Why Kai Holman From NCIS: Hawaii Looks So Familiar

Fans of the venerable "NCIS" franchise show no sign of tiring with the adventures of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service — on the contrary, they crave ever more. In 2009, the original "NCIS" team — itself a far more successful offshoot of a legal drama called "JAG" — received its first spin-off, "NCIS: Los Angeles." In 2014, it was time for "NCIS: New Orleans" to enter the arena. Now, in 2021, it's time for a fourth "NCIS" show to jump in the mix.

"NCIS: Hawaii" brings the tried and tested concept to the sunny environs of the Aloha State, and fans are no doubt eager to find out more about the NCIS agents of the Pearl Harbor Field Office, led by NCIS Special Agent Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey). As ever, the team is full of interesting personalities with peculiar backstories, but as the series is only beginning, it's probably worth paying extra attention to the character that, much like the viewer, is a newcomer in NCIS Pearl — Agent Kai Holman. He's sure to offer a handy viewpoint to introduce you to this particular office's habits and dynamics. Incidentally, he also looks very, very familiar. Let's see where you might have seen the guy before. 

Alex Tarrant is a fairly young actor whose first IMDb credits date back to just 2014, but it's highly likely that you'll hear a lot about him in the very near future. After all, he's not only a star of "NCIS: Hawaii" — he's also one of the stars of Amazon Prime Studios' upcoming "The Lord of the Rings" series. With that in mind, it's well worth checking out some of his earlier work, because let's face it — you'll probably end up doing it sooner rather than later anyway. 

Tarrant's first significant TV role was Maui Vaipiti in the BBC's supernatural murder drama "Tatau," which takes place in the exotic location of Cook Islands, and had the relative newcomer working with heavyweights like Temuera Morrison (who plays Jango Fett and Boba Fett in the "Star Wars" franchise). In an interview with Stuff, Tarrant admitted that the experience was somewhat harrowing, as director Wayne Yip's tendency to ignore him completely threw him off until he realized that Yip likely expected the young actor to behave like his character, whose main motivation is to impress his father — or, as the case may be, his director. 

"He was telling me a story about how whenever we want a certain thing out of our actors, from a director's perspective, we tend to sometimes treat them as though they are the character," Tarrant said, though he admitted that the process didn't quite work as intended. "For me as an actor, if that was the tactic I think it was an interesting tactic but I don't think it worked that well for me. I'm very much someone who, if someone gives a certain amount, I give a certain amount back."

In 2015, Alex Tarrant started his tenure as Ike, a recurring character on the Australia-New Zealand joint production, "800 Words." Ike enters the picture as a love interest for main character George Turner's (Erik Thomson) daughter, Shay (Melina Vidler), as well as the hearts of many viewers. The show propelled Tarrant to official hot guy status in Australia and New Zealand, though in an interview with the New Zealand Herald, the actor admitted that the newfound adoration was sometimes fairly embarrassing. 

"I'm going red just thinking about it," Tarrant said. "After every Tuesday night [when the show screens in Australia] I wake up on Wednesday morning with around 50 new Instagram followers. I'm pretty chuffed that people want to get to know me."

Though that's a fairly understandable reaction, you can't help but feel that with the projects Tarrant has lined up, his Instagram follower count is going to expand at a much speedier pace than that in the future. 

In 2016, Alex Tarrant joined the cast of "Filthy Rich," a TVNZ drama-comedy about one of the richest men in New Zealand and the three illegitimate kids who turn up after his untimely death, much to the chagrin of the official heir, John Truebridge Jr. (Josh McKenzie). Tarrant plays Joe, the oldest of the aforementioned illegitimate children, and arguably the most grounded one. His start in life wasn't too great, as he was quite literally discoverered from a trash can as a baby, but he goes on to grow up in a decent enough environment — that is, until his world is upended when the news of his legacy arrives. 

Though "Filthy Rich" only lasted for two seasons, and Tarrant had no illusions about its critical acclaim — or, rather, the lack of it — he told Stuff the show had nothing but great experiences in store for him. "It's a really cool crew," he said. "It is essentially like a little family. When the cameras aren't on we are pretty much all the best of friends."