Alex Tarrant

After graduating from drama school Toi Whakaari in 2012, Māori-Niuean-Samoan actor Alex Tarrant got a gig co-presenting youth show Totes Māori. But 2014 was the year his career took off: that year he co-starred in WWl miniseries When We Go To War (as a Māori pacifist forced to go to Gallipoli) and played bad boy roles on the Cook Islands set Tatau and Kiwi-Australian hit 800 Words. The later show played for three seasons. Meanwhile Filthy Rich saw him entangled in a backstabbing business empire. Tarrant's CV also includes time on the medical staff of Shortland Street, Australian show SeaChange, and Canadian-shot movie Night Raider.

The whole experience of playing Manaaki has taught me things I try to embody now. To stand up for myself, to stay strong in what I believe in and to question things that don't sit right with me. That's what I love about acting — learning skills and qualities that I can apply to real situations. Alex Tarrant on miniseries When We Go to War, Stuff, 21 April 2015