The aloha spirit lives backstage at the 78th Academy Awards, thanks to a former Honolulan who is one of the talent coordinators who assist the stars.

"I must say coming from Hawai'i helps me along," said Julie Kaneko Hall, 44, who marks her 11th anniversary tonight when the Oscars unfold in Hollywood. She won't be seen or heard. In fact, she won't see the ceremonies, except from a distance; she gets to watch the Oscarcast only after her Kona-based mom and dad, Ed and Kay Kaneko, ship her a VHS copy of the show.

As a talent coordinator, she's invisible to home viewers but invaluable for the stars and producers of the annual telecast.

"I guess my background in hotel and restaurant management in the past helps, too," said Hall in a phone interview last week. The Kalani High School graduate, who met her husband, Denny Hall, when he was a camera assistant on the CBS-TV series, "Magnum P.I.," worked as an assistant concierge manager at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, had a management role at the now-gone Bobby McGee's (where Diamond Head Grill now operates), was an assistant marketing director at Restaurant Row, and had public-relations stints with Lloyd and Shari Kandell's Kandell Advertising and Elissa Josephsohn Public Relations before moving to Ventura, Calif., where she was married.

"I took the spirit of aloha with me when I followed my man and moved," said Hall.

As the Oscar countdown began, we asked her Five Questions:

Q. What does your job entail?

A. Mostly, it's liaison between the talent and production company that puts on the show; I work with the presenters, performers and the host. I see all, I hear all, but my job is to be a shadow, to anticipate what the needs of the stars are, and be two steps behind them. Sometimes I feel like a firefighter on show day, prepared to put out fires.

Q. What's the range of things that have happened in your first 10 years on the job?

A. Nothing terrible, really, because mostly, it's all about making sure lost tickets are found, reconnecting a star with his or her party, escorting folks to the green room, helping mend a dress that might get ripped on the red carpet. And making sure the first person on the show (an early presenter) is in the seat. Once, we could not find that first person; I was on a walkie-talkie, looking on the red carpet. I was told that she was in a black limo, but all you see are black limos and a sea of people.

Q. How do you deal with big egos?

A. You kill them with kindness. It's all about hospitality. This is where you bring out the aloha spirit. But most people are very nice; I recall the 75th anniversary show, when 50 past Oscar winners — Julie Andrews, Ernest Borgnine, Teresa Wright and many others — gathered together on stage.

Q. How do you know who's who? By going to a lot of movies?

A. I do my homework on the Internet, but I don't see many films. I have a 5 1/2-year-old son, Noah, so we see mostly G-rated films, and being a mom is my full-time job. It's pretty easy to recognize the stars when they're dressed up, but they wear no makeup, and dark glasses, when they show up at rehearsals, so many look like normal people.

Q. What's most thrilling about this job?

A. Being backstage by the door is a thrill; when Halle Berry walked off the stage after she won her Oscar, her life changes, and you see that first moment. Because I don't work the rest of the year, unless it's a special like the Emmys, this job is almost like a vacation. I've seen and met some of the nicest people. I'm not supposed to mention names, but meeting and seeing a Bob Hope, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, those guys from the past, makes you realize how lucky you are.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.