surfing, surfing products and surfing publications.
“It’s not a spoof, there’s an authentic story behind it,” Aea said of the plot of the film.
Aea said her daughter is a very good surfer. “If she had put her mind to going professional she could have.”
Lake’s modeling for Roxy ended when she was 17, and she said she is very happy now that she’s representing and modeling for Billabong.
Her acting career is a new world for her, and one built upon her modeling experience.
“Being with Jet Set has been so wonderful,” Lake said. “What that Jet Set stands for is not the norm. Jet Set is all about representing a clean image, and being a light in a very dark industry, and I love that. It’s not the biggest modeling agency, but to me it’s the best. With so much darkness in this world, it’s a blessing to be a part of something going against the norm…Cindy is now managing me and will most likely end up putting me with a theatrical agent. I will always have her in someway connected to me and my career.”
Lake said Kauanui was key in launching her acting career.
“Cindy heard about ‘Blue Crush’ and put me up for it,” she said. “By the grace of God I landed the role of Lena. Hundreds of girls went up for the part. I had to go through so many meetings and readings. They knew they liked me a lot, but they were concerned that I had no acting experience. It was a very long process, but in the end a big studio, Universal, took a risk that only independent films would take.”
She said she urged the film’s makers to keep the film authentic to the world of surfing in Hawai’i. “When I was going through the casting process I just remember telling them, ‘Please don’t make another corny surf film…for the sake of the surfing industry and the sake of anyone who goes to see your film that’s all I ask.’ Well, we’ll see if the risk they took on me was worth it.”
As well as modeling Lake said she is open to new directions in her acting career and life. “As far as future plans go…well only God knows that.”
