Rene Naufahu

One of the first Pacific Island faces to appear on Shortland Street, Rene Naufahu played paramedic turned bar manager Sam Aleni for four years. Of Tongan, Samoan, German and Irish descent, the junior rugby rep won an NZ Screen Award for No. 2, playing loyal grandson Erasmus. One of the key players behind TV drama The Market, he returned to the director’s chair for Moa-nominated big screen thriller The Last Saint.

After watching this, and witnessing the courage and desire of the talent involved, we knew we had no other choice but to go full steam ahead and commit to shooting the full film ... time to put our game faces on! Rene Naufahu on early promotional footage shot for his The Last Saint, his first movie as director