Cohen Holloway: On blending comedy and drama...

Interview – 2015

Cohen Holloway is an actor, comedian and singer who first made an impact on comedy shows Pulp Comedy and Facelift. He went on to act in movie After the Waterfall, and Taika Waititi hits Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. In 2009 Holloway won a Qantas Best Actor Award after starring as David Dougherty in TV drama Until Proven Innocent. He had further starring roles in Good for Nothing and Bellbird, and comedy series Find Me a Māori Bride.

In this ScreenTalk, Holloway talks about:

Feeling terrified about his first appearance on Pulp Comedy
Having his John Campbell impression replaced by the man himself, on bro’Town
How doing impersonations too well affected the role he got in Eagle vs Shark
Trying to control his nerves during his first day on TV movie Until Proven Innocent
Thinking actor Antony Starr was angry with him on film After the Waterfall
Talking with Taika Waititi about finding the right Māori voice for hit film Boy
The film's young star James Rolleston
Playing a baddie in mullet and gumboots for Jane Campion, in Top of the Lake
Basing his Find Me a Māori Bride character of Tama partly on himself
Being won over by Sam Neill and Julian Dennison on Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Officially becoming cool, after working with Stan Walker on the movie

This video was first uploaded on 3 August 2015, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

...they auditioned me as Mason . . . I hadn't done any film work at that stage. I was so nervous to meet them that Taika just goes 'you know that nervous energy you've got? Just keep that'. And that's what Mason is — it's me actually auditioning.
– Cohen Holloway on auditioning for the role of Mason in Taika Waititi's 2007 film Eagle vs Shark

Cohen's Full Profile