Tamayo Perry, surfer and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor, dies after being bitten by a shark in Hawaii

Tamayo Perry, an actor, surfer, instructor and lifeguard, has died in Hawaii due to a shark attack, local authorities reported. Perry, who played one of the secondary pirates in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), died on Sunday at around noon due to several bites, as reported by the Honolulu Emergency Services Department. He was 49 years old.

In addition to being an actor, Perry was an experienced surfer, so much so that he worked as a lifeguard on the island of Oahu, where the incident took place. Apparently he had gone out with his surf board with several colleagues during his lunch break on Malaekahana Beach. Shortly after, the authorities were notified that there was a dead man in the town of Laie. In a call to the emergency services, they were warned that the body “appeared to have suffered more than one possible shark bite.”

As stated by the emergency services in the subsequent news conference, Perry was taken to the shore by a fellow surfer. Honolulu EMS personnel who responded to the call pronounced him dead.

“Tamayo Perry was a lifeguard loved by all,” said Kurt Lager, acting Ocean Safety Chief in a news conference on Sunday. “He was well-known on the North Shore. He’s a professional surfer known worldwide. Tamayo’s personality was infectious, and as much as people loved him, he loved everyone else more.” The mayor of Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi, described Perry as “a legendary waterman.” “This is just a tragic loss. … You get a call like this on a Sunday afternoon, and it’s just, just really hard to imagine.”

Perry, who was born in Oahu, was well known on the island for his skill on the surf board, which made him become a professional surfer and surfing instructor. But he was also known as an actor, which made him even more popular. He took to the waves in various competitions, such as the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii and the Billabong Pro Teahupoo in Tahiti. On screen, his career began in 2002 with the film Blue Crush, where he played a surfer. Later he had roles in one of the movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. That same year, 2011, he had a role in the 15th episode of the first season of the series Hawaii: 5.0. In 2015 he appeared in a short called The Bridge, which was his last foray into film.

A warning sign alerting bathers to the presence of sharks has been posted on Malaekahana Beach following the incident. These types of attacks are rare on this Pacific atoll. In fact, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, which carries out research on the matter every year, in 2023 there were only 69 shark attacks around the world (22 of them provoked), and of these, 36 were in the United States, but only eight of them in Hawaii and just one was deadly. According to local statistics, the average number of shark bites on the atoll is about 10 a year, but death is uncommon.

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