Beulah Koale spent his last $50 on Thank You For Your Service audition tape

New Zealand actor Beulah Koale went hungry for days after spending his last few dollars on his audition tape for new war movie Thank You For Your Service.
Koale was already struggling to make ends meet when he learned writer/director Jason Hall was looking for actors of Samoan descent to cast in a key role, and decided to sacrifice his last NZ $50 ($35/£25) to cover the costs of filming his audition to send in to production officials.
Luckily, the risky bet paid off, and he landed the role of U.S. Army Specialist Tausolo Aieti, starring alongside Miles Teller as Staff Sergeant Adam Schumann in the film, which chronicles the struggles the real-life military men faced adjusting back to civilian life after serving in the Iraq War.
“It almost didn’t go my way,” Koale recalled on U.S. breakfast show Today. “(But it was a) good investment! Best $50 I’ve ever spent in my life!”
Koale is thankful to have been given his big break by Hall, and is proud to have worked with Teller to share the emotional stories of Aieti and Schumann onscreen.
“I got to have another brother (Teller) here and work with Jason Hall on the film,” he said, “and I got to do this role and represent these guys, and I think we did it well.”
Starring in Thank You For Your Service has also led to Koale scoring a gig as a series regular for hit TV crime drama series Hawaii Five-0, joining the cast for the new season eight.