AnapelaPolataivao
- Actor
- Writer
Samoan-born and Auckland raised, Anapela Polataivao (ONZM) began acting at age eight. After graduating from Toi Whakaari in 2002 she launched multimedia group Kila Kokonut Krew with Vela Manusaute; they were prime movers behind community TV show KTV and musical (turned web-series) The Factory. She is also half of comic duo Pani & Pani, with Goretti Chadwick who created and hosted Māori TV hit Games of Bros. Her credits include an award-winning role in short Night Shift and a nomination for series The Market. In 2025 she starred in film Tinā as a grieving mother in post-quake Christchurch, who finds joy as a high school teacher.
Screenography
Awards
2025 New Zealand Screen Awards/Ngā Taonga Whakaata O Aotearoa
Equity New Zealand Best Actress in a Feature: for Tinā
2024 Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM)
For services to Pacific performing arts
“Kila Kokonut Krew...that company was formed because being graduates of drama school, we'd come out and realised that there was nothing out there for us. Also quickly realising that you got to just do it yourself, don't wait around, you just got to get on with it. ”