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. 2014 was when things really took off: 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 both Cook Islands set miniseries Tatau and Trans-Tasman hit 800 Words. In 2021 he joined the core cast of NCIS: Hawai'i over the show's three seasons. Tarrant's CV includes time on the medical staff of Shortland Street, corporate drama Filthy Rich, fantasy epic The Rings of Power and Canadian-shot film Night Raiders. 

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