Te Kohe Tuhaka

From a proudly te reo-speaking Gisborne family, Te Kohe Tuhaka went on to study at drama school Toi Whakaari. Since then his screen career has included Taika Waititi short film Tama Tū, language learning show Kōrero Mai, Shortland Street, and playing All Black Jerome Kaino (in TV movie The Kick). His work as presenter includes TV's Marae Kai Masters and fashion show Freestyle. Onstage, he was praised by Time Out Australia for his "extraordinary intensity" in solo play Michael James Manaia. The longtime action fan played villain Wirepa in te reo movie The Dead Lands, then later co-starred in the Dead Lands TV series. 

[As] villain, Tuhaka is superbly fearless and irreverent... Writer Deborah Young, in a Hollywood Reporter review of The Dead Lands, 9 May 2014