Tamayo Perry, actor and legendary surfer, killed in shark attack

“As tragic as his passing may have been,” read a message posted Monday on the Instagram account of a surf instruction company Perry ran with his wife, “he left this world doing what he loved, what he loved to do .”

At a news conference Sunday at Oahu’s Malaekahana Beach, a spokeswoman for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department said first responders received a 911 call just before 1 p.m. that day about a surfer fatally injured in a shark attack. Perry was brought ashore by rescuers via jet ski, spokeswoman Shayne Enright told reporters, before he was formally declared dead. Enright said her office had no further information to share at the time, and she said she and other officials would not answer questions at the news conference.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi called Perry a “legendary waterman and highly respected” at the news conference: “You get a call like that on a Sunday afternoon, it’s just very hard to imagine.”

On Monday, Blangiardi used a Facebook post to salute Perry, a lifeguard for the city and county of Honolulu, for “exemplifying courage, dedication and a deep sense of duty, serving our community with unwavering dedication.”

“His heroic actions and tireless efforts to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors,” Blangiardi wrote, “will never be forgotten.”

Perry grew up near the famed Pipeline surf spot on the North Shore, where rolling waves test the mettle of even the elite. He won the Pipeline Masters trials in 1999, per Surfline, and was also often seen riding the huge swells at Teahupo’o in Tahiti.

In a self-penned biography on his surf instruction company’s website, Perry wrote: “I’ve been surfing professionally for over 15 years and surfing the deadliest wave in the world is what I got paid to do (Pipeline).”

He added that his on-screen roles have included appearing in national advertising campaigns, as well as the surf-focused film “Blue Crush.”

Although shark encounters are hardly unheard of in Hawaii, deaths from water sports incidents are rare. Perry’s death was the first this year among participants in surfing and other activities such as swimming, paddle boarding and diving, according to a list maintained by the state government. The previous fatality occurred on December 30 and involved a surfer on the north coast of the island of Maui, the Hawaii government said. Before that, there was one shark-related episode in 2022 that claimed the life of a snorkeler elsewhere in Maui. There were seven reported incidents of people being injured in shark encounters in 2021, but there were no deaths that year.

In December 2020, a shark attack that killed a surfer caused the postponement of a World Surf League event in Maui. On Monday, the WSL said of Perry that it was “deeply saddened to share that the surfing community has lost a beloved icon.”

“Tamayo was a Pipeline/Teahupo’o specialist, freesurfer, former competitor and member of the WSL for many years,” professional surfing’s governing body said. “He became a lifeguard for the city and was a big part of the North Shore community. Our thoughts go out to Tamayo’s family and friends.”