The media has scrutinized Keala Kennelly a lot over the years, tracking her every move, fueling an unrelenting barrage of speculation aimed at discrediting female surfers. Displaying her wild child personality that seemed untamable, there was gossip that her accomplishments in the sport had taken women’s surfing one step forward, but that her rock star lifestyle and antics had taken women’s surfing two steps back. Despite what other people said about her, Kennelly has maintained her integrity, stuck to her roots and followed her own path. Staying true to herself has since paid off for Kennelly: a writer working on the HBO original series, John from Cincinnati, met her and decided on the spot that she was indeed a character and needed to be on his show.
“Halfway through the 2006 WCT season, I got a call from my friend Alex from HBO asking me if I would like to come be a part of a new TV series that involved surfing. I agreed to go in and went to lunch with the creator, David Milch and a bunch of the writers. At one point during that lunch, David decided I needed to be a character on his show. I thought he was joking. A few months later I found out he was not. HBO sent me over a contract,” Kennelly said.
Traveling the world on tour is hard enough a task for one person to handle, but throw in an acting career to boot and you have a whole other level of stress and scheduling to deal with. Such was the crossroad Kennelly came to -- she had to make a decision, surfing’s biggest stage or a stage of another kind.
“Because the show would be shooting from December of 2006 to June 2007, I knew it would totally interfere with my schedule,” Kennelly said. “I could have tried to do both, but I thought that would be selfish of me to take the place on the WCT knowing I would miss events and not be able to make a serious run for the title. There are so many girls out there that would kill for that spot and would be giving one hundred percent. Splitting my energies between a full time acting and surfing career seemed like it would leave me doing both things halfway, so I decided to commit myself one hundred percent to HBO and David Milch.”
There are so many questions that the surfing media has left unanswered regarding Kennelly’s departure from the professional ranks. I couldn’t help but wonder. So I asked questions I hadn’t heard answers to. What is the show about? Do you work with an acting coach? Do you miss the tour? Will you ever go back? Will you continue acting? Do you want to be in more films? What's next? Kennelly had no problem answering in detail.
“It’s really hard to explain what the show is about, especially since they’ve only written the script up to where we are filming,” Kennelly said. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen next. In the beginning you think it’s about this surfing family that is totally dysfunctional and all the drama that surrounds the family. Then this guy John shows up and all this really weird stuff starts happening. It definitely has a supernatural element. You kind of get the feeling as the episodes go on that some of the big mysteries of the universe might be answered as the story plays itself out,” Kennelly said.
Making the transition from pro surfer to actor is an extreme carreer change. Remember though, Kennelly had some prior acting experience in the movie Blue Crush. The producer, however, did assign her an acting coach.
“Her name is Julie Ariola and she is fantastic,” Kennelly said. “She is such a sweet woman and I love her dearly. She has been such a big help and inspiration to me. She is a wonderful actor herself.”
Kennelly has had such a big impact on women’s surfing and her absence will be noticed. But Kennelly’s hot and cold relationship with both the tour and the surfing media alike may lead to a permanent absence from professional competitive surfing.
“I came so close to winning the world title in 2003. The disappointment of having that slip through my fingers was quite paralyzing and really broke my competitive spirit,” Kennelly said. “I also thought is was really unfair that the surf conditions would always be such a deciding factor in who won and who lost. So, I definitely don’t miss those aspects of the tour or the grueling traveling schedule. I do miss the girls and being able to surf with them. They’re very inspiring.”
The elimination of the Teahupoo event on the women’s tour seems like it was a key determinant in Kennelly’s decision to leave. By dropping Tahiti as a tour stop, some talking heads in the surf media have indicated the tour was signaling that either women on the whole weren’t good enough to surf big, heavy, shallow reef barrels -- the type of wave Kennelly prides herself on surfing well -- or that they just didn’t want to. Motive aside, the precedent set by the removal of the event is what has Kennelly, who shines in big surf situations, upset.
“I was frustrated and really unhappy at the direction the women’s tour was taking -- losing challenging barrel riding events and switching back to two foot beach breaks around the world. I was starting to feel trapped in my career. I knew without the proper wave venues on tour my special talents that set me apart from the other girls would go completely unnoticed,” Kennelly said.
The future seems wide open for Kennelly. She has plenty of opportunities ahead of her in her new field, and there are other options on deck after she’s done filming with HBO.
“Moving forward, I am going to be the first woman to join the Billabong adventure division and I think it will be a perfect match for my surfing style and really be able to showcase my abilities a lot better than a 25 minute heat situation,” Kennelly said. “Going back on tour is always an option, but for now I’m really into this show. I really believe in this project and I want to see it through for as long as it goes.”
Keala Kennelly
