He almost didn't even make an audition tape because it was going to cost him $50 and he was "struggling to find the money for dinner".
Then the film's director Jason Hall was under pressure from everyone involved not to hire him because this kid from the bottom of the world who no one had heard of was a massive risk. Luckily, Hall bet his job on Koale, telling Spielberg he was "a movie star".
"I told Steven, 'I think this kid's a movie star, a sweet humble kid who has this power that comes through. It's a unique opportunity for us. This kid comes from the streets, from a family of criminals, from a very tough situation in Auckland. He brought all that emotion to the work.'"
But then Koale couldn't even get in the country as a result of what Hall seems to suspect was racism. Koale was denied a visa despite being one of the lead actors in a Steven Spielberg/Dreamworks film.
Because of Koale's past, Hall questioned whether the actor had a previous convictions he didn't know about or had roughed up the guy over the visa, but Beulah responded: "I swear, this guy looked at me and decided he didn't like me."
"I think this was some white guy we put there in New Zealand to decide who gets to come into our country and he didn't like this burly brown guy and was going to keep him out," says Hall.
Eventually, Koale had to fly in via Canada to slip through a loophole. But when he got there, he had just a few dollars to his name and started sneaking the free apples from the hotel gym just to get by.
"For three days. That and water was it. I was too prideful to ask anyone for help. I'd grown up to be the type of person who thinks, 'I don't need help, I'll sort this myself'.
"That third day I was really suffering. I went down to the reception area, almost in tears. The woman asked if I was alright. I said, 'if I order room service, can I pay you back later? I'll get paid in a couple of months and I'll give you all my details and make sure I come back and pay you guys'.
"She was like, 'you can order whatever you want, it's on the production and all paid for'. I walked to the elevator and just got on it before I started crying, just bawling my eyes out. I ordered everything on that list and called my girl and said 'Babe, I'm finally going to eat some food'."
But although Koale's past experiences made for some tough first steps into Hollywood, he's there now and he's a massive success. It was his past that got him the role as he carried the weight and "the darkness" necessary for the part.
And it was his talent that made him an easy sell when the crew on Hawaii Five-0 called Hall to see how he had worked out on the film. He's now a starring regular on the hit TV series and has just made his debut on US television.
Thank You For Your Service also stars Miles Teller, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Haley Bennett. It's set for release in the US next week.
